AFTER FORTY YEARS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1599, 16 November 1912, Page 11

AFTER FORTY YEARS.

— : — . A NEW ZEALANDER IN ENGLAND. . FARM LABOUR. (By Telegraph— Special Correspondent.) ' Christchurch, November 14. Mr. John Wblf, a wcll-knoivn resident of Lincoln, and a prominent member of the looal bodies ,in that district, has returned: to New Zealand after a visit to tho 'Homeland.' ■ . . . - .Relating.his,experiences to'a representa- ! lv 9 °/. presfe," Mr.' .Wolf said he had visited, his. native village in Warwickshire, which !■ he had' left forty years before. It was quite a difficult job to get eggs, and milk in-the country, for tho big centres absorbed it nil. • "When I ■ left -the village," ho went on to say, "butter was 9d. per lb. and eggs 6d'. per dozen or less;, but- at I .my last visit butter was Is., 3d.- per lb., and very iufenor at that, and eggs almost unobtawrable. While at Home I took the opportunity of giving a' few lectures on New" Zealand, and these talks seemed to be highly appreciated. I touched upon the frozen meat' arid dairying industries, described the methods of farming and stockraising here, and also told L them all about the labour .laws and labour, matters generally.' I found that ■ the most comical ignorance prevailed about. New Zeala'nd, and most of tho country people had very hazy notions as to whether it was a division .of Australia or. an island by itself. "From what,l saw of the conditions of .farm labour in Warwickshire and elsewhere I have no hesitation in saying that there are ' thousands of fine ablebodied and experienced men, married or 6ingle, who are ready -and willing and eager to conic out to New Zealand. Many of them asked me how to get out'here, and I told them about the Government's'assisted passages. I said they could get out here easily for .£lO. -'Ten pounds they would .exclaim, 'why we haven't got 10s. to got to London,; innch less : j£loi' And this was a fact. ; Ihcrediblo. as it .seems to us in New.Zealand, these men are living from hand to mouth all their lives, and they -would be only too glad to emigrate if they got half,a Ohance. ;I made some inquiries regarding 'the wages'; they ,were getting, and found that .elderly men ,got 2s. a day, the 'dayVbeing from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., .with, an: hour , and a half off for dinner. 'Young men were worth 2s. 6d., and in .exceptional cases 3s. .'per day* and, of course, had to find themselves. , When' I told them'of the wages farmhands and . teamsters . got here, and the hours, they would hardly believe me. I consider there is an almost inexhaustible supply of really - good experienced |arm labour available for N«w Zealand'if funds are available to' brin'g it out here, but it would be very important: to have someone at Home to selecfc the men who was thoroughly competent -to do it. .. From what X savr of the,emigrants'on tho ship: I came back in, !■' judged.'that' a large proportion of them were towismen'pure'and:, simple, and I doubt whether they,: are- the class to. do much good'on the land." c