60 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



of all other farm implements including the drill, by 

 which, wheat, often along with manure, is sown. 



When the harvest comes he is expected to be able to 

 drive the reaper and binder, and very often to stack 

 later. Our conclusion then must be, that the general farm 

 labourer should possess sufficient skill to be classed 

 among skilled labourers. Unfortunately the view ex- 

 pressed above is not held universally by our democracy. 

 On the other hand, there is a great tendency to class farm 

 labour as wholly unskilled. The routine work of the 

 office is exalted above the manual labour of the farm, 

 and there is a constant flow of our most capable country 

 workers into the towns, where very often their capa- 

 bilities are wasted in some routine task, solely for the 

 purpose of enjoying the cheap pleasures and amusements 

 of town life. 



Cb) Characteristics of Farm Labour. The evil which 

 is brought about by the current view of farm labour 

 is that very often it is the workers who have been 

 unsuccessful in town, whether through their incapability 

 or their methods of living, who migrate to the country 

 and take up employment there. While the farmer is 

 able to obtain a certain supply of his labour from the 

 vigorous country population, he has to be content in 

 many cases to fill up the gap by the residue of town 

 labourers. These labourers get through their task in a 

 more or less efficient manner, but only under the very 

 close supervision and constant attention of the farmer. 

 Moreover, considerable losses from depreciation of plant 

 and careless attention to horses are experienced, so that 

 the farmer is paying a very high price for this kind of 

 labour. Further, very many find their tasks a continual 

 burden to them and take no pride in labour for its own 

 sake. On the other hand, however, those labourers who 

 are brought up on the farm develop an efficiency of a 

 very rare kind. Most of them are interested in the 



