HOW LONG DOES A FARMER WORK?

Chronicle (Levin), 8 July 1947, Page 7

HOW LONG DOES A FARMER WORK?

-Press Association

By Telegrayh

NEW PLYiTOIJTM; July (jr "No farmer worthy of the name works loss than 50 hoqrs a week,"'said the aeting Dominion :*president of the i Federated Farmers, Mr. H. E. Blyde, Lepperton, when a South Island state ment that many farmers worked les^ than 40 hours a. wee'k i.was'ireferred to him. Mr. Blyde 's estilmatp of 50 hours ; was conservative irhfn pompared witli .estitaates by other farmers and repre \ sentatives of relatedandgstries. •' A stock agent placed the figures at 7i hours a vveek. Npt one in 50 farmer.-c-ould run their. farms in a 40-hour week he said, and it ivould be stupid to say it was possible. The- average farmer eom nieneed work at 0 o'clock in the morn . ing and continued until 6 at niglU making an 11-hour day. It was often more in- the summer, but it was no. necessary to work such .hours in thi winter. . . „ • '

rne statement tnat many xarmerworke^ less than 40 hjitrg a week woujlu deflnitely not apply to Taranaki, Mi Blyde said. It was diflieult to assess a , farmer 's hours, but : %e" thought ' the average of the' ordinary farmer woulii be about 50 hours a week and sometimes longer. : After a careful calvulation of ab factors involved, Mr. »L. D. Hickford Okato, estimated the n.verage working yveeki of a Taranaki dairy farmer at 67 hours or more. It would vary accord , ing to the type of farm, the energy oi tlie farmer and. whether he supplied a ; cheese factory or a btrtter factory, he : said. On a small farm the length of time worked was probably not so great, while a farmer supplying a cheese factory often had some;distance to ca-rt his milk, and that increased his hours. In his calculations- he had not jdeducted annual holidayf?, Mr, Hickford said, but he did take into account the. days when a farmer unight leave his farm between millcings .to visit a town. What made it possiljfi- to work such long hours was the variety of the work and that it was done-in the open air: It. would not be possible for persons in « other occupations to work similar hours, Mr. Hickford contended. Another point that he made was that the farmer was on the job all the time, while the town worker often had to travel long distances to his place oi employment. A f arhier _ could calcnlate his hours from the time he left his house in the morning, Mr. Hickford said. Those who considered that they work 16 hours a day estimated from the time they left their beds until they r.eturned to them "We certainly work.' more than 4(J hours a week on our farm," a farmer 's wife said. She added"/ that there was not much chance of working a 40-houi week on her own job.