The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1912. BOYS WANTED.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 24, 11 January 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1912. BOYS WANTED.

tfc is a matter for regret, “Shaping and Commerce”' considers, that the New Zealand Government has not accorded- (Mr Sedgwick’s enlarged' scheme for the immigration of hoys foi;’ farming work,the support: and encourage-, ment its importance demands. The first batch of boys have proved in every way satisfactory' and Dominion farmers conld absorb many hundreds more of 1 tlie same class. At the present moment an unsatisfied demand exists for men as well as boys for work, and because of this scarcity proper development of our virgin soils canpot be expected. Meanwhile the exportation of our staple products languish. A more vigorous immigration Policy is urgently needed if the full fruits of pur great areas of fertile lands are to he harvested. In this respect Now Zealand does not stand alone. In Australia although every steamer arriving from the United Kingdom lands hundreds of people intent upon making a new home under the Southern Cross yet thousands more are still needed. The difficulty of preuring labour has reached such a degree of intensity that the area under cultivation in wheat is being progressively restricted. This year show.a decrease of about half a mills m acres, and, according to an expert, whose views were published a few days igo, next year will, unless conditions improve, show a further decline of a

million acres. The same handicap is being experienced in the dairying districts, where herds are being nduccd simply for want of labour. T n those circumstances it is idle for the Trades flail agitators to declare .oat it is only a question of wages, and that if reasonable inducement wore offered chore would he no lack of inch. The men are, in fact, in a position of dmost unprecedented advantage. In tlie market in which they sell the denand is infinitely greater than the

uipply, and they are disposing of their labour at practically the economic limit of its value. If it were not so, the producers would never restrict their enterprise in the way they arc loiiig. And yet the unionists agitato for both higher wages and shorter hours, and are about to approach Mr Justice Higgins with an outragems claim. They do not realise that ■ho grower of primary products caniot pass the burden on to the consumer in the manner which lias proved feasible in highly-protected manufacturing industries. He is beyond the reach of the most scientific tariff

that the mind of man could possibly .leviso, and lias to compete with the whole world. Further than this, die central union authorities who onlorse these absurd demands do not, in dicir blindness of class fooling, realise that every acre put out of cul-

tivation, and every cow withdrawn from the dairy herd, reduces the capacity of the urban industries to pay wages. We pay our debts and pur- I chase our requirements with the wheat and wool and butter and gold we ex-I port, and if the Rural Workers’ Union is not careful things may become very serious indeed. If the Government is wise it will both enlarge and accelerate its immigration programme.