FARMERS’ UNION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16549, 13 May 1914, Page 6

FARMERS’ UNION.

MEETING OF WAIAU BRANCH. A meeting of the Waiau Branch of the Farmers’ Union was held on Saturday, Mr J. Lee in the chair. The visit of Messrs Goss and Brownell, president and secretary of the Y.M.C.A., had been postponed, owing to tho bad weather, and it was decided to allow tho matter to remain in abeyance for the present until experiments which wore being carried out in other districts should prove successful. It was stated, however, that tho Union would bo pleased to welcome delegates from the Y.M.C.A. at any time. A letter was received from the Postmaster-Gen-eral, advising that mails would leave Culverden in future at 12.50 instead of 1 p.m., and that the contractor had undertaken to convey mails to Waiau by motors, as soon as such vehicles could be placed on the road. In reply to a request by the Union for an expert to visit the district during tho winter months, for the purpose of overhauling machinery, letters were received from the implement manufacturers in Christchurch offering their assistance in the matter. Tin; secretary was instructed to thank tho firms for their courtesy, and to inform them that as the district was so scattered it was thought advisable to hold the matter over until next winter, to enable the scheme to he worked up. Mr T. M. Marr wrote, calling the attention of the Union to the need of more Justices of tho Peace in tho neighbourhood, more especially since the death of the late Mr D. D. Macfarlane. Tho secretary was instructed to write to the Minister of Internal Affairs through Mr G. W. Forbes, M.P., asking for the appointment of three more Justices of the Peace, and recommending Messrs L. Threlkeld, T. M. Marr and C. Parnham, for the positions.

It was decided to call a public meeting, under the auspices of the Union, for the purpose of going into the matter of public snleyards for the Waiau. district, and those interested were requested to meet at the Public Library, Waiau, next Saturday evening. The following remits were forwarded for the Provincial Conference:—(l) “That in estimating the value of improvements the Government valuer should be very careful to procure all available information as to the condition of each separate farm in its original or native state, especially with a. view to the expense incurred by the clearing of scrub, bush, flax, niggerheads or other noxious growths, levelling and draining, and generally bringing the land into a. suitable condition for cultivation to follow. He should also take into consideration the time that such operations may require, and the consequent loss of revenuo during that period.” (2) “ That in sparsely populated country districts where it is found necessary to subsidise a doctor in order to get him to reside there, the amount of tho subsidy required should be refunded to the local authority by the Hospital and Charitable Aid Boai'd. As an . alternative,, where such districts are over fifty miles from a public hospital .legislation should be enacted whereby they may withdraw; their contribution to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and make their own arrangements, should a majority of the ratepayers favour such a course being taken.” •; \