FARMS AND LABOUR.

Otaki Mail, 19 February 1919, Page 3

FARMS AND LABOUR.

I.W.W. MENACE.

I . ,STICKING ADDRESS. 1 \t Palmerston on Saturday, under Hie auspices of the l-'armors’ Union, jtr Poison gave a line address. He described the districts he had visited in Queensland, the richness of the soil in many parts and., its productiveness do‘■pile the fact that sometimes they were without lain for as long as a year at a retell. One large area h.e mentioned •is being good country, some of the best, pasture in the States, and vet wholly ~jveii up to prickly pear, which was spreading at the rate of about a Million acres a year. No attempt was being made to cope with the pest, simply be--cause the'people lmd..not the heart or l (lie inclination to do it. One disadvantage the settlers liad to labour under 5 was that there were absolutely nojnetalled roads in Queensland, only

tracks which in wet weather were praetieally impassable. Referring io the country known as the Great Barrier, he said it was covered with some of the host, pastures in the State. He had visited one. man’s holding of 20,000 acres which had carried one sheep to the acre, although it had not- liad a drop of rain probably for years, artesian water being alone available, This artesian water was hot, but the stock took it. and the fodder was excellent. It was impossible to got this country cut up as it should be, simply because of the labour conditions. Fires hud been tried, but as it liad been impossible to get the necessary labour, they had spread unchecked over large areas of country and great quantities of stock had been destroyed. One incident illustrating the , attitude of Labour he. would narrate: At one place a lire was spreading so alarmingly that the neighbouring township was hastily communicated with and a number of men, secured, at 5s per hour, to assist in lighting tlic flames. These men came from the township and started work, tmt as soon as they saw the homestead building was seriously threatened, they promptly struck for vs per hour. That was ou pastoral country, but further north, oil the coast, dairying was carried on with considerable success. There were dairy factories as good as any in New Zealand, and as to the carrying capacity of the land, he knew of One farm'that carried a milking cow to the acre and the young stock ns.well. Farmers would know what that meant, and would realise what tho big plateau to which he referred would likely become if the labour conditions were only right. At first a visitor to Queensland would not realise that the labour conditions were much different to those existing in New Zealand, but a little experience would enlighten him. If lie was staying at an hotel and had to leave early in the morning lie would have to go with dirty boots and without even a cup of tea because none of the employees would work before or after certain stipulated hours, no mattor'what the emergency. The wages wore not materially different from those in New Zealand, but the go-slow policy was more largely in force. The workers of Queensland understood that policy very thoroughly. He had visited freezing works, probably the greatest in the world, and had been surprised at the extraordinary number of men employed in a place so splendidly equipped with machinery and every modern appliaSce The manager told him that it could not be helped: the whole trouble was that the union delegate visited the works about once a week and ordered that a man should be placed here and another one there and so on. The delegate’s orders had to be obeyed or there would be a strike at once. At one freezing works on the coast an incident occurred worth recounting. The hands had decided upon a picnic and the manager had consented simply because he could do nothing else. The day for the picnic arrived, and the manager visited the works to sec that things were all right: when lie found the coopers sitting round waiting for admission. They said they were not going to the picnic, they were coopers, not blanky butchers, and they wanted to work. The manager, again because he could do nothing else, said he would pay them for the day, but when pay day came round they demanded double pay as it was a holiday. ‘And they got it. otherwise there would have been a strike! He would give another instance. At one of the works in the north they canned: they did not freeze anything. She butchers got ahead of the «annors. with the result that a serious wastage was throatened. The fanners on being spoken to said they could no longer keep up with the butchers, as the latter were getting faster by experience. They suggested that in order to keep up with the butchers they should start at 4 o’clock in the morning, and this was, perforce, agreed to. The point was that from 4 o’clock in the morning until 7 they had to be paid double time. (Laughter.) A remarkable thing had occurred at Hughenden. An award by the Arbitration Court in connection with hotel workers was made retrospective, but the hotelkeepers were legally advised that, it was bunkum, that an award could not be made retrospective, anti acted accordingly. As a consequence the carters struck, and when the business men replaced them with their sons aud others the railway men struck. A Minister of the Crown came up to settle matVgis in favour of the railway men. but (''S'-employers placed their case in tlie'hands of a very -strong and able man who interviewed the Minister. The Minister hinted that there might be such a thing as legislation to compel the employers to accede to the demands of the .strikers. The employers’ representation replied'that they would fight to the end, and eventually the workers recognised that the cause of the employers was a just one aud gave in. He believed that was the only instance of an employers’ victory under the labour government of Queensland. Referring to the sugar industry ■ Had the loss sustained through: cans-

boing allowecl to lie: "tod long and consequently. ferment,- He mentioned that, at one place lie had soon Japs, efficiently perform work which, sixteen white men had failed, to do. Reverting to the Hughenden strike, he surd that when it was on, a number of T. W. Yv. men had come along to assist the .strikers. The 1 farmers and ' either loyal people- got so thoroughly fed up with sedition that was openly talked by these men. that they gathered together and ran them out of the town. Next day a train arrived with two Ministers ! of the Crown and a strong body of j .police, and . an. extraordinary spectacle | I w,as tojic £oen—an I.W.W. man talking the most awful sedition, surrounded by ■a cordon of police to protect, him from loyal uftm, who were arrested and lock- j ed up ill they in any way interfered j The meii he referred to did not, of .'coursejrc'prcsent aIL working men. There was really not patriotism in the whole ■State of Queensland, and no public spirit in the development of industry. The people would not have the freehold tenure; they preferred the leasehold, j because, when times - were good and > they made money, they could stick to j the land, and when bad times came they | could throw it up. They made as few. j improvements as they could, never at- j tempted to convert their leaseholds ' into freeholds, and the land remained I -

in large, blocks. He maintained that the salvation of this country had been the cutting up of tire large blocks into small holdings, and a continuation of that policy was essential if' they were to successfully fight Bolshevism, lie knew the Bolshevik policy well; it had come under liis notice often enough. It denied the right of voting to employers of labour, managers for or agents of employers, clergymen, lunatics, murderers and tlnjse convicted of crimes of violence against the person — offences against property did not seriously couut: The oiilb individuals to lie allowed to vote were workers and those who had been workers,but were no longer fit. That was the platform of the Bolsheviks —the . government of the fit by the unfit, and it was coining to New Zealand if they did not take care. He had seen tiro Bolsheviks’ platform openly blazoned forth and paraded in the columns of the “Maoriland Worker.” Me read a newspaper extract to show that the opinions he liad expressed in the interview to which he had alluded at the outset were endorsed by the leading Liberal newspapers of Queensland. One thing lie, had said was that betore long there ' would .probably be civil war in that i btato. He had said that because everywhere he had heard bitter compiainls against the Labour regime and open declarations that there was no remedy but armed resistance. There must be organisation to prevent the

same position arising in New Zealand. It would indeed lie a calamity if we had here the same sort of modified Labour Government as in Queensland. So Jar it was only a modified form there, but it was to develop, and-be-come more extreme as time went on. Care must bo taken in New Zealand, aud wise statesmanship would be needed, to prevent the growth of tho evil with which it was menaced. (Loud applause.) the chairman said the farmers present had heard enough from Mr Poison to convince them that there must be no further delay. He hoped those, uho had heard would endeavour to waken others to the dangers of the position.