FARRIERS' UNION.

North Otago Times, Volume CV, Issue 13940, 25 July 1917, Page 2

FARRIERS' UNION.

../■ ~ DOMINION CONFERENCE. ADDRESS BY £Jfi JAMES WILSON. (Per I'ri'SH Association.) WKLLIXiiTUN, July 21 The following is the substance of the .iililrcss delivered by Sir James Wilson, )c'!iinion President of the New Zealand Fanners' Union, at the opening of the Annual Conference of flic uliion which took place in Wellington yesterilay. After referring generally to the ef-

I'm*' 3 of-the war ami paying' a fit ting tribute to the memory of those who hail sacrificed their lives i'or Hie cause of (lie Empire, Sir James passed on to .discuss matters more closely associated with the business of the conference and jtl:e operatic:'.-.; of the union during the I pad year, lie raid:— Wheat' growing has been unprofitable and farmers have preferred to turn their attention io u?hsr prodm-ts. i\lr Jlarsey, however, seeing that there wcul.l lie a possible shortage of cereal, asked the {'aimer; when the war be;;,an, io put as much wheat in as possible. They responded loyally and the area put in wheat was increased by 100,000 aire..; bat the return:;' were disapncinting, and the ililliculties of sale kikiKiied by (lovcrnment restrictions, so that a serious l.oss was suslaiaed. In the following year naturally after this i!i-sco'.! r:;;;:!!!;- result, fanners reduced the area down to under 200,000 acres ' a;:J as a result the yield would not run out more than about live million bushels per aero. The outlook for the following season was j.'ct bright, and farmers were not disposed to increase the area in wheat owing to some extent to the injudicious critiei-m and statements about their want of patriotism by those who wished to get'the favour of the urban population.-. r l'!i" Minister I'nr Agriculture wisely, lieeever, vixlnl Mm: wheargrowirfi tiMrMs and liHd 'many meetings in v-daiina !o our future Mipnly of wheat, fie ha.l been sunessful in emupkt:;;g negotations in connection with tin sale of the wool clip; had conducted the sale of portion of the cheese output, and his vivit, and interviews with farmers, I iirmly believe, arc going to result in a great effort io supply suiTicieut wheat t'er our requirements. If we have a good censor., from what 1 can gather, this will tie accomplished. The question of price, however, has still to bo .settled; the promised price of 5s lOd 1'.0.b, will a•' very unfairly in many districts, A farmer a hundred miles from pert will get I'M. less cost of delivering the jvheat o:i boar:! the steamer, IVs'dbly therefore a miller one hundred n:il''s front port will be able to de!'d. a bushel, although the wheat is greuud iiito dour in the district where it was grown. There will b: much hearlb;::ning over thi;-, inile-s it is rh;;;igcd, as it ought to be to the price "on trucks."' or "delivered' at Ihe mill.'' Then again, supposing llie season is a good one and instead of the yield be- : ug less .than appearance warranted, as i;i the two past years, the crop turns cut heavier than e::pected, the Government has guaranteed a price and the farmer is prepared to deliver it. Many will be ready to deliver at the same time. Will there be storage provided or will seme arrangement be made for delivery in turn? Suppose there is a block in. delivery and the farmer wants to sell. The merchant or miller may not be prepared to take delivery, what then ' All this should be settled before it is too late, or there will ba disappointment and dissatisfaction, and ll:e following year many wheat-growers will again (Iron out. It would be well if when the wheat is growing that a census be taken of the areas, and arrangements mudo whereby flic rotation of delivery «mH be decided and even the extent, of a definite district for each mill and tho rotation of threshing laid down, so that the least time would be lost and mosi

expedition made.;. Some arrangements must be made for storage of the grain to be held over for later use, and the j whole ([iiestipn wants careful'consider?.to'n and organisation. The order i.i -C'ouucil dealing v.ith the price is -not yet gazetted, and it is to be hoped that wiser counsels will prevail. when Cabinet considers it and-that provision will be made i'ov all Gnu

