FARMERS’ UNION

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 108, 22 April 1912, Page 2

FARMERS’ UNION

HASTINGS BRANCH

The annual general meeting of the Hastings branch of the New Zealand Farmers Union was held in the Jsga,uri Tea Rooms on Saturday evening. The meeting was called for .’.30 p.m., but only four members, Jessrs T. Talbot (chairman), Eua;acc Lane, R. Trotter and J. Bcat;on were in attendance. At 8.15, Mr A. Masters joined the meeting and business commenced. Notwithitanding- there were only five memjers present out of a total membership of sixty-three, several imporant matters were discussed and leak with.

Apologies for their absence were ’•eccived from Messrs. F. L. Gordon, J. R. Talbot and J. E. Lane. In the course of his annual adIress, the chairman said the year had been an uneventful one. Comnercially speaking, it had been a success, a fair season was experienced, prices were well maintained, p-ain and chaff bad brought a renunerativc price and stock had also ;old well. Wool and mutton had been fetching a fair paying price. Personally, he would like to see nore interest taken in the union, vhich was a great, benefit to farmers, but h's experience was that the 'armors were the hardest community o got to combine. The reason for his in h ; s opinion was the absence >f competition between farmers, hey had ample markets for their iroduce, because the more they proluced the greater was the market. This had been proved in the dairyng industry. He remembered when he price of butter was as low as d per lb, but the increase in the nitpul, had resulted in the price ;oing up and making butter-making Profitable. It was the same with voo! and mutton, there, was a better narket to absord it. The Dominion conference had been held in. June "ast, and the Hawke’s Bay Provincial Branch had been ably represent'd by Messrs A. L. D. Fraser and J. ■L Lane. Good work was done, and he thanks of the Provincial Exceuive was due to those gentlemen for heir services. He would suggest hat during the coming year the inion should impress on the Agricultural Department hte necessity of a •nore strict Examination of Seeds.

Seeds were now put on the market vhich should be condemned. The •esult was that the country was cver■un with such noxious weeds as Cnli’ornia thistle and ragwort.- This evas due in a great measure to the 'mpure seed which found its way on to the market. Representations should bo made to the-Department "n the direction of having certifi'ates given for pure seed, and mak'ng it compulsory to sell under such certificate. Impure seed'was a menicc to the farming community. In -egard to

Practical F arminn

there were a great many people in Hawke’s Bay in particular, engaged n the industry, who did net under stand the practical part of the work md who left too much to c’asual labour. The result was an enormous oss through had stacking of hay and ether crops. It was a simple matter, but there was an art in it which ,va not understood by the average farmer. The autumn had not been 1 wet one, but he had seen stacks taken down which were wet to the bottom. Stacks could be built absolutely waterproof, and so that no matter how much rain might come it would not penetrate further than ,ix inches. Competitions in stacking lad recently been held at Feiiding, ind he suggested that they should hold the same here in connection with the ploughing match. Anything done by the union to encourage a better class of stack would confer a benefit on the farming community in this district. Another matter he wished to refer to was that something should be done to secure

Rooms in Town for Farmers. At present there was no place where farmers could go to transact busiicss except in the commercial rooms af the hotels, whereas if the union had rooms of their own it would tend o create more interest in its work and at the rune time supply a long ’elt want. He was surprised that i.he Hawke's Bay Farmers’ Association had not rooms ; n town for th? use of its shareholders, as was the case in T'rnaru. The Balance Sheet

showed that theyear commenced with a credit of £3/12/10 and ended with a surplus of £l4/10/6. FARMERS’ LACK OF INTEREST In the dtscu.-'pon which followed. Mr. J. Po.afson commented on the nocr attendance of members at meetings of the branch, and sa ; d t was regrettable that out. of a total membership of 63. ten members could not be got. to attend the meetings. He believed the time would come xvhen the union would be badly needed bv the farmers, and notwithstanding this lack of interest thev -hould keep going. There were several maters which affected the farmers and on which they were never consulted. When a strike occurred, a question which vitally interestci the farmers, it was settled in twentyfour hours and they were never thought of.

Mr. Eustace Lane thought that when the un’on could only get ar. attendance of five members at the annual meeting it was time it was wound up. He had sent in his resignation Io the secretary, because i ■? did not care to beyong to any public body which was not an active institution. The union had not the support of the great body of the farmers and had gradually lapsed into such ■i state until he now thought its affairs should be wound up. He would not belong to even a National Parliament if it was not. active in its work. Many of the matters touched on by the chairman in bis address provided excellent food for discussion, but the farmers were not there to discuss them. He thought >t was only a farce to continue the meeting:;.

