LABOUR LEGISLATION.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 196, 31 August 1901, Page 3

LABOUR LEGISLATION.

TO THS HDITOIt. Sir, —I r- ad in your issue of the 22nd inaiant a letter over the signa'ure of “ Weary Willie,” in which I notice ho lakes you to task for saying ihr.i you thought the labour legislation of this colony was travelling too fant. I also notice in jour leader in the same issue y«.n pronounce “Weary Willie” a ihoagutleus writer, and I might say, afur -oj.dlng his letter through, I am cornpollo i to o;:nie to the earnr oonclusiou. ‘•Weary Willie” nee uo icgard for the truth wliaffvur, and no sense of sham-", or he would not have presented jour readers with such a trashy Utter as ihe one referred to. “ Weary Willie ” thinks that the farm labourer doeg not got half wh*t ho ought to got. Of course he dosa not. And fho had deads tho amount, “Weary Willie” would iff n a*.k for more; for this reason, I think, hi o to be UMr<-a*onrhle, unsarupuloun, untruthful, or Msa ignorant of tho subject he scribble* about. If he only waits a while, his friend, Mr R, J. S- ddon, will Und him in luo right place at the right moment. If ho wrl only have patience, and hold cn too saute track, he will get all ho "."ke for. “ Weary Willie ” t.tks what aiuesimaii has made so much as the fr.nntu . i\ by, tho an.iwov to tb it question may bo seen in Walmate, whore respectable fortunes have been made, most all of it out of th® sooi&l p«?t called ftrmeis. lithe farmer couid derr.s.nd a paying price for kin produce, he aoul 1 .afford to giro bettor wages, hut ho id at the mercy of every hawk. Like a now-born lamb in the paddock, everyone lisa & pick at him. Look at the army of hawks in Wnimate, who rove about the district to try and catch the weary straggler off his guard to get his hard earned products cut of hia hands at less th,n their market value. How many poor wretches ware caught napping this year with tbeir oats at Is lid to la 2d by Turnbull, Friedlandar, Stead and Co:, who are building up immense fortunes out of the m»n who h&ve to carry the burden of tho country, and thou they are expected to hold their place, and like a man with a rorolvsr p-eeankird at his head are not allowed to defend themselves. No doubt tho farmer ia a favoured individual ; he pays no rates scarce!v. Take the small bird psst. The Official Year Book says that the birds only take throe bushels per acre of grain, that ia not much, only 300 bushel* from a hundred acres, ai d no farmer should growl about that. Than he pays very little county rates to keep the roads in order and to maintain an expensive staff, who aro worked so hard and get so little pay that they deem it necessary to raise the rates this year £1 or £2 per acre, and yet I have nob he*rd a wince out of them They are a lamblike class of people who will put up with anything rathi*r than make a noise about it. I may tell “ Weary Willie ” that I know some farmers who have not had even a starvation wage this last year or two. One poor fellow threshed on’y seven bags of wheat off thirty acres. Not much wages in that. Serve him right says “Weary Willie,” that ia good enough for him, what more could ha expect, he is a social pest. Yet, Sir, may I tell “ Weary Willie 1 that though that man may whine a little he slogs on 3(J5 days in the year and I believe ho will do so to the end of the chapter. And they are the men wo want, Sir, and no “ Weary Willie,” who walks the streets nine months of the year and grow) about other people getting on, because he has not the backbone to enable him to fight ihe battle to bring him to victory. In conclusion, Sir, allow me tc say that I begin to think that we are a favoured lot, for tho other day the valuer paid us a visit and informed us that he was going to put £1 10s to £2 per acre on our land, in order to squeezu a little more rates out of us, and I hope my fanner friends will take it in good part and say nothing, but anty up as soon as possible, say not later than the 31st March nexi, 1902. This is the fruit of rating on tho unimproved value. Thanking you in anticipation—--1 am, etc., Earth Wobm.

TO THE EDITOE. Bib, —1 have noticed several letters on the above in your paper lately, and beg leave to give my humble views on the subject as representing the farm labourers, and in as fair a sense as 1 am able to, both to the labourer and the farmer. With "Casual” I agree that the farm labourer should be included in the “ insurance racket,” as 1 hold that a man is as much likely to get injured of killed at farm work as at any other. In' the matter of a fixed wage for farm hands, however, I lean more to favour the farmer, as 1 do nob see clearly how a farmer can possibly pay a man nine or ten shillings a day at the present time, prices for farm products being so low. Btill, I-consider £1 per week bub meigro remuneration for the work done, and would like 25a or 30*, if possible, £2«f

£3 I hold to be impossible. The iSigtu Hours Bill, if applied to farmer*, will, in my opinion, be a most awkward and unpleasant measure, ai I know from experience that iu farm work it is very hard to be exact in starting work and knocking off; even if the working hours wore stipulated to be, say, for y-eight nr fifty per week, the perplexing badness of keeping to the Uw would no', bo overcome, One farmer I heard speaking tho other day said that if the Bill were passed he, for one, would have to employ two men where he now employed one ; but thoy would have to share tin# £1 every week, and he would give no more ; so I contend that this Bill will not benefit the labourer. The betterment of the lot of a farm labourer would be more surely advanced if a Bill named “Tho Harm Labourers’ Accommodation Bill,” providing comfortable quarters for tnose men, wore passed. Though not a prohibitionist (excuse the deviation), I consider such a Bill would help the Prohibition cause. The Half-holidav Bill, as applied to farmers, is & wrong measure; a Whole Holiday Bid would bo more sensible, providing for, aay, a week or a fortnight’s recreation. Government employees and town bushes employees are IrnoWn to gao the* 1 ?, holidays and to be paid while having them, but a poor farm labourer, if be v.*tE a Holiday, ban, as a rule, to put someone in bis place, and pay him too •omo'irna*. Our worthy Premier is a good man, but even good men arc apt to go astray, and in some of th as Bill.-, he has dons no. The Insurance Bill is the only fe.% ible one of those I have men lion ed.—l am, etc., Pr.orciH Bov.