FARMERS' UNION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXVIII, 21 June 1912, Page 5

FARMERS' UNION.

TARANAKI PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE.

MONTHLY MEETING

The monthly meeting of the Taranaki Provincial Executive of the Farmers' Union took place at Haw-era on Thursday, when there were present: Messrs J. Davidson (chair), E. Marfell, A E washer, G. H. Buckeridge, E. Maxwell, R. Dunn, J. Swindlenurst, I), j. Willis, J. Tiiomson, A. Hunter and J B. Sim (secretary). Messrs Forsyth, Virgin, Lambie and Capper were granted leave of absence Before proceeding with the ordinary business a resolution of condolence with the relatives of the late Mr Swadling a former member of the Union was pa sed. COST OF LIVING COMMISSION. Considerable discussion was caused by a circular (reprinted from the Farmers' Lmon Advocate), which urged that reliable evidence should be given before the Cost of Living Commission, against any increase of land valuations for taxation purposes. Country people, the article said, were slow to move and loth to suspect that the Commission might be made the "cat's paw" of the parties who were anxious to get a report in favor of increased taxation of land. Increasing taxation on the unimproved value meant that as much of the value of improvements was included in the unimproved value, the injustice would be all the greater if the tax was increased, and therefore further taxation should be resisted. Mr E. Maxwell said that if a proper Commission had been set up it would be worth while arranging to'have evidence given before it, but under the circumstances the Commission was farcical as in a very limited space of time the Commission was expected to collect evidence and furnish a report on a most important matter, and he (the speaker) felt that it would be impossible" to attach much importance to any report of the Commission furnished under these circumstances. Referring to the question of improvements on land as valued under present circumstances, Mr Maxwell, went on to say that fences and buildings were not really improvements Increase in the carrying capacity of land was the real improvement, but nothing was. allowed for this. It was misconception of this that aided singletax agitation, and with a better understanding O f what a pioneer farmer really had to carry out in improving the carrying capacity of the land, the agitation for single-tax would to a large extent disappear. W -S r i\T Ulf ex?ressed agreement with what Mr Maxwell had said, and m connection with holders of West Coast native leases, he urged that when the leases fell in and the tenants' improvements had to be valued, the tenants should insist on having the improvements made in increasing the carrying capacity allowed for. ""This was an important matter for holders of these leases and should be thoroughly ventilated. •

Mr J. Thomson condemned the present system of Government valuation and quoted instances in support of his contention.

A resolution that the circular be received, and the Farmers'. Union id vocate be thanked for drawing attention to the matter mentioned therein was proposed and seconded.

~Mr Jfarfell expressed a hope that through discussion some means of obtaining consideration for out-of-sight improvements might be evolved, though he could not see much prospect of it as it was a most difficult question! farmers, he continued, had at least a clear claim to urge that value nut on the lands by the roads leading to them should be added to the value of the improvements, as in many cases the roads had been constructed through a mortgage on the land in the sha^e of special rates to make the roads * Mr Thomson claimed that it was unfair that capital invested in land should be taxed more heavily than if invested in other businesses.

Mr Buckeridge considered that it was a reflection upon the political morality ot the country that a commission should be set up with the apparent object of only getting evidence from one "sidethat of town dwellers— as to the cause ot the increased cost of living There was only one farmer on the Commission and the remainder practically represented the Labor side and it appeared on the face of it as if the Commission migut have been set up with the object ot catching the Labor vote. Mr Buckendge also urged that the increased cost of administration of the country's affairs must h,ave had its reflex \ip On the cost of living, and suggest tat me Union should urge that the scone of the Commission's enquiry might" be extelly eel-

lhe resolution of thanks to the Advocate was carried and Mr Backend! then moved as follows: "That in vSv of the fact that the Cost of Living Commission has only sat in the large? tottns, and consequently the settlers have not bee.fl able to put their side o f the question, and that it has been impossible for settlers in country districts to giro evident, this executive recom- £. PTtJ 1 i* 6 SC°?e °f the Commi^ion be extended so as to give facilities to ZZ YeV cn dentS- tO place their ™ws before the Commission."

