FRUIT CANNING

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8342, 31 January 1913, Page 2

FRUIT CANNING

FRIMLEY Vi/ORKS

THE SHORTAGE OF LABOUR QUESTION.

We have received a telegram from Hastings stating that the Tress Association telegram iu our issue of yesterday, referring to the statement of u deputation to tne Prime Minister that tiie Frimley canning works were about to close down this year owing to tho shortage of labour is not altogether correct. The management has closed only the fruit-canning department, and the other departments are running as usual. This fact was made clear in our yesterday’s issue in the extract from the circular issued by -Ur E. B. Jones, tho manager, in which he said ; .“ Vo shall continue to pack ordinary lines, such as peas, tomatoes, French beans, jams, sauces, spices, etc.” It. is satisfactory from tlie point of view of tho industrial 'development of the resources of tlie country that the closing of this important factory is only partial. Wo take the following from the report of the deputation to the Prime Minister appearing in the Napier “ Telegraph ” : Mr Jones said tho works were oii the point of closing down because of the difficulty of getting sufficient labour. The lat-e Air Richard Seddou had done all in his power to assist the industry to get on a good footing. The firm had grown rapidly, and had gained a good name for their products. After three years’ labour the company had 250 hands at work, but now it was impossible to get sufficient labour to carry on. Last year they had orders for about 50,000 cases, but they could only supply about 20,000. Tho company’s wages bill was £BOOO four years ago. the year following it was £6OOO, and the next again £SOOO. The company wanted young labour, and it was impossible to get children between fourteen and sixteen years of ago to work. Mr J. N. Williams had spent £50,000 on his factory, and they could readily see what Hastings would lose by the closing of tho works There was too much labour agitation, the number of apprentices was limited too rigidly. It seemed as though the general trend in New Zealand was for labour to keep everything for itself, to kick those down, and to keep them down. The educational system had operated adversely on the younger labour, which was more plentiful years, ago, when the children could earn 10s and 15s per week. Some of tho children were being too highly educated. At this point a person at the door took strong exception to Air Jones’s remarks, and desired to know why the children should not bo educated in preference to sweating in a factory. Tho objector persisted in spite of the Premier’s offer to give an opportunity to speak.

Mr Jones: lam not finished yet. Wait till I'stop. A voice in the hall: You ought to finish now. Air Jones soon after resumed his seat.

Tlie Prime Alinister, in his reply, congratulated the fruitgrowers of Hawke’s Bay on what they had done, because Hawke’s Bay fruit was known and appreciated from one end of the Dominion to the other. He had given instructions to have a scheme prepared making it possible for fruitgrowers to get a loan from the Crown enabling them to establish canning and jam factories and cool storage. He hoped to see that become law in tho forthcoming session.

GIRLS AND BOYS AVANTED,

EFFECTS OF EDUCATION

SYSTEM.

Air Jones, in an interview with a Napier “Telegraph” reporter,.said; “As an instance of tho shortage of labour, I may tell you that when we had the big frost two years ago, we had over 200 hands waiting for work, but last year, when wo had a glut of fruit, there was only enough labour available to fulfil our contracts in the different parts of tho Dominion—44 women and 70 women and boys— not half the number which could with convenience be put oh. This year w© have only 34 men and 25 women.

"I attribute tho shortage to the Education Act. To-day there are hundreds of suitable workers about, .but one cannot get girls or boys from fourteen to twenty as one used to do when they loft school' at fourteen to go to work, either in a factory or to enter domestic service. Now the Education Act gives parents every inducement to keep their children at school, and so enable them to receive a higher education than their parents ever dreamed of. At the ages of from fourteen to sixteen they go into the secondary schools, they get free tuition, and, by passing certain examinations after those ages, scholarships arc provided. Then the advance in artisans’ labourers’ wages has enabled parent's to keep their children at school until they are' sixteen or eighteen, with the result that their education is too good to bo wasted in factories or domestic service, and wholesale application is made for service under tho Government or in private offices and shops.” “The Erimley Canning Co. have the reputation of treating their employees handsomely and taking an active personal interest in themf” remarked the reporter. “Yes, in spite of the fact that ,we pay wages demanded by tho artisan class and as high and higher wagies than are paid by similar concerns throughout New Zealand, despite that we take, a real personal interest in the material and social welfare of those engaged on the works, during the last two years I have had very few applications for employment from boys and girls from fourteen to eighteen years of age. At present there is only one boy under sixten in the factory, and the supply of female! labour is so limited that wo allow some of the married women to bring their children to work, and tho little ones play about in tho refectory all day until their mothers arc ready to go home. “ . . The labour question is so acute this season that some orchardists in and around Hastings are not able to get men to do the work, and they have to employ whatever women they can get to do the men’s work of thinning and packing fruit for tho markets. Of course, our decision has gone forth now, .but if before the issue of the circular, a hundred women had asked £1 a week wages I would have gladty cmploved them, and, proportionately, the sam’e remarks apply to the children Whilst we used to get from 100 to XoO children during the school holidays, the highest number this season is 40, and that number only for a day or two. Some parents and children look upon labour as degrading, and boys of fourteen years, who are compelled to go to work, are asking from 18s to £1 a week, but they would willingly take less to go into aii office. Surely that is an artificial and unhealthy characteristic inn our national life, (hire is an

instance of one of the most enterprising factories in Non - Zealand, one of the first to can New Zealand-grown fruits, whose proprietary ran the works at a loss for years, haring no"' at tile finish to stop canning iruit. AX EXHLAXATiOX. Press Association. • HASTINGS, January 30Thu manager of the Erimloy Canning Company has drawn the Press Association agent's attention to the fact that his omission of a few words in the telegraphed report of the deputation to the Prime Minister yesterday is calculated to do injury to the company s business. The sentence complained about was incomplete. It should have read, *' Had been compelled to discontinue the canning of both dessert and pie fruits this season. 5 ’ In order that the report lx? not misconstrued, it is important that x )U^^c^.v the following statement, which is contained in a circular the manager recently sent out: 4 * A’V itli regard to the canning of vegetables, most of this work is done by machinery, and the company is able thi* season to pack a fair quantity, hut not sufficient fill all the requirements of the Dominion. AV© shall still continue to pack our ordinary lines, such as peas, tomatoes, French beans, jams, sauces, spices, and other sundry lines as in our price-list.