FARMERS' PARLIAMENT.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLIII, Issue 8, 28 July 1916, Page 7

FARMERS' PARLIAMENT.

INCREASING land production. WHAT MIGHT BE DONE. In hi» address at the,annual Dominion Conference which ft as opened n \Velli"t- rtoll tllis week tlle P resitlent of ♦he Zealand Farmers' Union (Sir James G. Wilson) said: —The war is till the absorbing topic of conversation tnd is ever present in our thoughts, fr are spending our capital at the rate of about £1,000,000 a month, and T et have withdrawn 50,000 men 0,11 Jjje il( lult population. Those left in pupation are therefore receiving more for their labor in whatever occupation ihev rnav be engaged, jieat Britain is spending £5,000,000 n day, which is circulating among the people, v Ct everything we purchase costs more. Wool, which was just sufficient for he wants of the world, is required everywhere, for those who are fighting. Every' p ,,un< l u "e can send Home is quickly turned into khaki or underdosing for the soldier. The meat we produce goes now to feed the men at the front, and only the surplus ~oes jnto the ordinary channels. The con sumption of cheese in the Army has incressed the demand enonnousiv and .'e> per pouni. has been reached as a selling {Jrice since the freezing process enabled as to sell our produce in Britain. Wirh sjch prices for our food and doihinj* products, all have to pay more to feed and clothe their families. Of the £33,i00,992 of exports, the produce from the land in the year ended March 31, 1916, amounts to £30,635, "1'J—a truly stupendous amount for 1 people to take from the land. Besides which, the people have been fed, and, to some extent, clothed out of it. Practically the whole of this has been taken from the land by sheep, tattle and pigs—with the assistance of lorseii in the agricultural portions. \Ve may safely say. I think, that not more than £4A>",OOO at the outside is M'e result of war. Values have risen above the previous year, but, this has to I'.rdiscounted by the fact that it has cost a great deal more to raise ind nnrket the produce; but we liav been decreasing our imports in coi. panson to our spending power, althouga the higher values bring the total of last >ear to a lit'le irore than that of i:)l-l-'5, sr that we haw a margin of Li2,o.}\O;>o of exess of exports in eouip i ison to jmports. When we turn to the Uvatnn proposals of the present warc'ir.-?, it is certain that the burden {f diem is still further to be borne by the land, la our present case I am afraid that there will be many hardships n;o.- t iy among those of the farming which tre least able to boar them. In later rear.-> with, the help of dairying l-.r.ny men have put their savings: wto the land and assumed more than usual liabilities. The mortgiige rax has now been altered so that the 'n.'o.ne from this form of investment has to pay income tax. In small sums this will he a relief to the lender, but if the mortgagee income comes under the graduated scale it may be heavier, and thus tend to divert this investment into other channels. The suggested legislation to restrict the rate of interest wuldonly hasten the diversion. When the time comes for renewal the second mortgages which so many have will be Mlled up, and if the rate is fixed the man will be forced to sell and the farmer will probably use his savings of a lifetime. He will be thrown again on the labor market. Last- year when the tax was a moderate amount — though it brought in a great deal more than the estimate—the farmers paid it cheerfully, but now that an additional 5 per cent, is added to this and a 45 per cent, tax on all profits over a certain percentage of return from capital, it certainly is conscripting wealth to a greater extent than anticipated. When, however, all is said and done, however audi hardship may result from taxation, the Government has had to deal lift very exceptional circumstances, I nd although they have been squeezed unduly by some sections of the community and throwing the cost of the process on others, they must have the money, and I am sure all those who have to find it, will hope that it will be wisely and economically spent, and help to end the war in the only way ® which the Empire will permit. Hon- then are we to increase the production r For the present there is much more need of increasing the output from the land in occupation than there is for further settlement. That *al come in due time; we wanf "welldirected labor" on the land if we are to turn ou t more produce. First, it " clear that the countiy -must be made js attractive as possible. The unjon pas ever bad an ideal for better farming and better living for all engaged on we farm, and more vocational educa•H®. Let us all continue to strive for •*» and help forward the ideal of so Wealing the young people in the county as to make life in the country more "tractive and better understood. 1 ®ohl not be doing justice to the edu~«on wards of the Dominion were I 10 S l ,v aie desirous of doing "at they can in this direction, and . me have been enthusiastic in further'®gour objective. W? want research and instigation, the teachers and the deit°n £° think we do; and will «M we are rece Pt' ve enough, enSn ? lo produce more from the land > , therefore, restore to our DominoOr lost wealth. 1. We may be on the tei> t°! of the great mysi ,7 °«the soil that has been previously j j fel j to us. which wejcould not ; at those mysterious bacl a winch are working in myriads for , > which until a few years ago we ibict not i Already some of the ll:| s been solved. We know 'ln bill l V i UO can trca t the soil so as imofi • i V i at t' los e which live on the cial bacteria, those ceaseless workAlthough not comilr»ij Profitable in general farming. 'jJ t " 1s '""nth is being used with rrs,l " s to sterilise the soil -Zr nUSf f °" lturp ' «*n say ln a few years the same proferms= aVn not.. ot . working on ordinary IWt , years ago. Professor ' #ttrofr S r.n ta u ?'- t^e wor W by saying the : toonho "J 1 "' 1 1S needed by crops would is sufc . ox ' lal 3 i ted. We now know there " tte air t nt . ee nitr °g«n provided in ; generate 0 ' °T r USG " electricity Nt it wi? Coleridge can sup»?>t whenever we like. nnl Department we lav e it a number of trained men who nt»4£L;' apaclt 7 at an y for the !'i|i<4 ~ n u i ?* an y problems bv I mS If r ] d be . if solved. tftcm . e with them? Vie shut ta«» w P * n offi ces in Wellington to »Wk and attend to mighti weft left to

