NO FARM LABOUR

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19663, 24 August 1935, Page 9

NO FARM LABOUR

FAMINE ON THE MARKET. HUNDREDS OF POSITIONS. i I UNEMPLOYED NEGLECT JOBS. j _____ With the flush of the new milking and lambing seasons on hand, hundreds of farmers throughout the Waikato are unable to secure sufficient labour to cope with rapidly-increasing activities. _ Jobs, carrying with them board and’lodging and offering from 10s for novices to £2 for experienced farm-hands, are available, but a totally inadequate supply of labour is coming forward. Over the past month the six principal newspapers in the Auckland province have oarried an aggregate daily of more than 120 advertisements seeking farm labour. About 70 per cent of the total have offered opportunity for unemployed youths and men. The great majority have been neglected. Enquiries made to-day by a Waikato Times representative show that any labour bureau in the Waikato could give employment to the first score of boys and men who ■walked in looking for a Job. There are, in addition, countless enquiries for farmhands but, in the past month, only a very small proportion of these have been filled. With a brighter outlook prevailing in the towns, It would appear that the majority of unemployed youths are disinclined to work in any rural district unless they are assured of the opportunity of regular conveyance to picture theatres and dance halls, to their friends and their social Interests. What Soope For Advancement? Insufficient Inducement is often cited as the cause for the unwillingness of boys, born and bred in the towm to zo on to the land. There Is no award, other than the concessions of humanism, governing apprenticeship to -the farming life. The youth is too ready to condemn farming pursuits because he imagines be sees too little scope for advancement; as a wageearner he can be ill-compared with the wages which his fellow obtains in the town. For those who have had some experience 25s or 30s is offered, while for men, capable of ploughing and performing all the responsible tasks of the farm, £2 is usually allowed. The town boy, inexperienced of farm life, can expect from ,10s 'to 12s 6d, but, after a month’s work, It is not uncommon for his wages to be raised to £l. With further exp or 1 once he should be capable of earning 255. Board and lodging may be reckoned as a further 15s or £1 a week.

“Treated as a Chattel.”' But there is another side to the picture. Admittedly life on the land is not all bliss, but the farmer, himself, has tended to drive youth away from rural employment. There is not uncommon, according to the principals of unemployment bureaux, 1 a class of producer who, deeming it undesirable to fit. the boy into his home, treats him more as a chattel. “In many cases the homes -offered the boys are excellent and the positions are to be recommended, but in others—well, the less said about them the better," commented the proprietor of one Hamilton labour agency. "By too many producers farm labour is looked upon as a seasonal occupation and if farmers would continue to employ good men throughout the winter Instead of discharging them from April until July or August, they would not have the loss brought about by a shortage of suitable labour. Our employers, themselves, can alone be blamed for killing the market,” was the strong comment of one farm-hand who was approached by the interviewer on a property near Cambridge. He added that, possibly as the result of his own igood choice and discretion, he had obtained good homes on every job, hut ■confessed that he knew of other employees who were not so fairly treated.

“What we want is another immigration scheme. If New Zealanders do not want the work, then It should bo made available to those outside Hie country," observed a southern Waikato farmer. "Young men who came from .Home four and five years ago I have still with me and they are giving me the best service T ever had from any employee colonial or English.”