GENERAL CONDITIONS IN NEW ZEALAND 59 



8. Labour Conditions. 



The general efficiency of the New Zealand labourer is 

 of a high order surpassed only by that of American 

 workers. A generous and beneficial education system 

 together with a congenial home and social environment, 

 promotes the growth of those faculties of judgment, 

 promptness, resource, carefulness and steadfastness of 

 purpose which characterise the efficient worker. In short, 

 the New Zealand labourer possesses in a remarkable 

 degree that nervous strength which Dr. Marshall in his 

 exposition* lays down as a necessary qualification for 

 industrial efficiency. 



(a) Necessity for Skilled Labour. So much for the 

 efficiency of labour generally. Let us pass to general 

 labouring conditions in the wheat industry. At first 

 sight the qualifications which the worker requires here 

 do not appear to be of a high character. But when we 

 look more closely we shall see that the farm labourer 

 requires ability of no common nature, if he is going to 

 be a success to himself and his employer. It is difficult 

 to designate this labour as skilled or unskilled. Many of 

 the operations involve mere routine, but the worker must 

 be able to go beyond this to more complex tasks. Can 

 we say that the ploughman who handles his plough and 

 drives six horses to the fullest advantage is performing 

 an unskilled operation? In the first place simple as the 

 plough may appear to the casual observer, the technique 

 of caring for it so as to prevent undue depreciation and 

 of " setting " it to different kinds of ploughing requires 

 more skill and knowledge than is apparent ; and secondly, 

 it is only a few who possess the special capabilities of 

 caring for their horses and driving them efficiently. 



Furthermore, the ploughman's tasks do not end at 

 ploughing. He must possess a knowledge of the working 



*< ' Principles of Economics. ' ' Book IV., Chaps. IV. to VII. 



