Farmers' Union.

Manawatu Standard, Issue 7059, 19 July 1901, Page 4

Farmers' Union.

Tho Hawke's Bay Herald says :— "Wo should like to know why a farmers' union' should not ventilate their grievances and represent their views to the Ministry. Not very long ago tho Trades and Labor Unions held a conference in Dunedin. Did they abstain from political discussions or hesitate to draw up a programme of political reform ? Quite the contrary; there was hardly: a subject of any political importance which was not discussed, and the programme which they drew, up would have, provided work sufficient; to occupy the legislative body'for a decade.. Yet the Premier did not think it necessary to complain or to denounce their action as beyond the scope of a trade union. It is obvious that the object of such associations, whether formed of workers or farmers, is to watofi over and protect the interests of their members, to guard against any hurtful legislative interference with their occupations, and to suggest and encourage any measure by which their position and prospects may be advanced. This has always been- the aim of these bodies, and we fail to see why the Farmers' Union should be regarded in a different light from the union of any other industrial

class,