of flit' araimeals a;:a:;;::t an "0.T." price- wis that'it wouid increase li: :• .price of bread. At the most tiie average price of us lOd, plus freight would no'; be more than (is, and certainly the Ai::;- . tralian wheat will cost more than that at the mill. If.the Government i'J <:o----;ing 'to charge anything under (is 3,1 there will be a loss. Yet, the farmer hen; is asked io fake less limn that price," Clearly if the price of Australian wheat is to bo (is. '3d. ami bread remaiiuTtiio I same price as at- present, then it will •not raise the price of bread' if tlui Yfirmers are paid an ',' 0.T." price. Aftr

the Minister's experience in, Australia and the .knowledge that harvesting is., much more expensive in New Zealand than in the Commonwealth and the risk which i 3 alwnys present. In iVheat-grOW-ing. ,t ib nftt doubt-bilt that when tho Cabinet iliihliy considers tho Order-in-Council which-must be passed, to give the authority to purchase, the fairness of the "0.T," price will'be acknowledged. , \Frozcn Meat; The stores for freight , carcases are more congested than they ever have been. The Prime Minister said there would shortly be four million carcasses unshipped, and tte have only four months to elcttr them' ill. It is 'certain we ciliihot do this before the new season begins, It would take forty vessels, at least, to do this, and that Vould mean ten a month, so that we may find ourselves with a couple of millions in store in November. The worst of this is that it is the cream, of our trade which is likely to suffer. Lamb is not wanted for our troops, and other classes of meat have to bo shipped first in the refrigerated holds. At the end of the season then, there must lie a larger proportion of lambs left in store than almost any other class of meat. Lamb will begin to come in in December to still further increase this quantity. Prices must fall in consequence; for if the buyers cannot ship their stuff they cannot buy, or, if they buy, it must be at a large discount. This has seriously alarmed those whoa l principal business it is to fatten lambs. There has been a suggestion made that the slaughter of ewe lambs should be prohibited, but if this stoppage of sale occurs there will be a prohibition of ? another kind. Black-faced lambs will have to be frozen, but at present it looks as it' very few long-woolled lambs will be'killed. I:i most districts the ewe flocks have been increased to take a lamb for fattening off them, The last returns show that more than half our flocks (tiie numbers being compiled as at .lOth April) consists of breeding ewes, this should give us something between nice and fen million lambs, If we deduct the number slaughtered for food purposes (I am taking the Year Book figures cf l!)l(i) four millions of these would be accounted for, leaving about

five million:; live hundred thousand to keep up' our ilocks. I do not suppose that in Hi!)- country in the. world are there as many breeding ewes in proportion to the number of slice]! ilirtt we \;in t'hoy. The total number of sheep taken lit MOlii April do not of course include (lie lambs slaughtered ami frozen, and as by that time most of the lamb for export has found its way into the freezing cjianibers; this would materially increase* the showing of our numbers in the abrogate. The total cold florae is put down as equal to -1,400,000 freight carcases. If then we find the stores with two millions in them there is a margin of space for 12,100,000. The output of the year normally is G,000,000. leaving .'1,000,000 carcases to be provided fcr by space in oversea steamers. The question then resolves itself into how many of I hose can be exported' during the season; or how much additional storage can be provided. It is possible, of mine, I hat siillii'ient space irfny be provided on wean-going steamers; but it does not seem likely; we are however promised seventeen steamers before the end of Iveptcnibcr, and Mr Massey is reiifjuiiii 1 ;iia! we shall s;e the season tliro',i»li; lu;( i| devolves upon fanner;' to provide winter IVed fur more lambs than are usually carried tl.roimii the winter. If this is the case with shortened hands, if is almost certain that it will a fain affect the area in wheal, in the season of IDIS-J!']!). The farmers will not be able to y,row wheat and n'.so piovide to carry the lambs through the winter. In connection with the export of ewe and lamb

| carcases. it has been stated that some , exporters have been unduly favoured, am! as {lies:-, classes are released at . Home, by nomination, (hey had been I able to make large proliis, Of this T ' linow nothing. I s'nculd think, how- ' ever, that it cannot be laiil at Hie door o? the Committee which controls spaced for all they have to do is to allocate the number for each pert, and I should think have no control over what is being shipped. The congested condition of the storago brought about a tinancial question. The Imperial Oovernment had bough! f.0.b., ami none, or only small quantities were being shipped. The Banks were providing the wherewithal to pay for the stock, ami there was some uneasiness created by the position. This'was got over by (lie Minister for Agriculture arranging that- the Home Clovejwiient would lake over the whole of (lie meat, and be responsible for the storage, [hough only paying for it when placed en board. Jt lias not yet been stated whether this is (lie care of all further

