THE HUMAN SIDE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 53, 26 November 1926, Page 18

THE HUMAN SIDE

PICTURE OF FARM LIFE

WHAT low prices mean A moving story of what sustained low prices for produce mean to settlers Sewly established on the land is given I the current issue of "The Dairy Exporter," in tho form of a letter from a soldier settler’s wife. This letter was written in rebuttal of a paragraph suggesting that country women unduly suffer from the "sorry-for-themselves feeling” and is noteworthy for the quiet courage and cheerfulness displayed. "When my man returned from the war, after four years' absence, ho decided to *go on the the land,' under the Beturned Soldiers’ scheme. The Governifaent were rather a long time arranging things, so after waiting six months we decided to get married, he to go on with his usual work. At the time I was in tho city, and he in a country town. So we took the great step. Seven months later ho took possession of the farm and started batching in the little whare that was on the place. He came in for weekends, and I nearly broke my heart because he wouldn’t let me come out too. However, just before our first wedding anniversary I came out, because the car penter was busy on the house and the cows were coming in.

■ Humble Happiness. "Well, I was never so happy in all my Hfe as I was in that little 12ft. by 13ft. [whare. The carpenter, the man assist, ant (and some of the time the fitter for tho milking machines) were sleeping, in the big barn about four chains from the [whare. You remember, no doubt, how difficult it was just after the war to proanything, and also the exorbitant ■price of everything. Some of the time we were held up for timber-, couldn't get the milking plant set up. Hubby, who had never milked more than an oa<i house cow. was milking 21 cows by hand. Some of tho time, in this little whare I was baking bread, working, washing, and cooking for four men.

Five months on the Farm. “After much delay and waiting for the bricklayer, tho house was finished. By finished, J. mean wo had two rooms, a little scullery, and back veranda, and a small room for the man. Ws de'hided that wo could manage with half a house till prices dropped to normal. We .had no cupboards, no taps inside, no wallpaper, and no paint. But we were very much in love (and still are), and very optimistic. We managed to get the cur- ' tains and blinds up, and the linoleums down as soon as the house was -finished —four months after I came out here—and the next day we had a new arrival (24 guineas right off). There was no nursing home in —- at the time, so I stayed on the farm. When my little . son was six weeks old I went to the local picnic, my first outing oft the farm since I came out five months before. "Well, for several years we had a run of real, bad luck, with heavy losses, and at the end of three years, after our first born, we had three additions to the family, and nono to the house. When my youngest baby was 5} months old, I took bad suddenly one night and all the next day, and the following night I hoped against hope that I’d soon bo aH right again. But by the second day I had to give in and have the doctor out. It costs about jB4 a trip to have tho doctor out here. Well, he came, examined me. gave his verdict—appendicitis —immediate operation. He took me to hospital in his car, and an hour later I was under an anaesthetic. Well, ’■•l just escaped peritonitis, but made a good recovery and a quick one.

Reaction on Nerves. "All the time things seemed to bo going from bad to worse financially. My trousseau, and stock of household Iman . were fast diminishing. Practically everything the kiddies and I wore were clothes made from old clothes passed on • to us by our relations. For the last two years I’ve worn even stockings and sjng'lats that I have patched and mended over and over again. Holidays, of course, are out of the question. After a fije in a neighbouring house my poor nerves were worse than ever. If one of 'the children coughed or stirred in the night, I would spring up in bed and find my heart boating to suffocation. It would be a long time before I could get to sleep again. Always I was terrified of fire. At that time my brother and . his wife were here for a holiday and wanted mo to go back with them. So I made up my mind to go by hook or by . crook to see my sister. But I had left it too late. Before I had been away a ■ week I collapsed and for days was on the verge of Brain-fever. Well, I had a i Short holiday away from the family after I that, and I am thankful to say I have been very well ever since. That was 13 ' months ago. Quite a lot to squeeze into less than five years, wasn't it?

But Not Downhearted Yet “When the Revaluation Board camo ' pqmid two years ago. they were quite i about ■ tho house, and said, it '• WM essential we must have some imI movement, but things have been. hangever since, with no satisfaction at "Now, do you think it is humanly poseable to go through all that —I’ve only. ’ fOrimmod over the facts—and yet remain ' [absolutely indifferent to it all? Still I happen to possess a somewhat happy dis- ; position, and am generally singing or .whistling. I’m a born Tomboy. I 'fool’ yrith the kiddies and torment Daddy, ■when he is worried, till he has to smile. . But when I feel nervy and things go '.nil wrong, and seem to be hopeless, I most say I feel like Helen D.B. and say ■’•Life’s just one d .thing after another. Opposition to Marketing “A Bluff/’ This letter is used in illustration of "tho human sido of the marketing movement” to show just what effect the suocessivo slumps of tho past seasons have had on some primary producers. "A thousand editorials from comfortable city men," says the editor, "won’t break down the stark realism that Lonjdbn’s annual butter slump has robbed ■ that home, and thousands like it, of necessary clothing and comfort; that the dividend of 27 per cent paid to London shareholders, in so far as it was derived from the slump buying of New Zealand butter, deprived many another home of necessary finance and forced the farm wife into the sheds to do a man’s work because of inability to employ labour. "That is the human ride of this mar- [ bating movement. It is based upon the [dairy farmer’s determination to secure justice for his homo folk. The marketing scheme on its merits is fundament ally sound; it deserves fair trial. It will have sufficient interested opposition to surmount in London without being damned before trial by the New Zealand •Press spurred on by commercial interests. Farmers will have only themselves to blame if they are bluffed by such tackles. "The board realises to the full just what marketing betterment means in farm homes, and is detennined to apply proved business principles to secure those better results which will give maximum financial returns."