THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1920. A FARMER'S WAGES.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 15 October 1920, Page 2

THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1920. A FARMER'S WAGES.

; The dairy farmer has been prominently before the public eye of late. A j great many people—more particularly 1 the city workers—appear to have boon labouring under the delusion that all dairy farmers are making their for--1 tunes fast—that the man on the land \ ha» simply to fill the milk buckets and . spend the big milk cheques. The l evidence recently given by a number j of practical dairymen before the But- ! ter Committee set up by the House of j Representatives must have been somewhat of a revelation to these city dwellers, and we recommend all those who are fond of quoting the dairy farmer as a gross profiteer and a man to be envied, to carefully peruse the evidence referred to. Referring in the House a day or two ago to the wages earned by coalminers. Mr Massey sa.d that at the State mine the wage per shift ranged from -4s Id to -7s Sd. “I do not know,*' he added, “of any other industry where the men can make such* good money as they can make in the coal mines to-day. I wonder what the dairy farmers would have to charge for butter if they worked the same hours and charged for their labour at the same rate.-"’ He J expressed the opinion that if the dairy I farmer got the same wage--, butter could not be produced for 5s yer -bA Morrinsville settler with a turn iot figures has been making some calculations which throw some light on th-. question of comparative earnings. He states, to begin —ith, that a dairv farmer works twelve hours a day fo» nine months of the year, and eight hours a day tor the other three months. Milking 13 cows, each of which gives iSOlb of batter-fat (which is above the New Zealand average;, he would ears 2s 6d, plus 15. equal £537 I Os, plus G-f.Sbulir of skim milk at r>i per 1001 b. equal £l6 4s; total. £553 135.1 f a miner worked the same . hours he would earn at 30s 6Jd per shift ; the average, at the Puke-mho mine) £726 2s Sd a year. X carpenter working the same hours, at 5s 6d per hour plus overtime, would earn £36 4 17; «sd. while a general labourer’s earnings. on the same basis, at 12s 6d per •jr ; -.-. would amount to £J->3 Os I'M On these figure- the settler show* that the dairy farmer only receives a general labourerV wages, without any return for capital invested in lur.d. stock, and plant, and he contends that he is the lowest paid worker in the Dominion. V,. allowance is made in the shrove figures for the ;>rk done fcy farmers ’ wives and children, the great majority or whent hear a full share or the izCfciiant toil tint is the. inevitable lot cf the dairyman.. Allowing for ilrgut discrepancies the figures quoted above form a good basts for comparison, and

ptove beyond question .that the lot Ol I the dairy farmer is not. “all beer and 1 skittles,” but that he earns every ' 1 -penny he receives for liis butter-fat. i *lf the dairymen of Xew Zealand ear- < ried on their work on trades union lines, as regards hours and wages, ( what would happen? Why the whole ( business would go to the wall, and ; Xew Zealand would soon be on the ( verge of bankruptcy. There is no j ] harder-worked man in the Dominion*! than the dairy farmer, and if some of j . those who cast envious eyes at the I farmer, and grudge him his well- j earned comtorts, were only to show a little of his dogged perseverance and steady application to work, it would be a great deal better for their own pockets and for the country as a whole. 1