FARM LABOUR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 66, 11 December 1907, Page 2

FARM LABOUR.

THE PIONEER'S DIFFICULTY. From the present outlook it is very probnble that tho farm laboitr difficulty will bo considerably accentuated .this summer (writes our Wairarapa correspondent). Fanners all over the various districts find it difficult to obtain men when required, and the trouble is intensified by the peculiar .industrial conditions, which press considerably on tho shoulders of tho producer. Thel'o is no doubt whatever that tho farmers are chafing under tho restrictions which at present, under tho rule : of labour, place thom at considerable expense and inconvenience. Timo after thno they find that they are unable to procure the services of men worth their salt, and have to fall back upon dead-beats who are only a useless expense. Briefly, tho labour fetish is being done to death on tho farms, and there will have to be a change. Two examples of many will ! serve to show the quandary at preseut besotting tho pioneer. A Wairarapa farmer, unablo to obtain the services of a competent man, ongaged a man who had been a publican as a last resourco, at 255. a week and "his tucker." The first day tho recruit laid opon his kiioo with a tomahawk, and since that timo, a month ago, has beon drawing his wages and residing in town. Ho had oarnod for his employer nothing. In another case a Bush district farmer had two shearers who had gono through about 500 sheep in ton days. Thero woro three other stands, and wishing to finish his remaining 500 sheep boforo Christmas, tho farmer seized the opportunity of engaging three other men. When tho nowcomers commenced bnsinoss the old hands nut up their shears, rolled up their swags, and cleared out. It is presumed that they considered that their life job was being unduly interfered with.