LEISURELY SCRUB-CUTTERS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 869, 15 July 1910, Page 4

LEISURELY SCRUB-CUTTERS.

CO-OPERATIVE SYSTEM CONDEMNED.' . When the merit's of the contract system as compared with the co-operative system oil public works was under discussion at the Farmers' Union Dominion Conference yesterday afternoon, some remarkable statements were made by Mr. A. Sehmitt (Clevedon). Referring to the reclamation work on the Haurald Plains, otherwise known as the l'iako Swamp, he said that the felling of ti-tvee had cost the Government .£0 an acre, fie had made inquiries from which it appeared that the cost was even more than .€9 an acre, but he put it at that to be on the safe side. In reply to a question, Mr. Sehmitt said -a fair price would bo anything between a pound and 255. per acre. "Aid I don't mind saving," he added, "and I don't care where it' goes, that many of the men on those co-operative works didn't a;et up until mid-day." The following motion was carried.— "That this conference re-affir'ii the necessity for doing away with the present system of construction of public works by day or co-operative labour, and that ail such work of any magnitude should be let by contract, as being the cheapest, and best method."