The development of thousands of hectares of North Island farmland required migrants to do work New Zealand workers did not want, particularly at a time of low unemployment. None of the adjectives often associated with 3D discourse (Ellerman, 2005) addressed in Chapter 2, such as difficult, dangerous and demeaning, necessarily apply to cutting scrub on North Island hill country. The work is physically demanding but the noticeable feature which might have deterred New Zealand workers was its remoteness or isolation. An Indian migrant worker in the 1960s might travel many miles to a remote location and then walk many hours to the back areas of a farm. However Ned (6-6-13) pointed out that in contrast to the walking of the swaggers, Indian migrants of the 1950s/60s would hire a taxi to go looking for work in remote rural locations.
There was a taxi driver in New Plymouth, Larry C. A lot of farmers had Sikhs. Larry would have a standard fare for taking passengers work hunting in the back blocks. They came out as part of a family and went out to cut scrub; to disappear from authorities perhaps. (Murray, 6-6-13)
A feature of farm development concomitant with the cutting of scrub was improved access. Mitchell recalled there were large numbers of wild pigs on the back blocks early on, so it was remote
territory. On one occasion a group lost themselves on the property trying to change cutting location. The most distant hut was twelve hours walk from the front of the property. “You’d do it in five minutes on a [motor] bike now” (Mitchell, 1-7-13). Jack (interviewed 2-7-13) explained that in his grandfather’s time (1950s/60s) Fijian Indians were employed to cut scrub in groups of 3-4. Huts had been erected at the back of the property for fencers and scrub cutters; Jack thinks mainly for the scrub cutters. Mitchell’s observations were echoed by Ray. “They can get to the site in half an hour, not like those days. We did all the access by packhorse then.” (Ray, 1-7-13)
The remote hut was not universally the scenario, however. Wesley’s station was located on the central plateau of the North Island, on which terrain four wheel drive vehicles could always be used to access the entire property. He referred to a daily commute using an ex army 4x4 (Wesley, 17-7- 13). When the bigger gangs of Fijian cutters arrived in the 1970s, the four wheel drive vehicle largely replaced the back hut as the access solution. Jack referred to the work at Pukeokahu being carried out from the accommodation at the front of the property with the use of a long wheel base Land Rover to take the workers to work. He recalled that there were about a dozen cutters in the big gangs. “Pukeokahu scrub was mainly on steep escarpments. Initially they were cutting close to the woolshed but then a long wheel based Land Rover was used every day to run them out six at a time” (Jack, 3-7-13). Jerome referred to numerous properties in the North Island where he cut scrub, staying in shearers’ quarters at the front of the property and being transported to the cutting areas
each day. (Jerome 30-6-13) A common sense observation on economies of scale suggests this was at least in part a function of the bigger gang size for a shorter time period making daily transport more economically viable.
Respondents were asked about the availability of New Zealand labour. Some New Zealand labour was still available for scrub cutting in the 1950s and 1960s at a time when the Maori urban migration was at full momentum. As well as groups of Maori there were the last of the swagger remnants. Donald (interviewed 5-6-13) described his employment of one of the swaggers named Jim Lucas who came for a brief visit and ended up staying for long periods.
Murray claims that it was very difficult to get reliable New Zealand labour to cut scrub:
Back in 61/62 there was no unemployment. New Zealand labour people, you couldn’t get them to work; they wanted a four day weekend. On a Monday they were still partying. (Murray, 6-6-13)
He expressed this view in ethnic terms, comparing scenes from the film “Once were Warriors”86 to
the environment he knew then. “They were hard shots - I had to be careful as it was a dangerous environment.”87
Ray explained that once better access had been established, some New Zealand labour became available:
Another chap named Tim was doing it later on. He had New Zealanders cutting and he worked with them. They can get to the site in half an hour, not like those days. We did all the access by packhorse then. (Ray, 1-7-13)
The role of migrant labour in winning the central North Island for grasslands against resurgent bush was therefore both pivotal and historically specific. As it became possible to accommodate workers in quarters with amenities and the work became more attractive to New Zealanders in times of high unemployment, the “3D” work may have been done. As a result, the discontinuation of the
programme in retaliation to the first Fijian coup led by Sitiveni Rabuka88 may have been easier to
manage politically than in times of severe labour shortages.
86 ‘Once Were Warriors’ directed by Lee Tamahori, released 1994, based on the book of the same name (Duff, 1990).
87 Murray’s account is slightly more nuanced than this extract may suggest and he speaks also of “good blokes”.
88 The state of politics in Fiji has impacted on both the Fiji Rural Work Permit and the RSE programmes with access to the New Zealand labour market being used as an incentive for Fiji to replace military leaders with elected governments. The success or validity of this approach is beyond the scope of this thesis.