FARM LABOUR

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 154, 1 May 1940, Page 5

FARM LABOUR

WAR ENLISTMENTS - "NO RESERVED OCCUPATIONS A subject which received coni siderable attention at the last meeting of the Whakatane County Council and which has been discussed by other bodies throughout the Dominion, was given wider publicity when the Hon. P. C. Webb, Minister for Manpower, stated at Lake Tekapo, that already 1200 farmers and many skilled farm labourers had been prevented from going to the war. The statement was made in reply to an| assertion made at the Highcountry runholders' conference that there were no reserved occupations in New Zealand and that recruiting was denuding the high country of skilled labour.

Mr Webb' said the Government fully appreciated the needs of farmers, but that at a confei-ence on recruiting held in Wellington recently, a Farmers' Union representative had agreed that there should be no reserved occupations. Mr Webb further observed that the Government was dojing its utmost to co-operate with the farming industry, and already had. trans ferrcd 4000. men from relief and public works for clearing, draining, and subdividing land, and even for broadcast sowing of fertilisers. Subsidies were available for farm labour, and even for 'teaching inexperienced labour to become use-? ful on farms. I No Reserved List. "It is true that there is no list of ; reserved occupations in New Zealand," said Mr Webb. "We foumV that we could not take the English Act as a guide, because it. provided only two or three occupations which were not reserved. At a coiw ferenee on the subject at whicli all interested sections of the community were repesented, the Farmers' Union representative strongly supported the abolition of reserved occupations. HVe have already kept about 1200 farmers on their farms, and have blocked farm labour from going. Farmers can notify their nearest district office that a man is in-' dispensable and should not go. Some men have enlisted and given their occupations incorrectly as something other than farming, and that is very difficult to stop, though we are trying to do so."

Government's Efforts. Mr Webb said that farmers could count on the fullest and most syjm-< pathctic consideration from his department. "We will take men off public works immediately if necessary," said the Minister. "We are offering liberal subsidies to various industries to get them oft'. Our object is to make the best use of the reservoir of unemployed labour, and everybody that wants labour can get it from us, "We cannot always supply experienced farm labour, but we have had this year about 100 more experienced farm hands available than we could find employment for. We have even considered moving farm labour from one part of the country to another, but the officers of the department have advised against this. "We hope to have this winter 8000 to 10,000 men on the farms helping to bring the land into production, and give the farmers some) equity and a decent standard of living where they are scratching along now."