THE EIGHT HOURS’ SYSTEM.

Dunstan Times, Issue 317, 22 May 1868, Page 3

THE EIGHT HOURS’ SYSTEM.

“Wo extract tha following very sensible let(cr from the “ Oaiuaru Tillies “Sin, —I si'.v a leader in your paper some time ago referring to the difficulty fanners have to contend with in the shape of labor. You romarke! that capital and labor did not work together, which is quite true. I will point out to you, to the best of my opinion, how matters stand. In farming, the eight hours’ system has a great deal to do with the unsatisfactory state of affairs. “In tha first place, as to ploughing. 1 have tried several horse teams, working them regularly every week in old land, an I they only ploughed five acres of land each team per week, while it is well known to all practical men that a team should plough six acres per week; hut thci cannot plough any more in eight hours, taking a regular furrow and going a fair speed. If horses are well fed ploughing eight hours, they got into high condition that they will not walk home quietly to their stable at night, which clearly shows that eight hours is not j enough to steady the animals. In new land I they plough about an acre less than in old,

but a good deal depends upon the land. I l Horses well fed, working nine Lours per i day, should plough six aeres per week in old land and about live in new. 1 may ' say that a farmer loses at the rate of an i aere per week for each team he has ploughing, which is a consideration. "A great many farmers are having their new land ploughed by contract. I dare say they have good reason for so doing—they find it cheaper;but lam of opinion that there should bo very little land ploughed by contract ; there should bo no person so well prepared to plough his land as the farmer himself. He feeds his own horses, grows his owu hay and, has good accommodation for his horses and good houses for his men—keeps them as man and beast ought to be kept. On the other hand, a contractor works under great disadvantage; he lives in a miserable tent, eats half-cooked food, Ids horses and harness are exposed to all weather, and after entering on a contract he is obliged to work the ground wet or dry, and when too dry he cannot do more than half the quantity of work that he ought, and what he does perform is very likely badly done at the same time. Xow, the farmer, when the land gets too dry or hard, removes his team to another field, or other work, ploughs at the most convenient seasons, breeds foals from his mares, which do the farm work besides ; in fact, he is a gainer on all hands. His teams and farm should boa credit to the country he lives in, instead of looking at a contractors badly fed may say men. " Eight hours' system on a farm is a great loss to the farmer,'and is not required by the laborer, as there is a good deal of tho work light—shifting about from one part of the farm to another, and attending upon stock; ploughing, carting, &c, &c, which makes the day appear short. Many are of opinion that the eight hours' system is lav,-; but such is not the ease, labor is like any other commodity in the market, guided by supply and demand, But it is in the harvest season that the farmer suffers most, an 1 still there seems sufficient labor if the men would only work with a right good will. Tho fact i 3, wages are so high that a man can make as much in eight months of the year as will .keep him during the remainder. There are certain seasons | of the year that a groat many are unemployed on account of the high rate of wages, j and the fact that piece-workmen are found ito 1)0 cheaper for all common work, Any i work that a farmer cannot let by the piece | he lets if possible, go undone, sooner than submit to a high •wage and eight hours' work; consequently, there is many a poor man travelling the eountrr, and often j obliged to leave the Colony, because ho ; car.not got work, when, at the same time, I there are other men making from £BO to £IOO a year at pie te-work by working eleven ami twelve hours per day. Those men monopolise all the work, give the settlers less trouble, and. I have no doubt, with ; tlo> unsettled state ■ f the labor market, the • settler finds piece work cheaper in the en I- ■ But when tho harvest season comes on the bulk of t! ) men \vh i have been driven away for the want of employment in the winter sea-on of iho voir, ami the harvest is left to tho " ; '."e-work-men who have their pockets !;'! of money from high rates at shearing and other kinds of piece-work that they do , not care whether they harvest or not. I would srggo.-t that farmers keep a good I supply of men, if possible, all the year | round, so as not to be dependent so much ; on piece-work-men, for these piece-work I men get into very bad habits—they do not j study their employers' interest, they think when this contract is finished they will j have to travel to long for another, which is ! very true, and possibly spend all they have I made in the last contract, before they get ■ j the next. Owing to this state of affairs men are very unsettle 1, and they will take ■ advantage of the busy seasons of the year, whereas if they wen: kept on through the winter their habits would become settled and they would foelassorry for anylosstheir employer would sustain in harvest season as the farmer himself. "There is one thing to be considered, a good man in a young country like this, knows the value of his labor? he has not come 16,000 miles to New Zealand to idle away his time; he wards to make the best use of it; he will not work for a farmer eight hours a day if he can get. piece-work and work from ten to twelve hours, if he please, which will pay him the same rate per hour. Machinery is now coming so much into us? in harvesting that tho farmer requires to engage all hands by the day or work ; those employed in this way are the most difficult to deal with, they do not like working with machines by the day at the busiest season of the. year, and there is often a great deal of corn lost through their obstinacy. They also often s rike for higher rates of wages at the most critical time. "The sooner the inhabitants of New Zealand think for themselves how farming operations are to be tarried on with benefit to the farmer and laborer the better. I feel quite satisfied that keeping strictly to ttie eight hours' system will not do; the farmers will get a good deal of thair work done by the piece, simply beause they get it done cheaper. Piece work will prove injurious to the ■ working class sooner than it does to the I farmers ; it unsettles the habits of men, i causes a monopoly in the labor market—- , for piece-work men work long hours, [ work cheaper than day men, live [ in to,its, and cook for themselves, sav- . iug their employer the expense of building a . house for them or supplying them with a . cook ;in fact, they live miserably. What t is the result ? -They make plenty of money drcak down their health, are old men soont e' titan they ought to be, atid many of them I find their way into the Hospitals.—Who gets the benefit? Tho employer, who u

not put to the expense of finding them either cook or accomodation. " For men employed road mailing by the Government, I consider eight hours quite enough ; handling a pick and shovel or wheeling a loaded barrow is very different to farm work, besides, they have to live in tents, cook for themselves, and travel two or three miles to work, and only gut paid for the time they work, when at the same time men on a farm get paid if it rains three days a week. As to tradesmen and town laborers, they only get paid for the time they work, they board themselves also ; + heir case is simply a question of supply and demand- I have spoken to several caniract builders about the sight hours system, they are of opinion that a good quick tradesman can do a day's work in eight hours, but I do not know what is to become of the slow men. " But trades and townspeople 1 will say little about. If the farmers will supply plenty of grain for support, 1 have no doubt but the tuwnsmen will soon supply them with necessary accomodation for storing, shipping, and otherwise disposing of their grain to the best advantage. As to this country being adapted for farming and the growth of cereals, there cau be no question. While we we can grow forty bushels of wheat to the, acre and fifty of oats, if our labor was equal to that of Victoria, we could easily undersell the Victorians in their own market. " I have often heard discussions in Australia, many years ago, among a few thinking men. which I paid little attention to at the time, as to where the grain was to be grown to supply the Australian Colonies. The conclusion arrived at was, in New Zealand ; and they further stated that New Zealand would be the granary of the Australian colonies." I