WAR AND WORK.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 December 1915, Page 2

WAR AND WORK.

LABOR FOR PRODUCTIVE INDUSTRY. THE GOVERNMENT'S NEXT TASK Wellington, Dec. 9, "Do you believe that the time has arrived when labor should be diverted from the non-productive industries to increase our output of primary products?" the Prime Minister was asked by your correspondent to-day. "Yes, I do," answered Mr. Massey, who then indicated that he regards this as one of the next big war tasks the National Government will have to tackle. "Calbinet is about to go into the whole question of the distribution of labor among New Zealand industries,' 1 continued the Prime Minister. "We have lost a/bout 40,000 men, all ablebodied. That is to say, about 31,000 have already gone away to the front, and within a fortnight about 12,000 more will have gone into camp for military training. A large proportion of these men come from the country, and to some extent must be replaced, as one of New Zealand's most important war tasks is to keep up the supplies of foodstuffs for the Old Country." "How will the shortage of country labor be replaced;" the Prime Minister was asked. "We must feel our way gradually," he replied. ''The war census will be some guide to us in regard to the supply of men in the cities willing to take up country, work if it is needed as part of the nation's war work. So far, we have heard very little complaint from the country producers. They have accepted the position wonderfully well, and doing without sufficient labor, or, at all events, without being able to manage to hire labor, they seem to 'get there' in the way of keeping up the volume of their output. Men are working on farms who had not worked for years past. There has been a great run on machine milkers this season, owing to the increased difficulty of getting labor on the dairy farms, and it is a good thing for the country that the shearing machine is so weil known and used. As for the harvest, so much depends upon the weather, A wet season will double the work of harvesting and hay-making." The Prime Minister was not prepared to say exactly how the Government will deal with its labor-diversion problem, as Cabinet has not considered tho matter, but the first step, no doubt, will bo to slacken off public works construction more and more as the demand for country labor becomes pressing.