PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE'S REPORT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 21 May 1923, Page 7

PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE'S REPORT.

TARANAKI ANNUAL CONFERENCE

{ The annual conference was opened to- , day, Mr. F. Mills presiding. The I delegates present were: Messrs. F. ; Mills (president), A. E, Washer and D. L. A. Astbury (vice-presidents), J. : Swindlehurst (hon. treasurer), R. j Dunn, S. Vickers, R. Lamb, W. 'I. : Seed, E. Maxwell, T. W. Owen, B. i Rushin, J. S. Barrow, J. D. Bashford, ''■■ H. Hodge, E. Betts, Geo. H. Sucker-; idge, J. A. Kurth, F. Gawith, J. ■ Cleaver, A. R B. Pierce, B. Orr, H. A. Sutherland, H. E. Batten, R. O. ; Treweek, R. Free, Pierce, Mitchell. F. \ S. Tarrant, P. W. Tong, A. Ward, i Herbert, G. Gould. ; In opening, the president said he ; hoped there would be free and full d\s-: cussion {>nd that everyone would take! a part in the work of the conference. ' ' His Worship the Mayor, in welcoming j the delegates to Hawera, said he realised the town depended on the country, and all bad a general interest in help-' ing farmers to' succeed in every way. All could do their part in the work and ■ all were mutually interdependent. The farmers of to-day, when looking after : their own interests were looking after . the interests of all sections. When they discussed them and passed them , on to the Government they were doing their very best to help the interests <.-f the industry. He was pleased they had been dealing with the products of the Dominion, shipping and banking facilities, and all woulcl have a part in, pushing ahead the interests of the whole Dominion. New Zealand produced the best butter and cheese". He was amazed to find Dominion butter : and cheese not advertised in any part. He found other prodiicts were made public in every direction, and something was wrong when New Zealand produce ! was not advertised in a similar way. People in the Old Country did not know where the butter came from. They should have shipping to put produce on the market when prices are high and j regular services throughout the year i Mr. Mills expressed his thanks for the- nice address and the points he had noted. The town and everyone was dependent on the country. It was a matter of the utmost importance to the country. It was up to everyone to i use his influence to see that the whole 1 country realised the importance, and, i indeed, the necessity of dealing with j these big questions Farmers bad to i look after their own interests", but re- < cognised that while they were looking ; after these they were looking after the ] interests of all. They did not wish to do anything detrimental to other sec* , tions of the community, although in , their gatherings it sometimes appeared ] that they were antagonistic because i they advocated only one side. He could , assure everyone that this was not so.

He agaiii thanked the Mayor for his |* kindly welcome and assured him that if any townspeople would like to hear ' the discussions they were most cordially welcome. j PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. * Mr. Mills, on rising to speak, said it j c had been the custom to prepare and t ; read a formal address, but he would j only put down a few thoughts that had Q occurred to him. In his opinion one of the greatest problems now facing r the country was the fact of the rapid t growth of the towns. It had been stated that by ne>:t census the population of Auckland ~ would reach the figure 200,000. '' It maue one realise that the people , were flocking to the towns if Auckland grew to that figure, and other towns c would probably increase in the same c \ proportion within a few years. The r f increase would be mdlre realised when it ' was considered that the proportion of - the people of the country to those of _k the towns hr.d decreased from 60 per f cent, to 48 per cent., meaning that 43 * had to feed and keep 100 in the towns.. The position was geftbing worse and': ? worse, and it was a subject to be t stressed most of all. Firstly, it was 1 necessary to point out the advantages i of a country life, which would be ap- < parent to many. This had been many 1 times discussed and a means of counter- 1 acting, but it was a fact that the fur- 1 thter it went the harder the job became < for the agricultural world "to provide 1 the necessaries of life far the popula-' < tion. Food and clothing.—America was i almost unable to provide her own food ( and it was only a matter of a few ; years before this would be the case s here. He did not wish to see New Zea- ] land in this position, but it was head- ■ ing that way too fast. He referred to i the industrial unrest, which was a re- i suit of this tendency, from the rapid , increase of the people in the towns who were left with less to do that would fill ' j up all their time., and., jn fact, "going I slow," It led to discontent in many , ways, for when they were fully oceu-v pied they were contented. Another result was the increase in the cost of living, which was very great, because' of the increase in the "number of those , who could not find enough to do. This increased the cost to the producer and the difference between the cost of pro- ' duetion and the amount realised from the consumer, and as the middleman had to live and get a return for handling the produce the producer got less for his output. It was essential that, although they did not want to, push out the middleman altogether, if they increased too much the farmers would have to do their own work of handling, because then the middlemen became parasites. They would consider the past stage when men. and women produced for themselves, farmers took in their own produce, and stood in the market to sell it to buyers. This was put aside because economically unsound. It was economically unsound, say, in a motor business for one man to build a car, and each workman must specialise. The farmers must not do the whole of their business, for. it is an age of specialisa-

