THE MAGNIFICENT SHEARER.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXIII, 29 December 1920, Page 4

THE MAGNIFICENT SHEARER.

AUSTRALIANS ASK £lO A WEEK. Shearing is hard work, harder work than most town people can conceive oi. I.'p till the'present the shearer has earned the money he has got, but in Australia, according to a press cutting forwarded by Mr F. J. Nathan, the Australian Workers' Union will discuss at its conference ia January the abolition of piecework and a wage for shearers ><t £lO per week- The demands for shed hands are in propor'ion. and the only men ivho do not figure to advantage are the cook, that übiquitous person, the cook's off-sider, the boss, and the A.W.U. officials. The latter will no longer, be allowed firstclass fares on the railways. Here are a lew of the stipulations under the proposed new award: —That the ratetor shearing flock sheep he £2 5s per 100, and studs pro rata; that the rate

of shearing be £lO per week; that shed hands be paid a minimum of £5 10s a week, irrespective of age; that learners earning less than so 10s a week at shearing have their wages made up to that amount; pressers bo paid £9 per week; in the event of a contractor cot being able to pay for labour done. the same to be made up by the station owner. There :ire alternative proposals that shearers be paid £3 per 100 and fares one way, and that pressers be paid £lO per week and keep. In the event of a stoppage through wet weather shearers are to bo paid 30s per day for loss of time. All the old energy put into the end of a run will be a thing of the past. The whistle is to be blown five minutes before the end of each run, so that '' the shearer shall have ample time for luncheon.-' 7 He will not stand any longer for tinware in the service of.his "tucker,''' and he must have more air space and no top bunks. Little things like tricking Mm in at night, oathing him, anddarning socks cave been, overlooked, but that will come. Even without the aid of these the job ha? goi a lot to recommend it above that of an editor. a schoolmaster, or a politician.