THE FARMERS' UNION.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12849, 6 July 1907, Page 11

THE FARMERS' UNION.

DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER.

LEGISLATION FORESHADOWED.

(BY OCR SPECIAL REPORTER.) WELLINGTON, July 5. The resolutions passed by the National Conlerenco of the New Zealand Farmers' Union "were submitted to the .Premier to-day by a deputation from the Union. The President (Mr J. G. Wilson) in congratulating Sir Joseph Ward on his work at the Imperial Conferenoo, said ho personally regarded the Suez Canal suggestion as quite fresh and of great value. Whether it oould be carried out or not was another thing. The Union was also entirely with the Premier in regard to our relations with, the British .Niivy. The Union, <lid not wish at present? to offer any opinions with regard to tJio Land Bill, since it did not know what the policy of the Government would be. In his reply Sir Joseph Ward expressed his desire to do ail in his power to remove anomalies whiah. might be detrimental to tho interests of the farming community. Hβ attached very great importance to the Sues Canal proposals. Although, wo oould not in return offer anything in the way of material recom.pense, wo could voluntarily guarantee that a greater proportion of tihe trade of this country would go through the Canal in cargo steamers, if the charges were sufficiently reduced to permit of this. Two members of the British Gorernment had expressed themselves in sympathy with the suggestion, so there was reason to hope that some day Great Britain would reoognise the great advantage that would be. Hβ believed that the proposal to givo a larger contribution to the Nary and not allow the tie to bo weakened would be endorsed by tihe people as a whole. (Hear, hear.) It would only be a matter of a few days before they would see the whole of the proposals of the Government with regard to the Navy. The native land proposals, which wou.d also be submitted tihis session, would, he believed, mark the beginning of very prosperous times for tho country ge.ner.illy. It was bad for either Maorij or Europeans to be idlers, and anything that could be done to ensure the profitable working of the land by tho Al.'.orie tlteniselves should be done. He wa* persuaded that preferential treatment between this country and the Old L ;i;il was good for both. (Applause.) The Old Country was entitled to it if only on the basis of what was best for ourselves, since nine-tenths of our exports went, to the Old Country, whero it was taken in free. With regard to the accretion of value in the valuation of land, owing to improvements niade by tho owner, it hnd always been the case that tho more the value or land was appreciated by such improvements, tho more keenly the taxation on tho property was felt. The difficulty was to adopt a general system which would be sufficiently discriminating to guide the Department in saying what the accretion was, and what the appreciation. -Ur Wilson : All wo wish is that instructions should be sent out to valuers that in any case where the owners have a special rate on their land to pay for a loan, they should have consideration for it.

Sir Joseph replied that tho difficulty was to put tho tiling in the four corners of the law and proride sufficient latitude for the officers of the Department tr> discriminate. He recognised the inconvenience caused by the lack of trucks on the railways, and hoped to submit proposals whioh would result in a largely increased 6upply, but he tronk* like to warn users against asking the Department to mnke storage houses of the railways «fter the trucks had reached their deetination. Unless the users of waggons co-operatod with the De» partir.fiit, tJiis blocking was bound to take- place. In regard to immigration, Sir Jr*eph expressed the opinion that it would be injurious lor New Zealand to do as the Canadians were doing ; or is the Australian.* contorr.-pl »ted doing. An in<ircri:r.i:;a'e mm rtaticn of human beings iro-ti t:i<> O!<1 Country to our shores would prove as disastrous as it had done in the past, and he thought they should continue the system of allowing the High Commissioner in. London to carefully select the immigrant*. The I'ieniier promised to look into a number of matters connected with compensation for accidents.