Mr. Beatson was in favour of keeping the branch in existence and said if only one other member attended he would also be present at the meetings. He felt confident that they would get some active members some day or that something would happen to galvanise the union into activity. They had the members now if they would only turn up. Mr. Lane said he had intended bringing up several matters wliieb affected the fanners, such ns the question of the proposed HastingsPuketitiri tramway line, and making representations to the Government to acquire estates in the vicinity of Hastings for close, settlement, but the farmers were not present to discuss those questions, and if they did not interct themselves in matters which affected them they could not expect to get anything done for their benefit. The union was not recognised as an active body. When the farmers saw in the newspapers that hb (the speaker) was going to introduce such subjects, they said, “There’s Lane the agitator again.” Mr. Bei’.tson thought the farmers were the last persons to go to for assistance in obtaining land for closer settlement purposes. They had their farms already, and were quits prepared to lot others get their land in the same way as they had done. Mr. Lane said that was a very selfish spirit, and if the union represented that class of farmers, he thought it was quite time he sent it. hiss resignation. As the chairman had remarked in his address the more settlement the better it was for all farmers, and he pointed to the dairying industry which had been able to establish an qxport trade. The same thing could be done in Ihe fruit industry when it reached larger proportions and there was a greater volume of output.

The chairman asked Mr. Lane if he intended to move that the brsct>h be wound up. Mr. Lane replied that he would be contend with, handing hi his resignation.

The chairman’s address and the balance sheet were adopted.

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year:—Ch.nirmrn. Mr. T. Talbot.; vice-chairman, Mr. A. Masters; secretary and treasurer, Mr.-J. Fraser: auditor. Mr. F.'tJ. Hartshorn ; executive, Messrs S. Chambers, A. Millar and J. H. Try lor ; delegate to Provincial Conference, Mr. T. Talbot.

HASTINGS-PUKETITIRI LINE

The following telegrams sent by Mr. Lane to the meeting on Saturday Inst were discussed : — : Will you draw the attention of the annual meeting to the fact that if Hawke’s Bay had railway communication Taupo, Napier would be the nearest deep-sea port for the development of the King Country. Between here and Taupo there is not a single fence or road, and there arc hundreds o*' thousands of acres of heavy fern and bush which ■ such short direct rail communication" i*ith Hawke’s fiajwould hastily benefit by enabling us in our dry seasens to pour in stock for crushing purposes.

Mr. Lane said there was an area of good country about 100 miles long and 50 miles wide between here end Taupo without any settlement. The Government had recently trown open the Mangctoto estate, about 30 miles from Te Knit-, but it was absolutely roadless. The land in the King Country should be opened up from Hawke’ Bay, and if the HastingsPukctitiri line was constructed it would be the .first step towards it. It had been suggested that the line should be from Napier, but this was absurd. Napier already had the East Coast line which would go along the coast whilst the propo-ed line to Puketitiri would open up the country between there and Hastings. He moved that the necessity of opening up the country between Hawke’s Bay and the King Country by means of a railway via Puket'tm and Taupo be urged upon tthc Government. —The motion was carried and referred to the Provmc-al Executive.

COMPULSORY IMPROVEMENT OF NATIVE LANDS.

Mr. Laho’s second telegram. “L would sagges ttthc following rcmir for consideration by the Dominion eohfc-rence: Seeing that the opera tious of the graduated land tnx do not necessarily result in any increased production and do result very conspicuously in the subdivision of large estates amongst speculators, an I that Native land is being acquire-. 1 wholesale by speculators under long lenses, and that in both cases a large area of country is being held up for inflated value : and that genuine farmers desiring to increase production arc heavily handicapped, in Ihe opinio:') of this union a law should be passed which would make improvement <’.s compulsory on freehold or Native leases, as on leases held fnni the State.or "’so -l-e Iho Sialo Ihe right os resumption at price irideated" by the value was referred to the Provincial Execut’ve. CLOSER SETTLEMENT NEAR HASTINGS.

Mr. Laue suggested that as the chairman of the Land I’nichaso Bi ord would short!v be m Hastings to 'lisp ect property offered to the Government, that an opportunity be taken at the meeting to pass Ihe following resolution: That- this branch of the union urge the Govr’nment to acquire estates in the vicinity of Hastings suitable for subdivision in allotments from 5 to '5 acres. -The motion was amended to read “small allotments” and carried and it. was decided to forward a copy Io the Minister for Lands. < ORRESPONDEN CE.

The North Canterbury branch ot the Farmers’ Union stated that thev had under consideration the loss to farmers occasioned through the implement makers and importers declining to exhibit at the principal agricultural and pastoral shows, and it had been decided to recommend farmers who were purchasing implement or machinery previous to the annual show fixture";, to make a stipul.-ition that delivery ihimbl

given on the showgrounds, . thu.-> affording farmers an opportunity of comparing and securing the most highly improved modern machinery, so that they might successfully compete in the world’s markets. Fur thcr, the executive considered that the travelling agent was an expensive luxury. That method of sanhad largely increased the cost r >> selling, and the additional cost, sooner or later, fell on the farmera, who were actually keeping a J ar^ e army of men to travel through the country at their expense aud ulri mate loss, while in addition ™uch time was wasted on the farm. rhe.< therefore invited farmers to absolutely . discontinue giving orders through travelling agents, and instead to send them direct. A resolution was passed, xnaevery encouragement be given tcmanufacturers of agricultural mac* Jnerv to exhihibit at agricultural an-1 pastoral shows in the interest -, ot t o- « farming community, and that enpi - of the resolution be sent to the i cm. taries of the Hawke’s Bay A. ami 1 - Secietv and North Cantcrbur., branch of the Farmers’ Union Ore new member was fleeted the meeting closed wi<h a vote thanks to the cha'v.