SCARCITY OF LABOUR.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1429, 2 May 1912, Page 8

SCARCITY OF LABOUR.

TROUBLES OF SOUTHEUX FARMERS. Di'fucnlty-'is being ' experienced in the soutn suflicient labour on =omo of the farms. It is reported that fanner's in the A.«hbiirt6n county are experiencing great difliculty iir procuring teamsters and general farm workers. One ■farmer who , hiis'rwided in the county tor about thirty years, remarked that ho could not remember such-, a scarcity, ot farm labourers, notwithstanding the tnct illipt the! highest:;rat ; cs.,of.-.wagos were 'bein'" offered.- ■•■ In -some --parts ot tiio Preljbleton district the small fanners are finding it especially difficult to get help, -ns'tho. potato-diggers naturally choose .tho-jo..places which can employ them longest. :-The question of farm labour, said Mr. Garland, president of the Waimate branch of' the Farmers' Union, at tho annual meeting of the branch, was an urgent and insistent one. During the harvest-season farmers had experienced a shortage ot labour,.and it was no uncommon thing to hear farmers complaiuing on all hands that they could not get men, whilst at the same moment men were leaving the district in numbers. It had been, suggested that a labour bureau should be set up in ■\Vaiinnte, ami-he felt sure that in tne harvest time, at any..rate, this would prove a good thing. Another effect ot the : shortage of.labour .was.that iilougning was being restricted for want of men. .tins was a very serious matter, ljecnnse if the area of land ploughed was reduced exports must decrease. Mr. Studholme. thought the bureau, idea was a good one, but he did not think there, was any labour to'be got. It. was for (he farmers to go to the Govern men v and try and get sonic labour brought into the country. The-cost of production was ris-ing-steadily.. The grain growers in particular were paying higher wages and getting less' work done. How many good men •would-any farmer get on-his place attlnv 'bu«y season 0 - Xot-moro than one in halt a dozen were any good. The trouble was ■caused by the Labour agitators. He was perfectly"certain of this: that unless the Government did something in the way ot introducing labour, it w,as going to be a bad thing for tho farming community in this country. The dearth ot. labour was ■driving people off- the grain farms on to tho sheep country, and even that was unprofitable now, owing to the high price of. land. They could bring thousands of men into the country, and the farming liulustrv would absorb them all witnout any -redaction in wages. The country was-all right; it only'wanted fair treatment, lliey could .double.the production.if they could only get labour to do it. . ,' -Tho president said the labour bureairs success or otherwise would depend on their secretary, but meanwhile he thought Mr. Studholme's idea was the best one—trying to "et the Government to adopt an immi■grntioii policy. He did not believe there was the labour in the country. 11l- 3lernditli.nio.ved .that tlie executive of tho branch confer and co-operate with the A. and .P. Committee with a view to establishing an agricultural labour bureau. The matter of immigration was lelt undecided pending the Provincial Executive s meeting, and tho motion re the bureau was carried.