The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-06-07 00:00:00

ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER
IN NEW ZEALAND.
The Daily Beta of Tuesday publishes a letter from a
correspondent at Richmond, Nelson, New Zealand, from
which we make the following extracts :

In my last letter I gave an account of a visit to a
new settler in the "bush," and how the labourer fared
in such a district. I propose now giving a sketch of
an old settler's surroundings and of the •' labourer "is
such a sphere. A ten miles drive from Nelson City
brought me to what I was assured was one of the best
managed farms in the whole neighbourhood. The
proprietor, a Somersetshire man, met us at the gate,
and his thoroughly John Bull appearance and hearty
welcome at once made us feel free of his domain.
After refreshing myself with a glass of home-
brewed ale I proceeded to take stock of the home
stead. Nothing could look more like solid success.
Immediately in front of the roomy and comfurtable
house was a well-stocked garden, the trees well-laden.
One of them was an apricot, and the delicious fruit was
fortunately waiting to be gathered. The tree was as
large as an average-sized English apple-tree. Peach.
trees of similar bulk abounded, covered with ripening
fruit, and of course there were any number of apple and
pear trees. Beyond this garden was a large paddock
newly mown, in which several sleek horses were
luxuriating. At the back of the house, stretching away
for some hundreds of acres, were the paddocks and
fields which constituted the richest portion of an estate
which in its entirety comprised some twelve hundred
acres. With a pardonable pride tha fine old yeoman
took me over his fields, now standing ready for the
reaper's gathering hand." "What d'ye think of that
for barley ?" he asked, as he gathered a few stalks and
rubbing them out in his hands showed a sample of
bright grain which Mr. Bass would have been glad to
buy twenty thousand quarters of at almost any price
the farmer chose to name. It was a splendid crop,
and as the delicious sunlight poured down upon it,
one felt no surprise at its matchless colour. I
hinted to him how glad I fancied our Burton
brewers would be to get hold of such barley,
and he smilingly remarked, "There's no need
to go so far for a market; all this is bespoke
long ago." I was next shown the wheat, which
seemed equally fine, though not so heavy a crop as an
average English one. One of the latest inventions in
the shape of a reaping machine was at work, and it
was with evident satisfaction that the farmer saw in
the marvellous product of that machine a solution of
the labour difficulty. There was the wheat standing
up in front of the magic performer, and behind it, un-
touched by human rands, it lay in neatly tied up
bundles, ready to be carted off the ground. Two
horses and two men would thus soon lay low a tolera-
bly sized field, and instead of the excessive toilsome-
ness of the old-fashioned harvest field no one seemed
the least strained by the proceedings.
After thus doing the fields Ginner was announced,
and I was destined for the first time to witness that
much vaunted triumph of democracy—the sitting
down of master and men at the same table.
Seated at the head of a long plain deal table was
the owner of what in England would be con-
sidered a fine estate. On his right hand was his
wife, a comely dame, somewhat everweighted with
domestic cares, as all New Zealand wives appear
to be. On his left were his guests, and filling the
remainder of the space were five labourers and a
servant girl. I had often heard Mr. Arch and
others grow eloquent over this feature of colonial
life, and wondered how it would work. Well,
here it was then. Jack was as good as his
master for the nonce ; and the terrible scourge of
English society—social distinction, laid on one side.
Like a good many other attractive baits of the stump
orato- "A stake in the soil," " being your own
master," &c., &c., I regret to have to record that it had
all the appearance of being a huge blunder. The men
looked as awkward and uncomfortable as possible, and
the rest of us seemed at our wits' end to know how to
prevent one another from being utterly wretched.
tried hard to engage the men in a little cheerful
talk, but this was evidently what they were not
used to, and the experiment proved a sad failure.
Scarcely less successful wan an effort to draw
the farmer out. A chill was upon the whole party,
and it was not till the men had filed out, and the
servant was gone into her own quarter, that the chip
was out of the porridge, and things wore their becom-
ing hue. As regards the pay of the labourers, how-
ever, an I have already shown, no modification of the
statements made at home is necessary. In a paper of
yesterday's date I find the following announcement :

"An Ashburton telegram says dist farm labourers
during the harvest are demanding and receiving four
pounds per week and found. What will they say in
England ? " By the " found " here, of course, is
meant board and lodging. If we put this at ten
shillings, we have the startling fact of the "English
Agricultural Labourer in New Zealand" actually
receiving four pounds ten shillings a week
for about half the real toil of an English harvest field!
I need scarcely say the living is far superior to that of
the homei toiler—three good meals per day, such as
are found in an ordinary well-to-do Englieh middle-
class home. Well TA ay the New Zealand editor ask,
"What will they say in England?" As I read the
ominous telegrams, "Strike of the Kent Agricultural
Labourers," "Reduction of wages," &c., I am equally
astounded at the stupidity of the labourers in not at
once steering for this goodly land, and at the employers
for risking the irreparable loss.
As I have written so much that is favourable as to
the working man's chances here, I will in this, my
closing letter, give all that I can on the other aide.
And the " all "is very little. I have already referred
to the high price of house rents. There are no snug
cottages with gardens for one shilling and sixpence
per week. The comfortable English practice of build-
ing cottages for the labourers appears to be unknown
among the landowners, and hence a vast deal of
overcrowding and discomfort among workmen
generally. More money passes through their
hands, but I doubt if the thrifty, well-disposed
English labourers do not get more real comfort
and enjoyment out of their lives than do multitudes
that I meet with here. Ido not like the hard bar-
gaining spirit generated by circumstances among these
colonists. The high wages they have to pay are the
reverse of what is said about mercy. There is certainly
no blessing for the giver, and it is a very dubious one
for the receiver. There is no kindly feeling between
master and wan. Of course, no labourer must expect
work a moment longer than his muter absolutely needs
his services. A luxury so expensive must be indulged
in as little as tioseible. Where an English farmer
employs a dozen hands all the year through a New
Zealand farmer would not employ more than two.
Hence an absence of the finish .4 an average English
farm. I should think an English labourer who really
took a pride in his work would be broken-hearted almost
at the state of the farm on which he would find himself
here. It is simply disgusting—the slovenliness observ-
able all around. I saw yesterday field after field with
the corn literally choked by weeds and one large field
of wheat was so bad that the farmer would have
burnt it off instead of reaping it if the authorities
would have permitted it. Tho universal reply to
one's remonstrance is—" It won't pay to farm
better. The produce won't recoup the large ex-
penditure consequent on the high wages." Never
was greater fallacy if it were the true cause, but it is
not. The real secret is the poverty of the landowners.
Men have rushed into proprietorship without at all
realising what it involved, and hence instead of the
compact and well-cultured holdings of rural England,
you see boundlees acres of balf-tilled land, divided by
miles of fence, either of tumble-down woodwork or
tivergrown gorse or quick. . . . I have referred to the
educational advantages of New Zealand. They are of
an excoptionAily high order. It wouid seem as if the
original settlerfs—for the moat part illiterate