FARM LABOUR IN WAIKATO.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1953, 13 January 1885, Page 2

FARM LABOUR IN WAIKATO.

-♦-- - V ronHLsroM>i\r ujites:— The greatest ulmitted di.iwluJv to tiio success of fanning, or ;>t K'.ist crop l.u-ing m W.ukat<> is tlic diMiiioss of labour, or tnoto propei ly speaking the scarcity of l.'ibour, for the piico is unavoidably uiled by tin supply. When a fannpr raises an extensive crop, in addition to the great cost of putting it in, when the har\pit anives, thedein.indforl.ibnirissogie.it, aud the supply so limited in comparison, good hands become the subject of competition, .uid arc only secured like an article at auction, by the highest bidder. F.uineis ■ire thus compelled to employ labours at .1 rate decidedly inconsistent w ith the pi ice which they receive for their pio 'luce, and to this cause, their non-succiess is mainly attubuted. But it will be noticed that among our farming communities in this country there is an almost entuo absence of that system of mutual assistance, which prevails in other countries, and used to be a featuie in Waikato in the old day*. In the old country, when the ploughing season commences, it is not unusual to see ten or fifteen ploughs at work in the one paddocK. When the harvest season comes round, the same mutual assistance is otteied. The success and che.ipness of thesj-.teni is undoubted, and if it were tiied nioie gencwilly heie, the complaint about the ruinous expense of labour would in a gioit nieasme vanish. lam pleased to notice that in some of the moie thickly settled neighbourhoods, the sy.stem h be.njr tiied with very great success. In the vicinity of To Aw.unutu, the plan has of late, reverted to, and with such success th.it before long, other neighbourhoods will be encouiaged to give it a new trial. Xot only is a gieat «a\ing effected, but with Mich mutual assistance as this a stiongei community of inteie-.t is engendered, and the- lessons and fxpeucwes of each other are moie easily coiiHnnnic.itod.