FARMERS' INTERESTS.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVI, Issue 49, 30 November 1909, Page 2

FARMERS' INTERESTS.

NECESSITY i-UR FJiKWIuLD. SrEECII M -MU J. G. ttiUUS. (t'anncrs Luion i'lt i.;'i.t.j Aii uiiorcstiug speech i. : jjiadt at »ajiguiiui tno oilier clay i.;. mi j tv u.uii, president 01 tut 1 ..<,l /calami x aj UiijtjUj 111 the com.-.e oi twitca lie biiid Ulal UMViiSlit'Ople aire apt U) overlook Hit: work «men jciilerj naa dune 111 the early \-. i ;;ey .saw l.io lunnur , coming inu [■nui uitli money to spend, etc., an I v'.iisidtrcj ne was a giKJii sunjeet tor i a sat .mi. flits oilier day down went tin* ot wool and the wliole of the count iv : l j-jd iti|| talis showing once more u.ai t.ic towns ivcro dependent on Hie c..miu\, the cry lor protection ulway-. i.iiuu lioia tno townspeople. lie did i;• ; \ihli to raise a cry ol "town v. c.untiy,' but it was necessary to combat i-j-.-ciuus arguments raised by liie i-.v, n-. h it was right to Lake the duly .Ii [..natoaj, • Hour, etc., it was only n.r,ii..il that the lanner should ask lor li.i- iriiioial of taxes on the jirtic-les u-.-l l>y "him. tile Socialists went Uiriii.-i ..n-l asked lor the natioualisatiou oi iin- taeans ol manufacture, product ion an 1 evhabye. Another set of people the whol» of the taxation should lie raided from the land, hut they forgot thai the unfortunato fariners would have (try little say ill the expendtutr, . Iln.s Socialistic feeling was gaining New Zealand, as it was ihr«'!.guout the world. Tho workers should he given facilities i'or getting houio tor tlielflselves on the freehold tenure. In Denmark as soon as the worker could !ind ID per cent, of the <w. of las house and land the Government tumid the remaining 90 per cent. The munieipalisation of laud for \(<u i.- ;V homes was preferable to natwiiabs.iimi because tho people had everything under their eyes and could see ii aiiytliuig wrong was being done. Tho speaker then went on to sty that none of tho attempts to bnn- altout a socialistic settlement had Miei ceded. This was due to the fact that meentivo to a man to improve and the world was wanting. The gieatest Mifiguard against Socialism i-iuciition. I'lie advocates of Socialism, >-ai in>t and honest though they doubt le-. . were, did not seem to beneiit by tin- lessons of history. In this connection ii.- was glad to see tlx* advantages nf university training which wen' bein.: oU'ercd to the young men of New Zealand. It was a matter I'or congratulation that llio Fanners' Union had 1« en >o successful in regard to provnlu.;. agricultural education, though it \\n< a matter for extreme regret that 1 ariners of tlie Dominion took such little advantage of it. He deplored the ale-enreof an agricultural chair at any I'uiversity in New Zealand. Speaking «>f Socialism , 3\lr Wilson said the nat;omdisation of the. railways, for instance, was not a Socialistic venture, lnit Stan- ownership of coal mines was. The balancesheet of the State Coal Department was a fine example of how not to jiive any information. He feared that the Hailwav Department abetted the Coal Department, for there was nothing W show whether tho price p.rd by the llailway Department, which was the chief customer, was liigher than that paid to private owner*. .Mr Wilson tHen went on to speak of the mailt subject, of his address. There was, he said, no class of people in the world where employers and employee* got on better than the fanning < 'inmunity, but there were agitators w!f> wri> cn " deavoring to get the whole of labor combined. They had succeeded except in the case of farm laborer-. It would lie absolutely impossible to work n f» rnl under an award. There were rases where a farmer had not treated « 15 employees properly, but there had always been such a scarcity of lalnir that a man could go next door and net work if he did not. feel satisfied. Mr Ms®" then referred to tho organisation of fjj e shearers, and he pointed out that if"® farmers did not also organic the? would suffer. He did not ol ieet tot"* workers organising, but canll piled tn>» they should make reasonable redUflSM; Mr Wilson spoke of the farm laborers dispute recent.lv dealt with by the Conciliation Board. What the a "itator—rather the manipulator—want. 1 was to Set tho whole of labor or allied 9# that the farmer could be attacked only safeguard was for the larmeTSt organise. Tliis could only he <j onP . tho farmers supporting the union an doing all in thoir power to further i interests. Ho made a •.tieie! '."'I 1 t to them, and said that if H v n ! they would only have themselves hlanio for the trouble that wight co®» to them,