FARMERS' UNION EXECUTIVE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, 21 October 1916, Page 5

FARMERS' UNION EXECUTIVE.

USUAL MONTHLY MEETING

The usual monthly meeting of the xaranaki farmers' Union Executive was held yesterday, when there were present: Messrs It. Dunn (chair). G. H. Buekenage, E. Maxwell, R. Lamn' Q f• «utherland, F, Mills, B. Orr, E. A. Masher, J. S. Barrow, T. Perry, \\ . Duff, EL. Hodga and J bwmdiehurst. Apologies for absence were received from Mr G. Mackie (Kaimata) and Mr S. W. Norris (Eltham). A vote was passed expressing sympathy with Mr Mackie in the paintul accident he met with when returning trom the last executive meeting. FALLEN HEROES.

The executive passed <- a vote of sympathy to the relatives of all those laranaki boys who had given up their lives m defence of their King and ■country.

NATIONAL ENDOWMENTS. ,

,The Auckland branch of the Union again drew attention to the problem of how best to deal with national enhpW eUA, la nd' - The matter had «een betoie the Dominion and Provincial Conferences, and these had expressed a strong consensus of opinion that the present system would result in a serious loss to the Dominion and to the tunds for which the endowments, were established. Representations to the Government had been useless, and the matter must be seriously taken xip by tne .farming community and public opinion educated before there was any hope of inaugurate a sound and businesslike system of dealing with these lands, j/he national endowments comprised rougnly nine million acres of land, mostly located in the backblocks .and of second and third-class qualify, but according to the present law these could only be dealt with on the leasehold system. Lands deal with. under this system were bound to deteriorate, because it did not offer any inducement tor the maintenance of soil iertility, and it had often been found impossible to settle some of the land at all under the leasehold system The result was that it was lying idie and becoming a harbor for rabbits and a seed bed for noxious weeds The .chairman said that this question was one of the planks of the Farmers 7 Union platform. Not that they desired to do away with endowments, but merely to change the tenancy so as to allow the right to leaseholders to acquire the freehold. The reason why tuey were so insistent on this was because they recognised that there was no possible chance of the present endownments increasing in value; there was no chance of a man under a leaseholcrsystem improving, these poor lands as they should be improved. The land was becoming a harbor for weeds and instead or producing good revenue for the purposes for .which the land was set apart, it was deteriorating in" value and the revenue was diminishing He had-noticed m a report recently" that the only revenue which showed "a fall-' me oil was the revenue from national endowments; but he should say however, ? he did not know exactly to" what vva h to sell these endowments and to reinvest the money in city land; they all knew how city property had inW^ ed + r + VaA Ue l 5 and they hydtbatthe towns and cities iJ New Zealand would yet become a great deal .bigger, and that money invested wouTd^ 1^8 ay°-daA Prices even would grow greatly ju value, and that 3 uefy their endowments would ab?e become more and more valu-

Mr Maxwell considered that the Auckland branch of the Union was doing the community a service in if nffi thl? m^ eT -b^°*e the Public. It had been adopted time after time, but the greater number of times it was brought up. publicly the greater would be the chance of the public bl coming conversant with the situation. ijrea IT?Z °f th? Public did not leaiise that these endowments were for the most part high and poor, and required a considerable expenditure to f^JWy' 6*™?^ all- If they were not Well farmed they would deteriorate and _ become covered with noxious weeds, and under the leasehold system men would not eradicate the weeds or farm the land as it should be farmed. It was well known that even m England poor land which had been Reclaimed out of the wilderness had now been abandoned because of labors difficulty and the cost of fertilisers and if that happened in England what might they expect in New Zealand. They would find that these endowments would soon be no great national endowments at all, and the only way to save the situation would be to sell them and reinvest the proceeds m some other form of investment.

.. "It was resolved to endorse the opinions of. the Auckland branch.

