62 WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND 



procuring for them in some cases better conditions, while 

 they began to realise that they were receiving fair terms 

 at the hands of the farmers.* 



(d) Labour Bureaux. Another difficulty in the labour 

 problem arises from the administration of labour bureaux 

 where labourers offer their services and farmers engage 

 them. The real difficulty is that efficiency is not given 

 adequate consideration, and often labourers who are 

 wholly incompetent are given employment under a mis- 

 apprehension. On the other hand, the disadvantage is 

 not all on the side of the farmer ; for often the positions 

 offered at the time do not come up to the expectations 

 of the labourer. Great improvements, therefore, are 

 possible in this department, which really lies at the 

 foundation of the labour problem. 



Here, then, we find an additional disadvantage under 

 which New Zealand farming operations are conducted 

 a disadvantage which is of paramount importance, for 

 not infrequently do we find farmers giving as one of 

 their reasons for partially abandoning wheat growing, 

 the fact that the inefficiency of labour causes them 

 trouble and expense which they have no desire to under- 

 take. 



(e) Seasonal Labour. A further difficulty arising 

 from the question of labour is experienced by our 

 farmers. Much of the work is done at certain seasons 



*The Labour Question is again discussed in Chapter IX. The 

 case for Unionism in agricultural occupations has many peculi- 

 arities, but those conversant with recent tendencies in industrial 

 evolution will readily realise that the problem of combination 

 of Labour on the one hand and Capital on the other has risen 

 above the clamour of party politics or the class war. This is 

 evident in recent developments in England and elsewhere, where 

 industrial reconstruction is under consideration. The discussions 

 on this topic should be clearly grasped in New Zealand, and 

 those interested would do well to study ' ' The Whitley Report. ' ; 

 Such a suggestion does not signify the present writer >s ad- 

 herence to the principles involved in that report. 



