Farm Labour in New Zealand

Abstract

Although farming is New Zealand's most important industry no recent investigation appears to have been made into all the problems regarding farm labour. This may at first seem surprising but as there is usually some pressure brought to bear on the authorities before investigations are instituted (such as strikes or demand for higher wages) it is easily explained. Farm labourers are not well organized and they have not drawn the attention of the authorities to their industry. The Labour Department carries out a survey of a number of industries each half year, but farming is not amongst these because the number of employees per holding is small and farms are widely scattered. There are two main sources of farm labour statistics, which unfortunately give different figures: the census of population results and agricultural and pastoral statistics. Censuses in normal times are held every five years and should, therefore, give a good indication of trends. But for the past 27 years the results of only 3 censuses are available and these are far from satisfactory: in 1926 some error was made in the classification and the number shown as engaged in farming was far too low; the onset of the depression prevented a census being held in 1931; the 1936 census was distorted by the effects of the depression (here it must be pointed out that unemployed persons are included in the industry in which they are normally engaged and hence the numbers engaged in the various industries are somewhat overstated); in 1941 no census was held because of the war and demobilization was not complete at the time of the 1945 census. Agricultural and pastoral statistics on farm labour, on the other hand, are available from 1915-16 to 1929-30, and from 1946-47 to 1949-50. Hence there is a great gap in the statistical data on farm labour. Many of the statistical series do not go back beyond 1928-29 and therefore the discussions that follow are almost entirely concerned with events since that time. The only place where distinction is made between Maoris and Europeans is in the census of population where a separate set of figures is taken out. These are most unsatisfactory because a large number of Maoris give their occupation as "labourer", and the question naturally arises - in what industry? Hence, when census figures are quoted they usually refer only to Europeans. In other respects what will be said about Europeans applies also to the Maoris. On the whole the Maori farmers probably rely still more on family labour than the pakeha, their holdings are smaller and their productivity per unit of labour somewhat lower than that of the farm labour force as a whole. In this thesis the topic of farm labour in New Zealand is discussed from a number of angles. Probably some of them could have been the subject of a whole thesis (e.g. wages in agriculture or the effects of mechanization). The purpose of this thesis is to gather together all the information available on the problem rather than to explore new fields. This could only be done by means of a survey which would be both costly and time consuming. No mention has been made in the thesis of the provisions of social security legislation and workers' compensation regulations. These apply to everybody irrespective of the industry in which the worker is engaged.