HONEST MAN WORSE OFF.

Mt Benger Mail, 19 October 1938, Page 1

HONEST MAN WORSE OFF.

NAVVY V. FARM WORKER. The Hampshire Observer, Winchester, publishes a letter from Mr C. T. Allinghpm, of Taumarumii, who follows other correspondents in discussions about farm wages. ... | ,In the' first place Mr Allingham points out that wages amounts can only be comparisons. If one man gets 9d and his Goaf costs 9d, another get Is and his loaf costs Is, there is no material difference between the two. Some farmers keep hunters and cars for the same reason that people in other professions keep racehorses, dogs and ears, etc.\ Should farmers alone be deprived of such things'? “If farmers in England still are as I.knew them, there are at least as many poor in comparison with rich, as there are in other occupations. . The sentiment of home keeps them there, to the . extraordinary benefit of the country.” TAXES TO KEEP NAVVIES. “Here in New Zealand (he wirtes), the standard rate of pay for navvies is £4 for 40 hours., He usually gets near £5. A farm worker on the other hand is awarded £3 for 60 to 70 hours of higher skilled work. When our Minister for Labour was asked the reason, for the difference ho stated* ‘Farmers can pay more if they wish;' There are plenty of farmers in the meantime whose incomes are less than £3, who are compelled to pay taxes to keep navvies on relief work at standard rates, or on sustenance in good houses of their own, and owning ears on tram or bus routes, or almost adjoining railway stations. SCARCITY OP FARM LABOUR. “The result is women and children in the cowshed, farmers walking off, scarcity of farm labour, more taxes, higher cost of living, higher wages still, and so on, and this is a country supposed to be. aiming at populating its open spaces. The trouble with over-burdening with revenue is, out of approximately every shilling paid out, 6d goes for upkeep of bureaus, staffs, etc. Thus half the ■ shilling, which plight have been, sensibly spent by the small., busiaeis man, is cancelled, leaving the honest man worse off than , before. A country that neglects its agriculture is a decadent country. “Poor farmers, poor country; rich rich country. That is providing the farmer gets rich by skill and management, and not under-paid, •labour. If a farmer is rich by inheritance he would soon lose his wealth if he neglects too much. I would like to conclude by asking ‘who else has a better right to good houses and cars than farmers and farm workers, who really are contemporary farmers?’ ”