“DESPERATE PLIGHT”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 January 1943, Page 2

“DESPERATE PLIGHT”

DAIRY FARMERS AND LABOUR SHORTAGE STATEMENT AT ARMED FORCES APPEAL BOARD. SCHEME TO REPLACE GRADE I. MEN. “The labour shortage has placed dairy farmers in a desperate plight,” stated Mr R. W. Kebbell, chairman of the Wairarapa Primary Production Council, at today’s sititng of the No. 2 Armed Forces Appeal Board (Napier), in Masterton. Mr Kebbell spoke in reply to a submission by the Crown representative (Mr J. S. Wauchop) that insufficient action had been taken to replace a reservist, Robert J. Conwell, farm labourer, who was appealed for by John A Conwell. Mr Kebbell said that in some cases no one had been left to milk cows, and the Primary Production Council was most concerned about the situation. In response to advertisements in the Press for Grade 11. and Grade HI. men in camp to volunteer for farm work to release Grade I. men for service, one application had been received, and that from a man who was a watchmaker in civilian life. The chairman, Mr H. B. Lusk, asked if the Grade 11. and Grade 111. men in camp had been advised of the scheme. The Army was supposed to provide publicity. Mr Kebbell: “Unfortunately, the Army has not yet furnished us with a list of Grades 11. and 111. men.” Mr Lusk said that the case before the board was similar to many to be heard by the board. He emphasised that no great effort had been made to replace the reservist, and that the labour employed on the farm was practically the same as was the case before the war. It was the board’s intention to adjourn the case and similar cases to the first sitting in March. By that time the Government’s scheme to replace Grade I. men with lower grade men,should be under way.