AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL WORKERS' NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 25

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL WORKERS' NOTES.

By Steve Boheham.

Men' at present engaged on the sheep - ' stations shearing, etc., may Tk« Harvesting:: look forward to a good harrr»s»ecti. -vest, as the crops jurough- :-.. " out "t"he North and Stfuth Otago- and "Southland .^districts are looking Bpleridid at the .present time, and with a few moderate showers of rain^ will fill out and give a good yield. -The wages _ for harvesting, .unless the scarcity of men in- / terfer.es, will be the same as last year— that is," from lOd per hour in the smith to Is per hour in the North Otago district for stookers and- men leadin.g-in; stackers from Is to Is 2di men driving binders -from £2 10s to £3 per week, with tucker mall cases. Harvesting "will start about the first of February, and.be general about the 10th. In. the Upper Olutha .district harvesting has" already commenced, Mr Kane, of the laio-gate, having cut a large fie.d of oats. I noticed some magnificient crops of wheat oii the Hawea Flat. One crop near the lake will xHjrtainly thresh not less than oO bushels per acre. Altogether harvesters may safely calculate on the .certainty of having" a good; long, and profitable harvest. -.' _, The ?heaTing season of 1907-8 will soon "be over. Most of the back-Sliea-intr. country sheds have cut out - or are on the first point of cutting out. Shearing is practically *™f**& -6n the WaitakL Omarama cut out on Saturday last. Benmore started on December 21, and with a fair team of etearersand "With fine weather will cut out in- about lour weeks from date : of- storting. The 'rouseabouts ftd' a short strike at this station," -which.^as settled by. Mr Sutherland agreeing to the "demands of the boys. Apart from ffiis, work is progresang favour■X>the men being well satisfied with the treatment they are- *%,!!" Kayne, of Longahp, made a «tart on luesday, December 31, witt-two shearers; there Sworn for two.more on hisboard, as Mr Ka^ne will shear about 6000 bW this "year He should' -have no- difficulty in get£ng; men in Omarama for cutting out MSrven TClls made a start durong the last week in December, six .men short. 1 have Jodoubt -Mr Smith .wilTfill htf board, with Shearers .outting-out -on the Mamototo, Plains. Puketokihas-cut out, and Lmnburn was to-finish on -Saturday last. At Mprven Hills by invitation of the shearers, tiie Bedretary of/ the Mueterers', Union spoke - strongly ogainst^hearers engaging in -anytHing in lie nature'-of atstnke for a -ngher ' xateVr- pay - for" shearing: •At the- close o* !hfe--~remarkß,-.and- as a -result- thereof, the following resolution was carried amir^nt'ed to the writer, "signed by Thomas Woodland, shearers'- representative,, Morven H""-"^ "That the Shearers' Union of Otago and Southland be urged- t<T take the necessary steps -on the expifajtion "of the existing award on March 31 next to submit new demands to the sheep-owners of- Otagoand Southland asking for an increase of os 4c! iper 200, and thai the representative be inducted to' write "to the secretary of, tne Shearers' Union to this effect." I learn on good authority that * shearers throughout the industrial district are very, dissatisfied! with the price paid for' shearing at pre-sent-viz., 16s 8d per 100-and in conse•quence liey make no secret, of the tact ■ that they "intend to take action independent of their union to bring about an increase,, of pay. "Let us hope the men will do nothing co rash as strike while- they have a legal method of obtaining -what theydesire. - ' . r

iDuring mj recent toiir, _ several station - - managers complained to me Drimk - ' that men who were members Interferes of either the Shearers' or ■witkSh««ri«B Musterers' Union have - O»«rattOßf. given way to drink to such one case -which "came under my own notice* shearing operations going on stood a big chance of becoming completely disorganised. So far' as the writer- is. concerned- regarding thiir question he' has no hesitation nx condemning in the strongest, terras any man," be. he'u unionist; or a , non-unipnist ? , '■who takee drink jn such quantities that, no unfits himself for J -work, and -thereby probably throws the--whble J of the -men employed idle.- I eubniit'that a good. ducking in the nearest creek "would not be too severe a punishment for a main who so far j forgets his obligations to his employer. However," as the writer believes that pro vention is better than cure, he would be pleased "to receive, as secretary of the Musterers' Union, any suggestions from p - .ers that they may think if put into i - .-.ation -would tend to prevent members of th* Musterere' Union from making Leasts of themselves, disgracing their fellow members, and possibly by their foolish action throwing the management of a |hed »n£o a, state of- utter disorganisation^ JNotI?ithstanding what I- have said in this note 1 am not- prepared to admit that musterers or " shepherds drink to any extent. J ; ven-ture-to say without fear of contradiction that there are not 20 shepherds and musterers in the industrial district of Otago and Southland who would be guilty orneglecting their work in -favour of going on a drinking bout. 'But there should not l>9 even one, and as stated above the Mustorers' Union would be pleased to "adopt any measure that might tend to prevent members becoming intoxicated, especially .while the shearing is in progress. IThe Oinarama eheaxers and station hands held their annual sports SportKon meeting on Christmas Day. Baok-blocin - Messrs P. Waters, T. H. Statiani. Collins, and A. Rawson - xapably filled the offices of president-, "treasurer,- and secretary, in the rilder- named. Mrs A. BlcSxham supplied Christmas dinner to all hands free of charge, also afternoon tea* to "members of the -committee. Thanks to i&e energy of th& committee the events were got off without $. hitch, and "altogether a most pleasant an<J enjoyable day was spent, I" am pleased to- say that witn one exception the 40 or 50" men employed on the station turned tro Ut their work on Boxing Dg& "The id-,

