202 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



dairying and pastoral industries, are probably superior 

 to those in the long-settled districts of the South. But 

 for present purposes we are concerned only with con- 

 ditions in the wheat producing area. 



A fourth cause of the deficiency in the supply of 

 agricultural labourers and this has special reference 

 to the wheat industry is the difficulty married country 

 workers meet in finding suitable housing accommodation, 

 and the lower standard of living in the country compared 

 with that in the town. This difficulty was frequently 

 referred to in the evidence given before the Cost of 

 Living Commission, and many witnesses stated that this 

 was the chief reason why workers migrated to the town. 

 Coupled with the scarcity of good house room for country 

 workers is a group of other influences tending to lower 

 the standard of living in the country. The opportunities 

 for social intercourse, the variety of amusements, the 

 manifold means of recreation and other social advantages 

 which town life offers, are conspicuously absent in the 

 case of the rural worker. Greater than these dis- 

 advantages is the absolute lack of attractions which the 

 country offers to the wives of ordinary farm labourers 

 on almost all sides. In many cases the only way in which 

 a married man may get employment on a farm is by 

 taking a situation where his wife must be prepared to 

 take up the position of housekeeper to all hands on the 

 farm, be there only one extra worker or any number up 

 to seven or eight. The town worker is generally able to 

 give his wife the position in a quiet home which she 

 should rightly have, judged by any standard, be it from 

 the individual's point of view, that of the community, 

 or that of the whole State. But such is not always the 

 case with the rural worker. It is true that there are a 

 relatively small number of positions ideally suitable for 

 married workers in the country, but very often in these 

 the work of the wife is no less than that of her husband. 



