FARMERS SHUNNING LABOR

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 30, 25 June 1914, Page 8

FARMERS SHUNNING LABOR

NOT LOOKING FGlt CHOPPING LA>"D. A SERIOUS POSITION. Dunedin, June 22. A man wtoe ot-c ipation takes him into tlie country and brings him into touch with l'araici's has come. in from n. tour of Otagp with a dismal report as to the outlook for cropping. ■He declares that lie has met quite a number of young men, sons of fanners, and so forth —sturdy fellows who intend before long to strike out on their own account —-ind that amongst them there is a common desire to select land that will not invoVe cropping. They are tired of tflie exactions of labor. "I find," he said, "that the agents are having a, similar experience. One of them ussured me the other day tliat 19 ©ut of every '2O enquirers say 'I must have land that can be worked without having to grow much feed for the stock. I don't want to liaive to put on labor.' " Ask«d what there was to complain of, our informant cited two examples of harsh treatment by the faimi hands. In one case the men wexe assembled for leading in tike crop, and suddenly knocked off and went away for the day on learning that a football match was to be played in the district, leaving the proprietor to watch the barometer alone and wonder ■whether or not rain would come and spoil his grain before it could be (housed. In the other instance a farmer in a small my was! detained at a distant sale, and could not get 'home till late at night, when he ieanied that the two rouseabouts had refused to milk the two cows that were kept to supply the homestead l . "This," he continued, "is the sort of thing that farmers have to put up with, and they are full up. Wherever I go I hear of laud Ibeing thrown into grass, for that and 110 other reason. I am personally acquainted with one man who said to ine: 'No more wheat. I grew nearly 4000 sacks last year; about 50 this year; next yejw, none.'" "What I want to know is what is to become of our grain trade if this sort of tiling, now widespread in Otago, is to become general. Put something about it :n your paper, and let the public know what is going on. Tt may also help to give the men .themselves an idea, of the consequence of tliei, r doing-. If <rK,ingrowing stops there will be some trouble tor New Zealand to meet its obligations, and there will certainly 1k» more trouble Ltian ever in the y of imenvnlovment." 1 1