N.Z. FARMERS' UNION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 20 June 1913, Page 5

N.Z. FARMERS' UNION.

TARANAKI EXECUTIVE

. meeting of the Taranaki Prnvin cial- Executive of the New ' Zealand I m2SS?v Th" ™sheld ™ Haw™ R D.mn' P hf' e £ ere Pre*mt: Messrs JK.. Uimn,.K. Lambie, I*. J Vi'i-mii T Swindlehurst, H. iWon, "S ' J Davidson Apologies for absence were receive:! from a. number of members mending the president (Mr A.& teij ail of whom were granted leave. I Utt j""" was voted ? o", bavmg arrived from Palmerston North by the midday train. . lhe secretary of the Eketahuna branch wrote asking if the executive find any copies of the pamphlets dealing with the obiects of the N.Z. Farmers union. The secretary said he-had forwarded 200 copies to the branch. His action M-as confirmed. i ~Tn? .-Domini on Executive advised that ; the Dominion Conference would com- | nience on July 15. ! Mr Dunn referred to a proposal that | there should be a higher import duty ion boots and shoes. H e said that in -the opinion of farmers there was no 1 necessity for anything of the kind. •During the last six months, through the increased cost of hides, prices for boots and shoes had gone up by 25 per cent and saddlery 50 per cent. He thought the executive should protest against any further increase on the import duty on boots and shoes. He moved in this direction. Mr Lambie seconded the motion. New Zealand, he said, produced the finest hides m the world, or if not.better, as good as in any other place"in the world. It seemed wonderfully strange to him that their hides could be shipped- to England, America or the Continent, tanned and manufactured into leather, thence into boots and shoes.-, and shipped back into New Zealand, that there should be so large an amount as 25 and 50 per cent increased duty on the manufacturedgoods. He could not understand why the manufacturers in New Zealand could not compete against any country in the world. Mr Dunn : They ought to. Mr Lambie said the manufacturers should be required to give an explanation before the executive would support a further increase on the import duty According to the fifth plank of the Union all tariffs put on were for the purposes of raising revenue and not- for protection, and therefore in' passing ■'the resolution they were only backing up the plank of the platform." The motion was carried. On the motion of" Mr Davidson, seconded by the President, it was decided that the Provincial Executive levy for the ensuing year be 45.. per member, the same as last year. Mr Lambie moved: That this executive enters its emphatic protest against preference to unionists, and is of tho opinion that each man or woman, whether a- member of the union or not, should have the same privilege of earning a living. Mr Dunn seconded the motion, and it was carried. This was all the business.