SHIPPING FKEIGHTS. _. The chairman brought up the question of shipping freights, and referred to the notification from the shipping companies that the freight on wool would be increased by one penny. He referred to the cable sent to 'Messrs Massey and Ward by Sir Jas. Wilson protesting against this increase, and to the protest entered by Mr G V I'eaVce M.P. for Patea, "Mr Richards was holding a- meeting at Stratford, and he understood that he was advocating that every dairy company, freezing company, and farmers generally should instruct the Government to put on an export tax on all the principal dairy products—meat, wool etc —to collect an amount of £3,000,000 to be used in the purchase of ships in order to break down the present shipping combine. There was no doubt that something should be done: either the Government should take over a line of ships or subside the producers in securing too control of ships in order to cheapen freights. Ifc was resolved to thank tho«e including Mr Pearce and Sir Jas. Wilson, who had entered a protest against the increase of freights. Discussing shipping freights generally, Mr Biickeridge pointed out that it was one of the most difficult problems they had to deal with. The present difficulties were due to shortage of bottoms; other countries were bidding for freight space, and unless New Zealand came into line she would be

Mr Maxwell admitted that nothing they could now do would increase the number of ships, .but it was the duty oi the producers 'to make it perfectly plain to the shipping companies that j"f they now squeezed them unduly they would sufter for it in the long run. Inere was no justification for the unreasonable increase which they now proposed, and if they persisted ir it the producers of New Zealand shovld see that they were given- no secoid chance of doing it. If any small section of the community attempted to start a shipping company even w'th •unlimited capital they' could not «^rvive against the present combination or shipping companies unless they could control the products But the primary products bore such an enormous proportion to the whole of tho -Dominion products that a shipping company owned by the producers'and controlling 19-2Oths of the outward treights and thr.ee-qua.rtere of the inward could dominate the position. Their business, as representatives of the pro-

ducers, was to let the shipping companies know that if they did this thing HOW, and in doing it, made it plain that -they might! do so again in the future, that they would not get another chance of carrying farmers' ' produce. There ■would be "no trouble about financing the

shipping if farmers combined, and they would be only too ready to combine in such, a project when it touched their pockets so deeply as tihis did. Tbe shipping people could produce ships but they could not produce the cheese, butter, wool, meat, .etc. The farmers could produce both the ships and the produce and they must show the shipping companies that they were strong enough to do it. , Mr Buckeridge remarked that he had advocated this in articles and addresses

many times, and had quoted figures to show how much the Argentine was saving in freights on refrigerated space alone; for an equal quantity of work done they had. sayed half a million in freights, as against New Zealand. But to mak© a shipping enterprise a success they must control the whole of the produce absolutely and so long as some of the freezing companies were interested in snipping companies hey were up against one difficulty .straight away. They had in New Zealand shipping companies behind which were other and the most powerful shipping companies in the world, and that would require the most powerful combination to combat, and the further; they enquired into the matter the more difficult they could see the light would be. But the time was coming when farmers would organise as a business and take up this fight, and with such a powerful combination as t!he3< could toreatd they could in the end control the shipping and "regulate their freights. It was at present taking, say, 25 ships, each making on an average two and a-half trips a year to carry their produce, so they could see that'it would take a strong

financial and well-organised body to run their shipping. At the present time shipping companies had to go outside their own. vessels and charter others to carry., produce,, and as Australi*,- South Africa and Japan was, • competing for freight space, it was only natural that the shipping companies should sell it to the best advantage, fust as farmers would ejqpect to take advantage of the best markets offering for their produce. , They had to choose the lesser of two evils,, either *to bid for the space as the others were doing," even at an. exEorbitant figure, or be left. They were powerless, at present to do anything, further than voice an expression of opinion against these high freights. , The chairman remarked that it was evident they weie up against a strong combination, 'anil if the producers made a move in the direction of securing their own shipping, they would have to start with sufficient fcoats to do the whole job. It would be fatal to start with one or two boats, for the simple reason that ihe shipping companies would then refube to take any of their produce, and they would be left stranded. It was a gigantic concern to go into, but with, thorough organisation and combination it should be possible to grapple with-it. He knew the feeling of the producers in other parts of New Zealand, and they were fully alive to the position. If their protest did not bring fortib. an explanation from the shipping companies justifying their present increases in freight, they would be (ready to organise and fight. V ■ ■"■ The chairman § moved "That this executive is in full sympathy with Sir J. Gr. Wilson's protest as regards freights, and realises- that the time has come•■■when producers should consider the question of combining so as to iave entire control of all shipping necessary to carry both their export and 1 import trad.c. , • : Seconded and carried unanimously.