WORK ON FARMS

Shannon News, 31 December 1928, Page 4

WORK ON FARMS

Demand for Work OPPORTUNITY FOE YOUTHS A way out of the reported difficulty of boys and youths in obtaining practical experience in farming is suggested by the unsatisfied demand for farm labour revealed in newspaper advertising columns and requests for assistance made to registry offices. Auckland was credited last week with having 645 men ready to accept employment, end it is hardly possible to believe that all of these men are deficient in acquaintance with farming. It is common knowledge that inany of them do not care for work which will take them into the back country where pioneers are bringing land into productivity. Such objections are answered by reference to the advertisements which show that work is to be obtained in wellsettled districts and near centres which offer many of the amenities of the cities.

The demand for boys and youths for -farm work is about equal to that for men of more mature years. Little experience is looked fpr from the boys that are sought, and the wages offered plus their “keep" in good homes suggest that opportunity is knocking at the door of city and suburban lads who feel they would like to try farm life for at least a time. The assistance that required on tlie average dairy i’arnv is of a seasonal nature, but the boy who finds he has an aptitude for the work and is keen to, go ahead has little difficulty in securing a situation he can retain as long as he desires. Most of the farmers seeking to enlist the ai l of youths on the dairy farms of the province demand experience, and are willing to pay up to 30s. a week, plus\“keep," for it. The great growth in the use of machinery on the farms is revealed in the fact that acquaintance with milking plants is regarded as an essential qualification by most of the advertisers. Such knowledge/however, is not difficult of attainment, for milking machines and their oil or electric power plants have (been greatly simplified since they were introduced. If the farmers evinced a little more readiness to place facilities at the disposal of youths to gain this experience under their direction it is considered likely that their demand for labour would be satisfied!