Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9173, 17 June 1908, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

THE Ministerial policy of levying restrictive import duties to aid the establishment of factories in the towns has of course, not only placed unnecessary burdens on consumers, hut has had the effect of withdrawing labour from country pursuits, and 'attracted workers to the towns. It had effect of increasing rentals in the centres. Judging from some remarks made to a Lyttelton Times reporter some of its evils are attracting the notice of the Minister of Lands, though he does not yet suggest the true remedy. He said: ‘ ‘ Farm labourers are required in every part of New Zealand. Canterbury cannot secure the labour it needs for work on the land, and from one end of the Dominion to the other the men on the laud are asking for labour and offering good wages, but they caunot be supplied. A few men hanging round the towns are calling themselves ‘unemployed,’ but it is a matter of choice with them. The work and the wages are ready. The farmers were not asking for skilled labour, they wanted ablebodied men who were willing to work, and'the wages offered for such men were as high as 27 s 6d a t week with food and lodgings found. That was equal to at least £2 10s week iu the towns, and, moreover, the man in the country was not required to spend on clothing and in other directions nearly as much as was the man In the town. Promotion amongst farm labourers is more rapid than in any other grade of service in New Zelaland. That is one of the causes of the trouble. A good man passes very quickly from the ranks of the farm labourer to those of the small: farmer, and from there the prospects are unlimited. The proportion of employed who have risen to the ranks of the employers in the farming industry is enormously greater than :in any other Industry in New Zealnd. The shortage of labour in the country is likely to be more severe in the future even than it is at present, because huge areas of land will be opened in the North Island and will not only demand a great deal of farm labour but will lift many o±”the”present farm labourers to_the ranks) or the farmers or employers. The remedy for the existing "’difficulty certainly lies in inducing some of the casual labour at present found in the cities and towns to get out into the country and’live there. The Government labour bureau and tke other labour agencies try to supply the needs of the farmers, but the task becomes very difficult when the men who could do the work are in the centres. There cannot be the least doubt that the labourers and the community generally would benefit enormously if we could persuade more men to settle down in the country townships. What we want to do is to persuade a part of our present casual labour to get out Into the country.” The foregoing merely represents what has been frequently said by this and other independent journals. There is a dearth of workers in the primary producing industries, which alone create wealth, and the effect of this must be disastrous or detrimental to prosperity. The “protected” factories do not add a shilling a year to the wealth of the country; on the contrary they prevent it iheing utilised to as great advantage as it otherwise would @e. Almost the whdle of our exports are the produce of the primary producing industries. The remarks of the Minister in regard to the rapid manner in which the farm labourer develops into the small farmer shomd cause his colleagues to reflect as to whether their energies should not he devoted to lessening the burdens on the men on the laud. This, of course, would mean a reversal of their present policy, but its effect would be to greatly increase prosperity, and settle the land settlement question iu the best possible way, by creating a nation of small farmers, each cultivating his own freehold.

AT a dinner given to the delegates of the National Defence League in Wellington, the Minister for Defence, Mr McNab, stated ' that 'it was not the policy of the Government to have compulsory military service. So far as can he judged from the expenditure on our defence forces, it will soon be a question whether the present Ministry propose to dispense with military service altogether. , In 1902 the strength of the permanent apd volunteer forces was 19.G81 men. The present strength is 18,491; a;

diminution of 6000 men, although the population has since: 1902 increased by 100,000. The expenditure has Shnilarly decreased, and last year was the smallest since the year 1901. In view of the absolute ncessity of putting the country in a condition to resist invasion, the inaction of the Ministry can hardly be condemned in strong enough terms. With record surplusses and in a time of unexampled prosperity, the Government has economised on the one department in which a cheese paring policy may lead to absolute ruin.