Country Labour: Its Organisation.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 23

Count ry Labour : Its Organisation.

TO THE EDITOR. Sm,— An address en this subject at Miiton by Mr A. 11. Barclay, M.P., has just conn under mv notice, ll may he as well to reply to specious nonsense such as Xir Barclay talked, though I have no doulie most of the farm labourere at Milton are 100 hard-headed to be deluded by it. His first point is that 100,000 people engaged in rural pursuits produced £22,000,000 worth of produce last year, or £220 per head ; and he implies that each farm labourer's share phould have been £220. Now, without taking into consideration that last year was an exceptionally prosperous one. not likely to be equalled for for some time, it is obvious that all rent, interest, and expense other than wages should be. deductad from the £22,000,000 before it is available for distribution. Mr Barclay's next point is that unorganised labour is always the woret paid, and he urged his hearers to organise at once. Now. the fad is that unorganised country labour has, in the last 15 years, improved its position more than any other class of labour in this country. Wages hay« risen at l«ant 20 ]>Jr cent, on the aveiaga

lhe cost of living, according to Mr Barclay, has risen from 25 per cent, to 100 per cent.., pay an average of 50 per cent. This means that if the board and lodging of a farm labourer cost his enipk>3-cr 10s per week 15 years ago, it now coats him 15s per week. In other words, it means a rise of 5s per ■week in the labourer's p;iy. Further, the accommodation he get 3, though perhaps not perfect yet, ie better than it was, while his work is oertainly no harder and holidays are more frequent. The best Mr Barclay claims for organised labour is ihai wages have increased 8j per cent, and expenses have increased 50 per cent., =o tli-it the organised worker is inuoh worv off than before; while the country labourer's wages have increased by 20 per cent., his food, which costs more, is etill found for him, and his conditions of labour are certainly no "worse. It is possible that my assertion that wage 3 have risen 20 per cent, may be challenged. Of course, it is not easy to get exact figures, but take one or two of the ordinary classes of farm labourers. Common ploughmen used to get 17s 6d per ■week, leading men about 22s 6d ; now they can easily get 22s 6d to 50s respectively. Boys got about 7s 6d per week, and now get 15s and Is 6d; while all other classes have secured increases. Even if wages had remained stationary the farm labourer would still have the advantage, ac on Mr Barclay's own showing the town workers' lot is worse thap it was 15 years ago. That there is poverty in New Zealand is sadly true, but there is little or none of it in the country. As Mr Barclay says, it is prevalent in the towns where practically all the labour is organised. Mr Barclay's theories about the future solution of labour problems may or may not be right ; his facts about the present state of affairs are all wrong. — I am. etc.. Clinton. March 4. James Begg.