Levin State Farm.

Manawatu Herald, 18 September 1894, Page 2

Levin State Farm.

Some few miles from Foxton the Government propose establishing a State Farm with the laudable objeot of finding suitable employment for the weak and aged. The idea is an excellent one but as its success depends altogether upon the manner in which the scheme is carried out, much interest is felt in everything connected with it. To do jußtice to the subject a special visit has been paid to the site, and any criticism we may pass upon what has been done and what is to be done will be taken, we hope, with the belief that we are only actuated by a desire to see certain alterations which would, in our opinion, help to secure its success. A large area of ground, containing 1000 acres of land has been set aside at Levin for Farm purposes, but with the exception of some twenty acres, is all dense bush. We have instituted inquiries as to the conditions under which labourers are received but have been informed that as yet nothing definite has been arranged, and a reference is given to the remarks made in the Report of the Labour Department to Parliament for the official view of the attempt. To enable us to discuss this matter from the point of view held by the Government we extract from the Report the remarks referred to, and then shall take another opr port-unity of showing what probability there is of the ends aimed at being attained within a reasonable period. In the Report of the Department of Labour to Parliament we find these remarks : "A State farm proper of about 1000 acres has been commenced at Levin Fifty-two men, eight women, and twenty-five children are on the ground, the men doing the preparatory work, cutting roads through the forest, felling bush for burning, planting orchards, getting ready for the permanent homestead* to be laid out The men employed on the State farm (and to be employed) are engaged on the co-opera-tive system, and are not paid wages except in rare cases, where contract is adtnissable. The workers generally are elderly men, drafted off as to a depot, where their services can be utilised until suitable work ior them can be found, if desirable. The manner in which the work is contracted for is as follows : The mana - ger names a price per chain for some fencing, and some half dozen men group themselves and take it by contract at that price. Again, if the manager requires an acre of land dug over with the spade, or firewood cut and stacked, or drains dug, for any of these things he names a price, and the workers accept it if content. As the manager learns by experience the working abilities of the men, and is instructed to offer them a price which will ensure an equivalent to a fair wage if worked at steadily, the men generally accept. Of course, continual refusal, to accept work at a fair price would necessitate the removal of the discontented j person from the farm. The families I on the farm, if arriving destitute, are provided with tents, &c, by the Government. They will not have, to pay any rent, but have to erect cottages for themselves with some small State concessions as to timber obtained on the spot. Each family has a half-acre allotted to its' occupation for garden and domestic purposes. On a family leaving the farm an allowance will be made for improvements made under the ap-. proval of the Manager It is the intention of the Government, when, after some years, the farm has been cleared of bush and brought under skilled cultivation, to make its working purely co-operative. By that time sufficient knowledge will have been gained as to the character

of the men and their families to act as a guide in determining who are to be the permanent residents. The idle and incapable will have been weeded out, and it will be possible, doubtless, to allow the farm to be worked for their own profit or by a committee or council of those Who have been employed for a long period;"