FLAX PLANTING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5345, 31 October 1928, Page 4

FLAX PLANTING.

RELIEF GANGS GN PLAINS. GOOD WAGES AND CONDITIONS. An area of about 400 ogres of Gov-ernment-owned: swamp in the ponding area south of the Ngarua Canal is now being planted in flax by relief workers, a vote of £2OOO having been made by Parliament as pa.rt of its sc,heme of dealing with unemployment.

At the present time there are 32 men in the camp, which is situated on. the right bank of the piako River opposite t'he Ngarua landing, but the number varies almost from day to day, as men leave for other employment and others arrive from Auckland and Thames. The digging and cutting and planting' cf the jflax is done by co-operative contract at fixed rates, an,d conscientious workers make good wages. The rates are as follows: Cutting and digging, 2s 2d per hundred-for married men and Is 7%d for single men ; planting, 3s 4d per hundred for married* men and 2s 6d for single men. The plants are c,arted and placed at the ends of the pegged lines along, yrhicli they are to be planted by wages men! . In conversation, on Saturday last a worker at the camp informed a representative of this paper that he. had drawn £l3 16s 8d for. twenty days’ planting last month. -His biggest day’s tally had been, worth 19s l‘%d, and another was 18s. Others in the camp stated that this' was not the fastest worker. They also told of other men who, had. earned as little as 2s 4d for a day’s work. Some men were unsuited to- the work, and others were lazy, but 'the man who could not plant 100 roots, in a day must have been: both. During the past month there have been several stoppages on account of there being top much water. The area is in the Piako River ponding area, and so far this month there has been almost 5% inches of rain. In order to keep the men employed!, work is found them at cutting ti-tree. The rate for this-is 12s' an acre for single men and 16s an acre for married men, but up to the present good money could no.t be made at this'job, as all the workers had been put into c ; ne of two gangs, with the result that the conscientious toilers were penalised by the slower members. The ti-trea has now been surveyed, and. henceforth this work will also be let to small parties. Thd men are housed in wooden, huts and are fairly comfortable. A big cookhouse and dining-room have been, provided, and the copk and his assistant, who are paid by the Government, turn out really good meals at a c.ost 8d or 9d a meal. There are sejde-m a,ny complaints, and officials of the Lands Drainage Department vouch for the fact that the' meals are really gcpd. Seme of the best 'workers have been taken on by the Lands Drainage Department, ajid last week a big gang, was engaged in planting grass-seed C;U 500 acres of the Ke,repeehi block which was traversed by fire last summer.