FARM LABOURERS' DISPUTE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 54, 27 November 1907, Page 8

FARM LABOURERS' DISPUTE.

INTERESTING EVIDENCE.

HEWS OF DIRECTOR OF LINCOLN

COLLEGE.

(BY TELEGRAM—SPECIAL COnRESrONDENT.)

Ohristchurch, November, 26.

Valuable evidence on behalf of the farmers was given in tho Agricultural Labourers' Union's case before tho Conciliation Board by Mr. W. Lowrie, Director of the Lincoln Agricultural College, who has had experience of work in Scotland, Australia., and New Zeaknd. As far as he, could judge, the position of farm labourers which obtained in New Zealand was very much better than anywhere olse. He was astounded to see that there was dissatisfaction prevailing, and he was inclined to ' the opinion that the, men did not know that thoy wore really well off. Looking on the whole, economic problem, ho did not think that the matter which would affect the-farmer most was. that of wages. If was the other limitations which were proposod. Many people hopelessly over-estimated the results which a farmer got from his property. Ho doubted very, much whether the average farmer in Canterbury, working on dear; land, taking the value of land at its present soiling value, hnd an income of G per cent.-on the capital value after his own labour had been given in free. On coming to New Zealand .six years ago he had expected to find more profitable conditions, especially when the yields of the farms were stated at about 90 bushels of oats to the acre, and GO bushels' of wheat, but the conditions under which these .results were obtained, the high price of land, the cost of labour, and the amount of labour • required, made tho story road considerably different Working £6000' worth of land in Australia,, his total sales wore greater than when he workbd £27,000 of land in New Zealand. Referring ; to the wages proposals before the Board, he said that a good man differed so much .-from an inferior man that there was no possibility of placing them on'the same basis.. The'conditions on a farm wore absolutely, different ao those of a factory. One man driving a binder of a factory. One man driving a binder might run for a. season without repairs to the machine,- and another might inthp same timo damage a machine beyond repair. Then, in .stacking,- tho man would stack the grain soundly, and another, an indifferent man, would stack badly, and the stack would bo soaked through. A bad driller might have his coulter running dry acre after acre,' or a man might let his team run away and smash up £60 or £70 worth of machinery. As to shepherding, if a good man was tied up to lixod hours he would want to leave the place. A good farmhand was one of the place, and a bad hand was eternally wanting to see the boss "got at. . This latter class was found more frequently in tho Colonies than at. Homo,'whore the" farm hand took a very deep personal interest in the management and working of the farm. Things would be well left as they wore, and it would work out very badly for the Dominion if farmers wer'o obliged to work their hands.under rot rules. The offect would be that the farmers would cease to grow tho crops which required the employment of most labour. They were doing it now', the inducements being the high price of sheep and tho difficulty- of getting satisfactory labour. One condition in tile Dominion was that, owing to the sub-division of land in recent years, the best farm hands had taken up land on their own account, with the result that farmers"had to bo satisfied, to a largo extent, with second-class labour. Another■• factor was that farmers were competitors in the open markets of tho world, and in that respect- fanning was different from the. tariff-protected industries Farmers could not alter the world's price of wheat. After local consumption hnd been satisfied tho price was made for them. The price of land had nothing to do with tho price of ' wheat. Labour rates in India and Argentine (both competitors with New Zealand) were lower' placing them on the samo basis. Conditions on a farm were absolutely different to those than New Zealand, and oven in-Aiistralia tho rates were fully twenty per cent, lower than in New Zealand, and tho men worked longer hours. The highest wages, 7s. per.day. wore paid -by., the Government. This was considorably over tho average. Onu very serious matter was that' owing to high price of lahour, farmers were growing crops which wore not so valuable as crops which might be produced. For ♦instance, any farmer knew that mangolds were worth from £12 to £13 por acre, and turnips worth only from £2 to £3 per aero! It need scarcely'be pointed out how much more valuable an acre of mangolds, which might requiro from £2 10s. to £5 per acre' in labour, would be than an acre of turnips costing £1 in labour. He. desired to strongly impress on the Board that tho producing wealth of the land was limited, because the farmers would not face the position through the difficulty in getting satisfactory labour. They might go into the matter and not be-able to get labour.. Ho had had that experience himself. Ho opposed the proposal to pay overtimo, as the men could bo induced to wasto the time of their employers when thoy were not under actual supervision.

To Mr. Ackland: Ho would not like to run ilis college dairy on a nine-hours day. To Mr. Hall: A small dairy farmer would havo to employ labour to milk to the greatost profit, but he would be much worse off under the proposed award. To Mr. Thorn: If the employees woro in places where the conditions did not suit them they could leave.

In cross-oxamination, Mr. Lawrie said he considered £3 per week an excessive minimum wage for a shepherd or farm hand. It would be a very serious thing for farmers if they were dictated to as to how they should manage their farms. In his opinion it would possible farmers taking lip land. The artificial and arbitrary restrictions, such as those proposed, would tend to cripple the farming community. Tfiis-would work to the disadvantage of tho community, as the total product would bo affected, both in quality and quantity. As to tho accommodation provided for farm hands, he had seen a good deal of it, and had no particular fault to find. If farmors put lonic pillars in tho rooms, some of the labourers would carve their names on them.