clerks. They should be on a farm where they would be closely allied to Nature instead of "poring over miserable books." The director, his agriculturist, horticulturist and plant breeder, the biologist, the chemist and ' a bacteriologist (to work out the problems in connection with dairying) | should all be stationed on a central ; i farm. They would be training assist- ; ! ants who eventually would act as de-. monstrators. . These- demonstrations 1 could be given in. hundreds of places all ' over the Dominion at very small ex- ' pense and with much greater benefit j than expensive experimental farms in one or two localities. Take the question of lucerne. S have not the slightest doubt, if the farmers were asked, that 50 in the South Island would easily be found to allow the land for an experiment of its growth and the teams ' to do the work, if the Department could supply the trained men to supervise, the farmer to have the produce, would not this be of greater value to farming generally than one exhibition on an experimental farm, in a locality and climate perhaps quite different from that of the rest of the province, where 1 a few farmers in the neighborhood would go and see it while it was growing? Possibly if the growth of lucerne were general, the land might keep another million sheep, or at any rate solve the difficulty dairy people have in summer to keep the flow of milk up, and it might easily mean the export of another half-million 'pounds' worth of butter or cheese. Again, the use of lime is receiving much attention,, and |u some localities it has shown splendid results, but it is not possible to dogmatise from one or two results. A movement has been initiated re-' cently to establish a Forestry League, the object of which is to educate public opinion on the necessity of conserving our rapidly-diminishing "forests, a nd eiicouraging the planting of trees on t'ie farms and waste lands of the Dominion. The question has been raised that the system of valuing land for taxation does not encourage a- farmer to preserve pieces of bush for shelter, or to plant shelter belts. To an extent tliere is some truth in that statement, but it is not all the truth. The position is, that, on the representation of the union, the Valuation of Land Act was amended in 1912 to provide that uM plantations, whether native or exotic, should be treated as improvements,, and as such, these are now exempt from taxation. The difficulty comes in the valuing of the land on which the trees grow. In some cases, where plantations do not interfere with the grazing qualities, the improved value of the land is equal to the land on which the stock grazes. The Valuer-General however assures us that in all cases where the land is exclusively used for growing trees, or used to such an extent as to affect its value as workable land, that land is specially considered in the valuation. It may not be shown in the actual roll value, but it is so calculated ■in the computation of the value of the farm, just as areas of rough country are allowed for in the valuation of an otherwise level or undulating farm. There are other points 1 have had to leave untouched for want of time. I cannot conclude better than by quoting a speech of 'Mr Kirkbv, before the recent session of the Farmers' National Congress of the United States. ■He said: "The farmers are to the nation what the root is to the tree or the foundation to the house. Life depends upon food and clothing, and the farm supplies both. Without bread and meat the ninety millions of our people would perish. Other businesses, professions, callings may be dispensed with, but that of the producer is indispensable. It woud be inconvenient to be without banks; but it would be death to do without food. Farming is an indispensable, honorable and serviceable calling, which lies at the foundation of success, prosperity and government itself. The strength of. our nation is in the development of agriculture." Admiral Beatt.v at the Battle of Jutland signalled: "Take up your battle station." Let us ask the farmers of the Dominion to do the same. REMITS ADOPTED. WELLINGTON, July 25. The conference adopted the following remits:— " "That the Government instruct responsible officers to more carefully study the formation of the country when cutting up land for settlement and see that boundary lines and roads are placed in the best possible places." "That on the purchase of land for closer settlement the county council or local authorities in that area be represented .in the location of roads and'the formation and drainage of same." "That the Government be urged to construct wheel traffic roads into new blocks of surveyed land before opening the same for selection, and push on the work of present roads in backblocks." Mr R. Dunn, Taranaki, moved, "That the land laws be so amended that no enemy alien subject, or unnatuvalised person, or anyone of full enemy alien blood and birth, be eligible to acquire the freehold of land in the Bominion." The mover said that men at the front when they returned might find they land they should have a right to occupied by unnaturalised persons. Mr Maxwell seconded the motion. Some of the Swiss in Trfianaki (he said) were of German blood and their sympathies were with the enemy. .In view of the fact that the land would be required for returned soldiers it was wise that the holding of land should | be restricted. Mr A. E. Campbell fWanganui) said he could not support the motion in its I present form. He knew of Germans' fighting for the Empire. The German Jews of the Dominion were thorough h ! loyal, and would be glad to "go to the front if, accepted. He was in favor of forbidding any German or Austrian being a director of any commercial company. Mr Ross moved as an amendment, "That the Government be requested to see that men of alien blood or birth who are ineligible for enlistment in the military forces should not obtain any advantage over our own men in the matter of the disposal and settlement of Crown lands." After further discussion the motion was withdrawn and the amendment relegated to the supplementary order paper. Several remits were adopted urn-iV greater provision of land for returned soldiers and easing of conditions in cases of tenants under any. Land Act who are serving at the front. The* conference also resolved, "That all .present and future occupiers of rural and national endowment lands be. panted the option of purchasing the