Mr Swindlehurst seconded ment • D «TJh.f a+jf- m°Ved 8S an amend" ™^\ ir at p IS, exec«tive protests against the farcical manner in which the evidence is taken before the Commission both in not giving reasonable facility for country evidence and in sitting only ln the larger centres, and ™VJ c ™?mber for this district be asked to bring this protest before the T!' } Vm Py of the resolution to be sent to all Taranaki members of Parliament and to the dominion executive or the Farmers' Union. Mr R Dunn seconded, and Mr Buckendge withdrew his motion in favor of the amendment, which was then earned unanimously. ORGANISER'S REPORT. - The organiser, Mr G. H. Buckeridge said he had little to report at present. He had arranged to hold meetings at Kaimata and Auroa, and would like to hear as soon as possible from any branches who might require his serrices. LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL CONFERENCE. Referring to the conference recently held at Wellington in connection with the Local Government Bill, at which he was a delegate, Mr E. Maxwell gave an outline of the proceedings there. The Bill was a very large one of 414 clauses, and the Minister had promised to have a full reDort of the proceedings printed and forwarded to all local bodies, but that report, MiMaxwell said, would not show all that was done, as the real work of the conference had been done in the four1 committees into tohich it had been!

■S-n i , hIS °Pinion the original tfili had been torn to shreds and nothing of its essentials left. In tn<* original Bill local government would. have been in effect done away with, which was why it had met with such vigorous and successful opposition. Judging by the proceedings in open conference and in committee it appeared that the feeling throughout thedominion was against the creation of a Local Government Board; against provincial councils or any other body with over-riding rating powers over boroughs and counties; against interference with the national system of education; averse to the management of hospital and charitable aid matters by a body such as the provincial council; and against any movement in tha direction of relieving present expenditure from the consolidated revenue at the expense of local rates. There wa». a distinct feeling that county councilsrequired an amendment to be made in the existing arrangements in regarcf to finance, and in favor of the merging. Of smaller bodies (such as small town boards, road, river, domain and drainage boards) into county councils, afc~ least as regarded rating powers. Ja such cases local committees could bo tormed to make recommendations to the councils, but would be withoutrating powers. There was also a feeling in favor of the merging of small horough councils and town boards adjacent to large towns into the larger town body. In reference to county nnance the conference opposed the present system of promiscuous grants and preferred an increase of subsidies to replace the grants; and was of opinion that the Government should carry out its present obligations in regard toroads and bridges. It was held that, the opening up of new roadin^ sbo^Vt be carried out at the expense of t^e. central Government—roa diner to ba carried o^t simultaneously with settlement—and subsidies, it was consideredvshould be arranged in accordance* with the requirements of a district as much as on the basis of rating, thoueh. no decision was come to as to the* exact method to be adopted. Concerning the size of counties, Mr Maxwelt said that in the opening address the Minister had mentioned that there*, were about 130 counties and that these should be reduced to 40. In all the deliberations there had been no suggestion of such a serious reduction, but it would be noticed that last week the Minister had claimed that the conference had endorsed the principle of enlarging counties to such an extent that they would really be provincial councils. This was at variance with the conclusions of the conference, as 80 had been the lowest number mentioned, an( j even n f ter swee pi n g away all the smaller bodies there "were over 80 justifiable local bodies left. The feeling of the conference had been toretain all the larger «nes, and in thi» there was a great difference between the wish of the Minister and that of the conference. The Minister wished to get provincial councils, and this was, Mr Maxwell said, a great danger, as there was a vast difference between a legislative body and an administrative body, and he warned his hearers against allowing any serious reduction to go through, as it would mean that these administrative bodies, through, pressure of business, would became merely tools of the legislative body. In reply to a question Mr Maxwell said that a suggestion had been made at the conference that a commission might be set up to consider the matter of county boundaries.

Mr Marfell Airas not altogether nsainst the reduction of counties to 40 or 50, but in that case road boards should not be done away with, as there would ,be many matters to co~ne before the larger councils of which they would not have much, knowledge, and which could be better dealt with by road boards. He thought there would be an attempt to reduce the number of councils, but he houed afr rond boards would not be done away with.

A vote of thanks was tendered toMr Maxwell for his interesting resume of proceedings at the conference, and' the passing of accounts terminated the meeting.