COMMUNAL FARM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 66, 17 June 1942, Page 6

COMMUNAL FARM

SYRIAN CO-OPERATIVE SOLDIER'S DESCRIPTION To see a herd of 130 Friesian dairy cows, all of apparently good type and productive ability, was one of the surprises a young Waikato farmer in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Gunner H. S. Silvester, formerly of Paterangi, experienced during a holiday tour of Syria. He quotes the fact in a letter to his father, and adds that the herd of 130 is milked by hand three times a day by two, women and a man. The cows are hand-fed in the bails, and there are ten people attached to the staff for milking and feeding them. The dairy herd referred to was operated by a Jewish community. "Our party parked on the side of the road, and had tea, after which wc were invited to have a look round the farm," the letter goes on. "These communities are assembled in a sort of village; all the families live together and pool all the money. We Ave re talking to a avoman Avho had been there for 16 years, and Ave got quite a lot of information. She told us there were about 80 families in the village; that would be about 200 people all told. Alternating Management "They appoint tAvo men and one woman every year to manage affairs. On the daiiy farm thev also have a flock of sheep, besides keeping rabbits in hutches, and also foAvls and the usual animals that Ave haA r e back home in Ncav Zealand. The milk is collected daily bv a co-operatiA-e concern and sold in the big toAA*ns round about. "The farm itself is Avoirked Avith modern implements. There arc scA reral caterpillar tractors, a reaper and binder, mowers, and a 14-disc plough with a soAA-er attached. The people all eat in a large dining hall together and it resembles a hotel. Alongside there is a reading and recreation hall. Education System "Children are taken from the mothers soon after birth and placed in a nursery: the parents arc alloAA'ed to be Avith them only from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The children go to school until thev arc 13 years old, and then go to a larger school in toAA-n until they arc 18. After that they can join the community farm or go elsewhere. The people are allowed a holiday at fixed intervals, but if they oA~er-stay their kwe they lose eA'Crvthing and are not alloAved back."