MEN FOR FARMS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20114, 7 December 1939, Page 6

MEN FOR FARMS

| 150 MORE WANTED | GISBORNE DISTRICT TRANSFERS ARRANGED PUBLIC WORKS GANGS | SOME DUE FROM NAPIER To make up a shortage of men in the : Gisborne, Wairoa and Coast districts for work under the No. 4B contract I schemes in country districts, arrange- ' ments have been made to secure a further 150 men in addition to the several hundreds at present engaged. Some of tlie men required will be ! secured by the release of possibly 80 to 90 from public works in tiie Gisi borne district, while a number will be I coming from Napier.* ! Advice to the effect that public I works in the Gisborne district would I be involved was received by the disj trict engineer. Mr. O. G. Thornton, ; to-day, when he stated that the men | required would be drawn from various ! public works from which their ser- : vices could be most easily spared. Seasonal Workers During the past few years arrangej ments had boon made for leave to be I given to seasonal workers, such as for ! shearing, harvesting or for the freer.i ing works, and usually from 20 to 30 ; men from the railway works, mainly | from the south end of the Gisborne j section, had been released for these j duties. | The new scheme involves a much ! larger change-over, and men are re- | quired for the Wairoa, Cook. Waikohu, Uawa, Waiapu and Matakaoa i counties in such .numbers that, the Gisborne district is not able to supply | the full demand. Recently all the | men possible were taken from No. 13 j scheme work in the towns and trans- ! ferred to No. 4B contract work in the \ country, but apparently the adjust- ! ments so made were not sufficient for ! the purposes for which they were | required. Several Hundreds. No. 4B scheme work involves work | on farms such as drainage and scrub--1 cutting, and although an exact esti- ] mate of the number engaged in the j whole district could not be secured i to-day. the registrar of the Social | Security Department in Gisborne, Mr. | T. A. N. Johnson, stated that those at | present on such work ran into several j hundred's. He estimated that about | 150 more men would be coming on .to i the No. 4B scheme as a result of the j transfers from Napier and from public | works in tile Gisborne district. It is understood that all of the additional men required will be single men or those with a single status, and that the Napier men will be required for the Wairoa end of the district, where a great deal of the work to be done is located. It is understood that the transfer of the men will fake place almost immediately and that the No. 4B contracts are expected to be fully manned i before Christmas.