Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5095, 23 July 1877, Page 2

The war news published this morning contains at least one item of great interest to Britons. If the rumor be correct that negotiations are in progress for the entry of the British fleet into the Dardanelles, then it is certain that the apparent failure of the Turks to prevent their enemies making headway in Europe has in it a purpose, and that at the critical moment Constantinople will be defended by England in European interests. Contradictory reports are sent as to the result of the fighting in Asia Minor. The Russians still claim to hold Ardahan, and to have merely retired to the south of Kars after having relieved Bayazid. Considering, however, that at one time they had advanced beyond Bayazid, there seems little doubt that the Turkish account of their retirement is the true one.

It would seem that farm laborers in the United States are not so very much better off than those in England, and are infinitely worse off than those in New Zealand. Mr. J. Coleman, of Eiccall Hall, York, lately read a paper before the .Farmer’s Club, at the Caledonian Hotel, ildelphi, on American farming and agricultural machinery, and speaking of the reports as to the high rates of wages in the United States, he said :—“During the heyday of manufacturing prosperity this might have been partly true, i.e., as regards wages ; but now, as to the Eastern States more especially, my advice to intending emigrants would be ‘ stay at home,’ because they can get here equally high wages for much less work. On the Oaklands farm, of 1000 acres, all arable, about thirty-five hands are employed throughout the year. These are all hired. The average wages at the time of my visit were lOdola. a month (£1 6s. Bd.), equal to £22 a year. Rations are estimated to cost 100 dollars pep annum, equal to £lB 6s. Bd.; total per head, £4O 6s. Bd.; or an average of nearly £1 10s. per acre per annum, which is probably double the sum paid in the district. A very creditable feature of Mr. Young’s enterprise is the fact that he contrives to find work all the year round. The married men occupy comfortable cottages on the estate, with gardens not exceeding a quarter of an acre, which are cultivated by the female portion of the family. The single men are lodged at the farmhouse, and all but additional hands are fed. The following is the programme of summer work : —The hired servants must be up at 4 a.m., ready to milk the cows, dress and feed the mules. Breakfast, consisting of coffee, salt meat, potatoes, and bread, is served up at 4.30, or as soon as the milking is completed ; at 5.30 the teams leave the stables, and do not return till 11, when they are watered and fed. The hands have dinner, con-isting of meat, fish, and vegetables. Work is resumed at 12, and continued until sundown —about 7.30 in summer. Mules are stabled and fed at 8; supper and bed conclude the day. Thus the men work for fourteen hours a-day, and this often with a temperature of 85deg. to 95deg. in the shade. They are employed in gangs as much as possible, and the foreman, who is provided with a horse and buggy, keeps a sharp oversight. No extras for hay and harvest. The only holiday is on Christmas Day, and all lost time is deducted, even in the case of absence on account of illness."