THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, September 14, 1940. DAIRY FARMERS AT HOME

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24403, 14 September 1940, Page 10

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, September 14, 1940. DAIRY FARMERS AT HOME

What is a dairy farmer? The question may have been asked and answered in various ways, but never in the history of New Zealand as exhaustively as in a new publication of the Department of Scientific Research, which bears the title " Standards of Life of New Zealand Dairy Farmers." This booklet, compiled by officers of the Social Science Research Bureau, is a tribute to the indefatigable and—if social science admits the word —inquisitorial zeal of Mr W. T. Doig and his helpers. In this inquiry they have examined the genus dairy farmer inside and out —in his " excellent" or " dilapidated " home, in his work, in his play, at his meals, and at the doctor's. It follows him to meetings, dogs him at. the kinema, and even intrudes upon him when he is in .-the bathroom—that is, if he possesses a bathroom, for it would seem that there is a fair proportion of dairy farmers that does not.. Dairy farming, as it is astutely observed by the scientific researchers, is an industry in which there is "predominantly a family set-up in relation to the running of the farm," arid so it is not the farmer himself only, but also the farmer's household (consisting in socially scientific terms of 4.9 persons) which must be examined. On the whole, the farmer's wife, , contrary to popular report, appears to have an easier time than her husband. Whereas he works in the busy season 69.99 hours a week, she is able to get through, her weekly chores in 31.78 hours a week, assisted by hired employees, daughters and relatives. Whereas he has to rise at such unearthly hours as 4.30 Or 5.30 to start the day's work—and even at 3 a.m. or earlier, if all that the researchers were told is to be believed —his wife presumably can stay in bed a little longer. At least, there is no mention of her getting up to make hifn a cup of tea. Yet there are, perhaps, compensation! for the farmer- He attends the " pictures " more often than his wife, 1.02 times to her 0.94 times to be exact; he belongs to more sports and games clubs than she does; and is a better library subscriber, though bookborrowing is not, apparently, one of the major pursuits in the' cow country. The Farmers' Union claims support of 57 per cent, of the farmers, with 42 per cent of their wives in the Women's Division or the Women's Institute. A mere 0.08 per cent, of the menfolk and 0.03 per cent, of the women attend a lecture once a month, while even fewer go to concerts. In other respects, they are, however, quite gregarious. Rugby football is popular as a spectacle, and the übiquitous racehorse has his followers in plenty. In a test period of two weeks of the summer season, 45 per cent, of the farmers interviewed had made visits which could be scientifically described as "of a formal or semi-formal nature," and 60 per cent, had received " formal" calls. Such sociability is, no doubt, encouraged by the possession of motorcars by 78 per cent, of the farmers; and there is always the attraction in a visit to neighbours of hearing an accomplished performer • upon the tambouritza, bagpipes, zither, mouthorgan or swanee whistle—to name only a few. of the musical instruments which the researchers discovered in the dwellings included in their survey. ' In a substantial one hundred pages of statistics and suitable commentary the * Social Science Research Bureau has amassed all this information, and much more besides, concerning the family life of some 500 dairy farmers and their families. Their inquiry has obviously been most painstaking. Whether it is of sufficient significance to justify the continuation of these studies among other representative sections of the community, as is already being done, is probably one question that the ' researchers will not put to those upon whom they call. But there is a hint of rather negative achievement in the conclusion announced by them, that "the tests showed: that there was no apparent relationship between standard of schooling attained by the farmer and amount of butterfat produced, nor between schooling and butter-fat produced per acre." This may be a rebuke to educationists, but it tends to suggest to practical people that all the laborious research in the world into the pergonal habits and private lives of primary producers will not cause one more blade of grass to grow, nor produce one more' pound of butter nor one more bale of wool. On the contrary, the time spent in the.interrogations might very well have its effect in keeping the farmer from his work and so decreasing production.