FARMERS' UNION.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18187, 25 September 1924, Page 3

FARMERS' UNION.

NORTH CANTERBURY EXECUTIVE.

Tlio North Canterbury Executive of the Farmer-;' Union met yesterday afternoon. Present: Messrs J. D. Hall (chairman), W. AV. Mulliolland, T. J. Henley, W. Bailey, E. McMillan, F. A. Wagner, C. Mcintosh, W. A. Banlcs, J. 8.. Cullen, I). J. Doak, A. D. Anderson, and 11. Oliver. Air Wells (Oxford) was also present. . An apology was received from Mr G. 11. Parish.

The chairman reported that Mr E. 11. Wyles, of the Chamber of Commerce, had informed him that, the Chamber would be glad to co-operate with the executive in the matter of hydro-olcc-trical scheme's.

Reporting on the public meeting regarding the duplication and electrification of the Lyttelton tunnel, the chairman said that he at-. tended on behalf of the executive. It was hoped that the demonstration was going to produce fruit. The executive considered that the matter of. transport to Lyttelton was one far and beyond the 'comport and convenience of passenger traffic. Present conditions substantially increased the cost to the farming community of sending stock and produce to Lj-tteltou, and shortage and congestion of trucks at harvest time —the last-mentioned was one of the points that had stopped farmers from growing wheat. Dealing With Rabbits. The chairman mentioned that action was being taken in North Canterbur}' on behalf of the Farmers' Union. in respect of rabbit extermination, but the executive had not discussed the matter. It. was a question whether a branch should take up a line of action on a subject that had not been considered by tiie executive. Air Banks said that the matter was causing much discussion in North Canterbury, and there was much objection to the proposed loan to fence iu a large area. He did not think that they should expect the Government to do much more th.in to import netting and fencing at cost price for tho farmer. Air Anderson, chairman of the Cheviot branch, said that the meetings held in North Canterbury had been genuine Farmers' Union meetings. The result of the deputation to the Government —asking for the abolition of the Babbit Board—had received a good hearing. Air Mulliolland said that the matter was a purely local one, and tho subject dropped. Correspondence. The North Canterbury Dairy Farmers' Association wrote appointing Mr F. Pearce to attend a combined meeting of dairymen, called by the executive. Air S. Harrowed (New Zealand representative of William Cooper and Newphews, Ltd.) wrote regarding dip-stain-ing,in wool, and expressed the opinion that there was a* great deal of carelessness in connexion with tho use of sheep dip, and urged the Union to impress on farmers the desirableness of owning their own dip-baths. Mr A. E. Young,' Director of Live Stock Division, wrote on the same subjeet, that there appeared to have been, in the Department's investigations a reluctance on the part cf both free2dng .works' managers and others to give information that would be of • assistance in

tracing any particular owner's carelessness. The letters were referred to tho Wool Committee. ' Taxation. After a snort discussion on the taxation of the farming community it was resolved:—"The executive considers that the findings of the Taxation Commission should be recognised |and adopted; at thp same time, if this is not immediately possible, farmers appreciate any attempt to relieyc them of land-tax on their mortgagee." Dairy Committeo. Mr. Mulholland reported on behalf of the Dairy Committee, which stated that the' questions of veal and pork sales at Addingtoii was to bo further enquired into. The committee agreed that some system of herd-testing was in'tlie best interests of dairymen, and recommended that tho executive should support all systems of herd-testing. ' The chairman .said that the dairying industry was not in an altogether satisfactory condition. From the information they had obtained it appeared to be more than likely that one-half the cows supplying tho factories in Canterbury were being milked at a loss. That was bad enough from the viewpoint of. the owners of the cows; the fact was that if the owners debited the cost of labour, this state of things would not continue. But it was not union labour, but tho labour' of the dairyman's wife and family. From the point of view of the community th-j industry was based on an unsound foundation. Until the dairyman knew what the returns were from each of his cows he would not know how to cull the robber cows. He expressed gratification that Mr W. 11. Montgomery had joined the committee. Mr Montgomery, he said, was an enthusiast, and had recently visited Australia, wher'i he had got'a lot of information that would be valuable to the committee. The report was adopted.