tion. Their job was to pi'oduce, and there was a legitimate place for themiddlemen to do the work of passing produce on to the consumer. The multiplication of middlemen was another step put up between producer and consumer, and theiefore the farmer had some cause to be aggrieved. This would make an increase in the cost of production, and would result in lower prices for the producer. Then he would have cause to complain. The producer had his own job and the middleman's was the handling. This was a general j principle, but there was no rule with- ■ out an exception, and when the middleman took advantage of the position and was getting too much then there was j some reason for co-operation by the ' fanners. He instanced how when prices j were put up beyond a fair thing opposi- ' tion would come in and bring prices down. It was unwise for producers to interfere in such a case, but' it was quite another matter when the middlemen increased too much ano got too much out of the business, and the only thins; to be done was to enter into competition on co-operative lines. They were justified in doing this if they saw a good chance of running their business economically to make a success of the scheme, and not be blocked by a combination further hack. Some cooperative enterprises have not succeeded because they have failed to satisfy fundamentals. There were plenty of fields for co-operation, and it was a good thing when, it was impossible to secure their ends without it. But be.- t fore embarking on such a scheme it was necessary' to see that it was on good safe ground. The cause of the cost of living, therefore, was aggregation and the multiplication of middlemen. If a way could be found of stemming the trend of population that would be the remedy In striving towards this end some T thing had been done, jukl caie or two j rould ho mentioned. The Boys' and \ Girls' Clubs and an extension of agri- j cultural education. These came to mind as onp or two means, but their object should he to extend these means by the furthering of agricultural enn cation. Something was being done with primary schools, and ho hoped inor*> would be done, and this applied to thu secondary schools also. A great steal more might be done. At Stratford thy enrolments for the agricultural eta&s J v ere one-third of the total for the year ' This was good. bur. not nearly enough | Tt was time this was improved in other schools., iiut it was encouraging to all. Se lioped th~ w»centajge would increase, and that they woum go f' v' < ther and take ujj the study of dairy I science. It was usual to take up in o »-ourse some form ojl science as a mental training, with, thought and observation, and this was a goo dthing. He hoped the bias tr» agricultural science would increase and extend to -all schools iV New Zealand. If only one or two were thus induced to take up this wholly and more facilities for scientific training and education it would be worth while They were indebted to Sir Walter Bu chanan for bis gx-eat gift to found a chair of agriculture, which would help very much in sowing the problems of a difficult and intricate subject. Not only would there be students, but a staff of experts, who would take their place alongside the experts of the Department of Agriculture. Thef would be able to take up research and investigation work and to specialise in it. He had the greatest admiration for the work of the Departmental officers, who include many good men; but it was necessary that men should be more fully and closely engaged if they were to have the greatest hope of success. There was much room for further work. Much had been done in other countries. Subjects worth thinking of were the diseases of root crops, which affected their turnip and swede crops. They were serious for all in Taranaki, but let them, realise what it meant to people, say, in Southland. Again, there were problems of the dairy world. Let them consider what it would mean if they could find means of dealing with udder troubles and the question of sugar of milk, which was in greater pro_ portion than butter-fat or casein. At present it was mostly thrown away and a tremendous revenue was being lost. Mr Mills referred to the problems that were fronting the dairymen to today. There was great scope for men of science, and seeing that the greatest man in the scientific world to-day was a New Zeaiancler there was no reason why New Zealanders should not be first in the field. Agricultural education was not what it should be, and they as a Farmers' Union should do what they could to urge upon the authorities the necessity for extending further and further agricultural education in this Dominion. (Applause.) The Mayor (Mr L. A. Bone) then retired after thanking the president for the address he had listened to that afternoon. On the proposal of Mr R. Dunn, the ! president was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his very able address.

The president moved the adoption of the executive "s report, which was seconded by Mr Dunn, and carried.

EXECUTIVE'S' REPORT. The Provincial Executive's report stated: During the year twelve meetings of the executive have been held,, at ten da iii.-os at which have been as under: F. Mills, 12; D. L. A. Astbury, 2; A. E. Washer, —; J. Swindlehurst, 9; It. Dunn, 9; A. H. B. Pierce, 11; K. Maxwell, 4; T. W. Owen, 8; J. A. Kurth, 2; J. S. Barrow, 5; H. Hodge, 4; G. H. Buckeridge. 12: J. Cleaver, 9; B. Orr, 9; W. T. Seed, 8; H. A. Sutherland, 6; E. Betts, 2; J. D. Bashford, 12; F. Gawith, 9; B. Rushin, 11. The average attendance was 12 per meeting.