lowing are the results of tli© different events: — Maiden Handicap, 100 yd. 14 entries — J. Hartley 1. Hop, Sfcp, and Jump. 10 entries— W. Wilkins scr, 87ft, 1; G. Mercer scr, 36ft 3in, 2; A. "W. Williams 2ft, 82ft sin, 3. Omarama Handicap, 130 yd. 16 entries— J. Hartley, scr, 1; E. Ward, 12yd, 2} A. "W. Williams, syd, 3. 220 Yards Handicap. 12 entries— A. B. Williams, 7yd," 1} R. Byers, 10yd, 2; T. M'Grath, 20yd, 3. m _„ Running I>ong Jump. 10 eniries— W. Welkins, scr, 16ft 10in, 1; A. B. "Williams, scr, 16ft 2in, 2: four others tied for thirds 440 Yards Handicap. 9 entries— R. Ure, 25yd, 1; A. W. Williams, 25yd, 2; J. Cochrane, 10yd, 3. . High Jiunp. 10 entries— W. Wilkms, scr, sft 4|in, 1; A. B. Williams, 3in, sft lfcm, 2; G. Mercer, Sin, sft Jin, 3. Sack Race. 8 entries— T. M'Grath, lj J. Paterson, 2; "EL Ward 3. ' Siamese •or Three-legged Race, 100yd— -G. Mercer and A. B. Williams, -1; A. . W. Williams and B. Waterworth, 2; S. Meade and Half-mile Handicap. 12 entries— R. Byers, 15yd, 1; J Paterson, 40yd, 2; J. Cochrane, 20yd, 3. , _„. Novelty Race— G. Shand, 1; J. Collingwood, 2; E. Ward, 3. 100 Yards Stepping Competition— G. Mercer and J. Collingwood, 100 yd each, 1 and 2; J. Muir, 101 yd, 3. Consolation Race— S. Meade, 7yd, 1; G. Mercer, scr, 2; G\ "Drysdale, 7yd, 3. A-t theeloseof the meeting a vote of thanks was carried to Mr and. Mrs Bloxham for the liberal manner in which they had assisted to make the day a pleasant one for the men. . ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. • " Sheep-owner. "-r-If shearers knock off work in a body at 12 noon on Saturday, not having worked 48 hours during the week, through any cause whatever, and the union representative informs you of the men's intention to do so, then a breach of the Shearers' Award has been committed, and unless the* executive of the union takes- immediate steps to decline all responsibility for the action of its representative and! the men, in my opinion the union is liable to a fine, of not more than £100 under the existing award. As I am acting for a union of workers, I decline to advise you how to proceed.... You should be a member of the Sheep-owners' Union, wJien you would be supplied' with the' information yo.u desire. "Shearer."— (l) See reply to "Sheepowner " above ; (2) Certainly, you have committed a breach of the award,- and whether a member of the union or not you are liable to a penalty not exceeding £10. . "Shearer,*' Midtdlemarch.— You ' "should not strike on any account whatever. If your employer is not supplying you with good wholesome food,' including not .less than lib' of butter per you have your remedy, but knocking off -work is not the remedy. The object of the Conciliation and Arbitration A,ct is to strikes. .If- it fails to accomplish this, then the apt becomes a dead-letter.- - You must not_-for r get that all laws are enacted for the igood of" "the jieople as a whole and not for the benefit of any "particular class. "Now,'"3n my.opinion, -to be candid with you, -we," the workers, have everything' to expect from the Arbitration ."Act ; the employers nothing, ■unless it is a protection from strikes. * You will therefore see that if strikes take place in spite of the act suoh a law presses ""unduly hard on a section of the people and could" not on any account be tolerated by the electors of thfe , DominiSnT*^ It will therefore, I* trust, be. obvious to you that in order to preserve the act it should be the object of every worker to do 'his best' to avert anything in the nature of a strike, and thus assist the law in rendering the JMily trifling benefit it is capable of meting out . to the employer, no matter how far the administrators -stretch its provisions in their favour. ~ "Musterer," Southland. — The Mueterers' Union has not an organiser travelling this season. If you or any other musterer desire 'to join the union, communicate with the secretary, No 60 Cargill road, South Dunedin. "Musterer," Mount Pisa. — The secretary of -the Musterers' Union has received a notice from the Clerk of Awards that. the Otago and Southland Sheep-owners' Association's Industrial Union of Employers have filed an application disagreeing with the board's recommendations in the mus-,-terers' dispute. The association's reasons ' for disagreeing will be heard by the court at its next sittings in Dunedin on February next. ' Owing to causes over Iwhich I have no " control, these notes have not ' appeared ■lately, I therefore apologise to my readers, and. take this opportunity of wishing each, and all a prosperous- and happy New Year, and many of them.