FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 26, 24 February 1909, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY.

GOOD WAGES ON FARMS. We are told that there are hundreds of men out of work in the cities ("writes the travelling correspondent <>f the Dominion), but in the country they would find plenty of work and' a much more healthy life. The farmers don't known whore to put their hands on men who are willing. Only the other day a Ran gitikei farmer hunied a portion of liis oat crop because it had been so long exposed to the weather that it was valueless. It had been hi stook for weeks. This was mainly because he could not get sufficient labour. Another farmer, whose place 1 passed the other day, wain a fix also. He could not get men. and his crop was in danger of being damaged by a change of weather. Hardly a day passes without some farmer •asking me if T know of a good man ; Sometinves it is a ploughman that i> wanted ;at others a general farm hand; the other day it was a fencer. A good fencer seems to be almost past getting. There is work in abundance ammg the farmers for those who are willing to accept it at a reasonable wage. Only the other day I was talking to a farmer in the Kairanga district, where he and his man were repairing fences. He told nic he was paying one shilling and threepence per hour. Now, that is out of all reason ; it is the extra harvest wage ; but he could not get a man for less. Many a farmer would put on extra men if he could get theni at a reasonable rate. Then, again, there arc so many who arc not worth their tucker." A Johannesburg paper points out the 'average size of a farm in Great Britain is 03 acres, in America 140 acres, and in the Transvaal 5000 acres.