FARMERS' UNION PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 22 May 1915, Page 4

FARMERS' UNION PROVINCIAL CONFERENCE.

It is pleasing to know, by compa-is'jn with other similar meetings throughout the Dominion, that the conference of the Taranaki provincial district of the New Zealand Farmers' Union is fully equal to that of any othef provincial district with respect to the importance of the business it transacts, and the manner in which it transacts it. Mr Alex. Hunter, in his presi dential .address, touched on a number of subjects, every one of which possessed a national interest, even though some of them were nominally local in their nature. An instance of this war liis refei-ence to the agricultural instruction conducted in South Taranaki by Mr Browne, of whom he justly spoke as "an enthusiast, a man of ability and tremendous energy, who iras-sos no opportunity of increasing his knowledge and consequent usefulness by study, personal experiment and investigation, and observation 'of the experience of others." Work of the kind referred to, carried on in the way described by Mr Hunter, cannot be confined in its effects to the area within which it is carried on, so that even in this particular instance it was a national subject that Mr Hunter dealt with. His references to the war, too. and to the conditions arising out of it, were noticeably free from the purely provincial touch or outlook. It was right that he should comment on the fact that, when the Government decided to despatch expeditionary forces to serve at the discretion and under the direction of the Imperial authorities, the farmers provided "men, money, horses, fodder, meat and other foodstuffs without stint. On short notice farmers with agricultural land rushed in extra crops to^ provide food, and how necessary this was has only become really apparent as the shortage of cereals has been revealed. The devastation so ruthlessly carried out by the invaders of plucky little Belgium lett h starving homeless, and outraged people. New Zealanders have again risen to the occasion,' and given freely of money, food, and clothing, and 'will continue to do so," advisedly said Mr Hunter, including Serbia and Poland, as well as Belgium. This summary of national effort was made in a national, noc a provincial spirit, and it is satisfactory to notice that a similar breadth of view characterised the deliberations and decisions of the delegates generally with respect to the business considered or disposed of at the conference. This was perhaps especially the ,

> vcai©','fn -witistlitfitfirorjoßa^ tlptYfhe (xoveninieiit ilo^faflake more 'dufec^&tttrafV %&us? ing meat from the producers. In some circumstances it %iay^lfe natural eiiQujgK to*jnake such 'proposals, but in •tike 'discussion of this particular proposal} and injts decision" with respect 'to it," the conference * proved **loyal to the" grand -os principle which has helped so much to make the British people what they are—of personal resource and self-dependence in private or business, matters, thus leaving ihf Government all the freer and abler to deal with what obviously concerns the people as a whole in their character as a nation, in contradistinction to per sonal or sectional interests which do not always harmonise with the country's common or collective interest. A similar largeness in its treatment of oth^iv was shown by the conference, and if this manner of handling public questions is 'continued and becomes characteristic of the branches generally* the Farmers' Union .will soon become widely known and respect-, ed as an institution jvhose members are sincerely bent on adjusting their" own interests to those of the country.