FARMERS’ UNION

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 262, 3 October 1936, Page 8

FARMERS’ UNION

MANAWATU EXECUTIVE. MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Manawatu provincial executive of the Farmers’ Union was held to-day. The chair was occupied by Mr N. Campbell, and there were aleo present Messrs J. Boyce, E. 0. Bond, H. Bowling, H. J. McLeavey, H. Sorenson, L. H. Ballinger, AV. J. Gimblett, W. G. Shannon, B, G. Gower, W. E. Thomas, G. G. Mitchell, B. F. Lynch, K. C. Burnett, A. N. Alorcom and E. O. Niederer (organiser). . The Dominion secretary wrote asking for particulars of cases of hardship occasioned by the graduated land tax. —Received, and to be passed on to the branches. Copies of Ministerial replies to various remits from the last conference and executive meetings were received. Replying to representations, the Cheltenham Dairy Coy. advised that the directors had agreed to reduce the commission on suppliers’ orders to i per cent, where given to the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. Writing on the same matter the New Zeala.nd Farmers’ Dairy Union advised that it had no end of worry with members who had an order on the factory to pay their subscription. The company could not make any reduction in the collecting fee of 5 per cent. Fiirthernmie, it would be very pleased to be re ' e ved of the matter.—The chairman tv as authorised to interview the secretary ot the Dairy Union Company. MEMBER’S RESIGNATION. Mr J. D. Balmer (llaumai) wrote resigning from the executive, stating that he was not satisfied with the manner in which discussions had been conducted at executive meetings. Messrs Shannon, Boyce, McLeavey and Bond all urged that Mr Balmer be interviewed by members ot the execu tive officially and asked to reconsider his decision. Mr Bond said all realised that there had been far too much "'l'angUng across the table. There had really been too much illogical talk. He thought that in the long run the letter might do the executive a lot of good. The chairman saul that Mr Balmer had been “the life” of the Betmngma branch, which was the largest in the district. The speaker endorsed a 1 that had been said, and added that if Air Balmer was lost to the executive it would be a serious matter. It was decided that Mr Balmei be interviewed and asked to reconsider his decision. GENERAL. The meeting discussed the making of donations by the union, and Mr Lvncli moved that the executive make a donation of £2 2s to the controlling bodies of the Calf Clubs and the Boys and Girls’ Agricultural Clubs, and that any donations to their various branches bo left to the individual branches of the union, within the limits of the 5s per member allocation to each branch. Mr Burnett seconded the motion. Mr McLeavy moved an amendment that all applications for assistance be deferred till the end of the year and be dealt with then by a special committee. Much time would be lost in discussing individual requests and the amount of funds the executive held should always be taken into account, he said. , , . Mr Gimblett seconded the amendment, which was carried with only one dissentient. ORGANISER’S REPORT.

The organiser reported that he had secured an increase of about 170 members, so far, in his current visit to the Manawatu district (about six weeks), and submitted the following statement:—“l have completed the AVhakarongo area and increased the total membership of the branch from 27 to 72. Practically all the members are on the order system. If the meetings are made interesting by arranging for outside lecturers, etc., this should he a good live brancli from now on. On September 21 wo attended the first meeting of the reorganised branch. Mr Campbell (provincial president) addressed the meeting on the work of the union; Mr L. 1. Plimmer (provincial secretary) on union finance; Mr P. V. Koehler (chairman) stressed the necessity of holding regular meetings, while my talk was mainly on organisation. With the view to forming a combined branch of the Aokautere and Tiritea districts I arranged to take some farmers from Aokautere, and the chairman of the AVlmkarongo branch, to the usual monthly meeting of the Linton branch on September 22. It was an enthusiastic meeting. Respective boundaries were defined and wholehearted co-operation promised in forming the new branch. While I would like to finish one district before starting in another, this is not always possible for various reasons, and during the month I have worked from Rangiotu to Bunnythorpe. Mr W. E. Thomas, Te Arakura, assisted me for several days to complete his area. In Kairanga, Mr H. R. Green and I have covered about half the area, with very satisfactory results in these two districts. Including Newbury and Awahuri, we now have approximately 150 members and still a fair area to cover. The Rongotea branch takes in a big district; working with Mr J. Boyce in the Glen Oroua-Taikorea area, in five 12-hour days we increased the membership from 42 to 100. As I complete the thorough canvass in the respective districts, meetings will be held of the reorganised branches, or to form new ones. On the present prospects of the organising campaign we will at least double the membership in the Manawatu provincial district.” Tlie chairman said he was very gratified with the results of the organiser’s visit, and Mr Niederer said that the number of new members he had secured in the six weeks had formed a record for his personal work. Mr Burnett moved that a meeting he called of the chairmen and secretaries of all branches in the district in order to discuss methods of maintaining and increasing the interest of members in branch matters and union matters in general. Mr Bond said he thought much good could come of such a meeting, and where a general conference was not practicable one of representatives of groups of branches could ho held. At Mr McLeavev’s suggestion, it was decided to hold tbe matter over for a month.