A large number of subjects have boen discussed dm hip; the year, th& principal of which are: Spread of cattle tick, Colonial Ammunition Company's trophy competition, butter-fat content' of cheese and part skimmed cheese, conference of branch secretaries, Board of Agriculture, Boys' and Girls' Clubs and competitions, agricultural and people's banks, inspection of dairies and testing of milk, etc., farmers' party in politics, encouragement of secondary industries ly Government, New Zealand Fanners' Ft-itiliser Co., Dairy Farmers' Union, conference of provincial secretaries, Sale of Poisons Bill, organisation, exemption of farmers fro mArbitration Court Acts, question to Parliamentary candidates } Dairy Control Bill, assistance to returned soldiers on the land, lime for agricultural purposes, spread of noxious weeds, grass grub pest, price of Nauru Island phosphate, manurial value of rock phosphate, industrial disturbances, reported outbreaks of cattle tick in Taranaki, railway freights on dairy produce, stock commissions, collection of telephone fees, lectures to branches by Government, officials and exports, j.ne year has been unfortunate, in so far that we have Lost the services of Mr. Astbury, who has resigned the position of vice-president—and also from the union—and whose services your executive are extremely sorry to lose; and, also, to a very large extent, of those of Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Betts, whose presence at our monthly meetings have been greatly missed. The year has been marked by a. ereneral decline of interest by members throughout the province, and though efforts have been made by the executive, our own organiser, and one of the Dominion organisers to rouse more i interest in the union in various parts !of the district, the results achieved t h.&vt been most ii:appQintin2 -and [ evince an apathy off the; part of fanners in the management of matter* &>tt= c&rning their own welfare that is certainly not in their best interests. The Boys' and Girls' Club movement has been productive of keen competition amongst the children attending the various public schools throughout Taranaki, and has more than fulfilled the hopes of the most sanguine of us as to the value of the movement as a means of arousing interest in farming pursuits in the rising generation of this district, and of stemming the trend of population to the large towns. It is, however, a matter of regret that so few fanners have come forward to assist in carrying out of the work in con-

neetion with these Boys' and Girls' Clubs; and it is feared that, unless more support is given to the union, this very valuable work, as far ?s the union is concerned, will have to be abandoned, which, in your executive's oninion, would be a distinct calamity. This work alone should have been responsible for a large accession to the membership of the union throughout the province; but, apparently its value is not; recognised or appreciated as it should be by farmers. Your executive have arranged, from time to time, a number of lectures by Government officers on matters of vital interest to farmers; but here again the paucity of attendances at many of these lectures hardly warrants the trouble and expense incurred by the departments concerned in sending out lecturers, ami your executive hope that farmers wiH take more interest in these and show their appreciation of the efforts of the executive in arranging for the lectures, and of the department and its officers also, by attending in Hrge numbers whenever lectures are given, as the information that may be obtained at any of the lectures is of great value to farmers, and the opportunity of getting it should be eagerly grasped at. During the past week Mr. T. Buxton. Dominion organiser and lecturer, and the provincial president (Mr. Mills) have been engaged in North Taranaki in an endeavour to resuscitate interest in the union in that part of Taranaki, with the following results: TJrenui, Waitoitoi, White Cliffs, and Inglewood were visited, and an increase of 91 members have been added to the union. The president and provincial secretary yi sited Kakararnea. on Friday, 18th inst., and met with a good reception, oil present becoming members of the union.

In conclusion, it is earnestly hoped by the executive that farmers will rouse up to a knowledge of the necessity for a strong organisation of their own to combat other active and strong organisations whose aspirations, at times, are opposed to the best interests of farmers; and to assist the Dominion executive in its efforts to promote legislation and measures that will materially assist in increasing production by providing cheaper finance, and by insuring better and cheaper means of getting our produce to its markets and m its disposal on the grid's markets. t *our. Frusi tb& f- farmers will come forward anri give their assistance 1° *>* um°n oy jefillng up in large Humbert; afllj thM giving it the weight of membership? SegiilKd to make it the power it ought to be to protect the farming interests. At the same time they would like to point out that several branches have, for some years past, by means of root growing and other competitions and shows, kept the interest alive in the unibn in their districts, and that'this could with advantage he adopted by more branches, and* trust that this coming year they will do co.