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. 
