THE PRICE OF FARM LABOUR.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1959, 27 January 1885, Page 3

THE PRICE OF FARM LABOUR.

fO THK KHirOR. Sin,— Having read several "prowls" emanating from that hardly-used class the , farmer*, which have lately appeared in your column* about the price of labour for har\e«t work, I would ask you to rho the other *ide of the quetttion a show. 1' .mners grumble because, when they require to engage «n extra number of hands for a midden spurt of work, they ha\e to pay the ordinary rate of day labour, or in fact less, an many only pay <>•, or 7s at the outside for nine hours' work, and in some cases, jwrticularly when tho employer is a small cockatoo, the labourer has to wait a long time for his money, or take it out m potato^, &c. Again, tho employment in only temporary in it* nature, and occurs during thu tine weather when any man ' worth his «alt can earn from Hs to 9s per day of eight hours, and would thee cockatooea expect any m.in to leave good work to oblige thrm by getting in their crop-, for a smaller wage? Can they offer to provide constant work at what even they consider reasonable wages? They appear indeed to expect to find, or rather to want, a plentiful supply of men to work for a nominal wage when wanted, and starve for the rest of the year. It has been a recognised fact since the earliest day* of the colonies that labour had to be paid for at its value, and the very men who grumble most loudly arc the men who ha\c in their early career benefited u««t by this fact. The capitalist and employer of labour on a large beale make due provision for e\tra Übour on emergencies, such as harvest, shearing, &c, but the cockatoo, who bjgan as a Übouier himself, and depend upon it then exacted the highest rate*, growls because he has to pay a in.in decent wagC9 for a week or two when he cannot find empl<>yinent even foi a boy all the year round.— l am, &c., P. McK. Cambiidge, January 24th, 1885.