STANDARD OF LIVING

Taranaki Daily News, 10 September 1940, Page 2

STANDARD OF LIVING

new zealand farmers i INTERESTING SURVEY j The standards of life enjoyed by New Zealand dairy farmers are discussed in an inleresting manner in a survey rompiled by Mr. W. T. Doig. of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Every aspect of farm life has been reviewed: characteristics and stzes of farms. analyses of production, butterfat per acre and other stock carried are suiveyed in the purely farm sector, Under "the household" are givCn statistics oi the sizes of families, hours of work, rooms per dwelling and household faclllties. Sport. leisure and forms of recreation are studied and full detalls of expenditure complete a perfect picture. The investigation was made with the | : assistance of the Institute of Pacific Re- | lations which made a grant towards the , cost and some of whose members asslsted in planning the survey. Founded on material supplied by dairy-farmers themselves the bulletin is a worthwhile contribution to the study of standards of rural life and economic use of land. Over 500 Households. To obtain the r'ata the strrvey extended over 12 districts tn the Dominion— from Kaitaia in the north to Edendale in Southland — and in all 526 dairy-farrn households contributed details of their budgets. Taranaki was represented by 129 units in the districts of Lepperton, Inglewood. Manaia north and Manaia SOuth. All the fai-ms were selected as representative of all types and the services of field officers and men thoroughly familiar with the dairying Industry were enlisted to ensure that the survey, while confined to a limited number of farms. should truly represent a cross-section of the whole industry. Information as to dwelling houses showed that 78 per cent. were classed "excellent," "very good" or "sound": 15 per cent. were "defective": nearly 5 pei cent. "very defective" and less than 2 per cent. "dilapidated." The greatest number of houses (38 per cent.) contained five rooms and of the total 82.74 per cent. had from four to six rooms. Of the total number of houses 8t per cent. had electricity available and 80 per cent. of the total had electricity connected. The exten" to which electricity was used to operate domestic appliances was as follows : Electric iron. 95 per cent.; vacuum cleaner. 36; electric range. 30; hot water system. 29; washingmachine, 15; ' refrigerator. 5 per cent. Only 27 per cent. of all dwellings had no hot water service or a low-pressure boiler. "Luxury" Equipment. Statistics of household equipment which might be included in the "luxury" or semi-luxury class show that In three important modern amenitles farmers were fairly well equipped. as 63 per cent. had a telephone, 82 per cent. a radio and 78 per cent. a motor-car. In preparing this survey an attempt was made to ascertain as accurately as possible the hours worked by the various persons engaged in farm work. While there are possibilities of error it may be assumed that two-thirds of the dairyfarmers who furnished returns worked more than 65 hours per week during the busv season. Less than 5 per cent. worked less than 44 hours per week and in the other direction 65 per cent. were in the 65-74 and 75-84 hour classes. More difflculty was experienced in securing accurate data on the hours worked on dairy-farms by women. It is clear. however. that of all workers in the survey 23.22 per cent. were women. Approximately 26 per cent. of the wives recorded 40 hours or over per week and 72 per cent. did 25 hours or more per week. After wives the next largest group of women workers comprised daughters who have left school. Hours worked by these ranged from 1L to- 92 per week but the average over-alf. was, .39 per week. Sporting Activities. Of the male farmers in the survey 84 per cent. did not as a habit attend any sports or games, 12 per cent. attended one type of sport ind 4 per cent. two types! Those who actively engaged in sport were only 36 per cent. of the total. The chief sports attended by farmers and members of their families as spectators were Rugby football and horse racing, and the sports in which active participation was taken were tennis, swimming, fishing, golf, Rugby football, shooting and cricket in that order. More than half— actually 57.7 per cent. — of farmers were members of the Farmers' Union and 24.6 per cent. belonged to a lodge or friendly society, but only 19.7 per cent. were classed as members of an automobile association and 19 per cent. of an A. and P. society. To conclude this summary of a meticulously careful piece of analysis two interesting facts may be quoted: 41.9 per cent. of the farmers and 34.27 per cent. of farmers' wives took no holidays away from the farm and the average farm household subscrlbed to more than one daily newspaper, the average being 1.72 to each occupied house.