Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 1896. The State Farm.

Manawatu Herald, 16 June 1896, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 1896. The State Farm.

From time to time we have called attention to the peouliar muddle the administration of what is known as the State Farm at Levin has got into. Time* and even a change of managers seems not to have secured any improvement. We are told that some of the employees have sue* oeeded in growing onioni, but 400 acres of land is not needed to do that on. The persons upon the land need patting on work which would bring them in a fair rate of pay in proportion to the way they worked, and there should be do work carried on in improvements on the farm simply to find labour for the occupiers. To show that the contrary has been done we have only to quote the advertisement of the manager that there was grazing to letl Imagine the happy independence of these employees who refused to use the grass on the estate by feeding cows which they should have milked. Life was pleasanter without milking therefore grass was to let. As far as we can learn no regulations have yet baen^ drawn up as to what entitles a man or family being taken on the farm nor a? to their security of tenure. The longer this uncertainity exists the greater will be the difficulties to I be faced in the near future, and it is neither fair to the taxpayer or the occupiers that this uncertainty should continue. With a ihbw of earnestness they have not, the Government directed that the rate of pay on the farm should be four shillings a day, a sum ample in most cases for the work the men could do, or should be able to do when seeking State aid to live. However a reduction to those who had been looking upon the farm as their home appeared hard and was objected to, and in some in stances it did .pre#a hard, for we all know all men cannot do an equal amount of work. In reviewing this point the Levin Express narrates what «an be done under the present farm regulations which emphasize very strongly the remarks we have from time to time made. The Express says :— Certainly there have been men employed on the farm who were not worth even the small wage of four shillings per day, bat they have been kept there through political influence. Men have been dismissed for incompetency and a Pew days afterwards returned with letters from members of Parliament whom they had been of service to at the general election, peremptorily demanding their reinstatement. As in instance of this political jobbery we will take the case of a man who bad the good fortune to be on Mr Reeves' committee last election, and for that reason alone he was sent up From Ohrietchurch to the State farm with a written guarantae from Mr Reeves that he would receive per* aaanent employment there. Tha man was actually worthless at any work he could he put to on the farm, but he was kept on for two y«ars md a half. After hii digmiisftl from

the farm he demanded J8125 for the house he had bean living in, and which was actually worth no more than £25 ; and this sum Mr Mackay, of the Labour Department, offered. The owner thereupon interviewed the Premier, produced Mr Reevas' letter, and went on his way rejoicing at having received £75 for his house, Mr Seddon remarking that ho was cheap at that price to be got rid of. The keeping of a man for two years and a half and then making him a present of £50 is scarcely worth mentioning when placed beside th§ thousands of pounds that are squandered by the Government yearly, but it helps to throw a little light on the happy knack some politicians have for saddling the country with their election expenses.