meat going into store or not; but when wool is paid i'cr in store .and P0 per cent, of cheese is paid for on d(!i v C;y at ft ore, there certainly s-i.oulil be a similar arrangement about the meat and f; perhaps this may have been the result cf negotiations. In all fairness to the owners it should be so, It' lamb is kupt back for another year it might easily re-ulf in a very heavy less to the holders. Cheese. Cheese was also purchased during! ■the season just past and the price seems to have been a fair one; but the storage question lias been a difficulty, This seems to be in. a fair way of being arranged, and increased storage provided at the different ports to take in a much larger quantity (luring the coming season. I should expect that even the additional storage will bo taxed to the utmost. Especially is, this tho case in

the Auckland Province which during' the last few seasons has enonpously ' increased its dairying area, The propos- , od storage will bring the total up to | 202,000 crates if completed, There arc , .130,572 crates in store at present,' I Butter. j Butter is in the unique position of having lieou left free to export, and j has realised great prices, but both butter j and cheese producers got a nasfy | knock when they had to provide a levy I to enable townspeople to got their butter | \ at 3d. a pound cheaper; it is extraor- c | dinary how differently the townspeople f and the producers look upon this qucs- s

tioii. Nothing will convince the producer that it is fair to take from his pocket a sum'of money (in many cases £1 a week) to put it directly into another, pocket without it going through the iiinal channel, The townspeople smile and say "good business,'"• "find to conceal the bad ease they have, they abuse, the producer. for objecting, and, as the slang' phrase has il: ■ "(all; through their hat' 1 about the boys at the front, A much more serious position may bo in store for the butter producer if tilings go 011 as they are, viz.: no room to store his butter while \Vfuting shipment. This is causing a great deal ol ! anxiety and the dairy people arc proposing to the Government that they should piohibit the slaughter of lambs to allow their butter to be stored. This would only shift the loss from one set of men to another and, does not o!Tei\any real solution of the difficulty. The real' solu-. lion is more cold storage space. I understand that the Freezing Companies of Xew Zealand have more power than is required for their present space, and if freezing chambers w?rc added there, is enough power available to take in nearly all the butter we can make in the season. This is the time for action. One of our principal indiistriesjs threat- j cued, .It gives a living to thousands of very small farmers who would be ruined if their year's produce Sjas to be sacrificed, This can be very largely obviated by the expenditure of say £100,000; but the industry is worth to the Dominion' some three million pounds, If I am correct, then as an insurance against the loss of such an industry the money ought to be found either by the Freezing Companies, the Dairy Companies interested, or the Government; but if action is decided upon the money must be found, and it could easily be done conjointly, The Government could lend the money if necessary, and additional space equal to two million freight carcases might save the situation for. all concerned. A'o one can tell wliat is in front cf us, and we ought to prepare fo: 1 the worst, the only difficulty may be pipes. Government must take action,

and it were well it were done quickly, Xo doubt the Efficiency Board . have all the necessary information and probably bv this time have made recommendations to Government on the matter. Wool. Wool fortunately can be easily stored without cold storage space; but there is still a large number of bales also awaiting shipment. In all, the value of the produce in store must amount to many .millions, and we arc now faced by the consequences of war ourselves, and it may require great mutual forbearance and perhaps considerable hardships before we arc "through the wood.' 1

! Sir Joseph Ward estimates that the 1 additions in return!! over pre-war rates . for produce is £!>,750,000. J'-anv biassed I writers have rushed into print and Hung' contumely on the fanners for being unpatriotic; for not feeding the people with bread at less than cost price, and for asking a reasonable price for their produce. It could be easily shown to any fair-minded person that so far is this from being the truth t'hat the price:; accepted for their produce from I lie Imperial doveniineut meant many millions less than the market value. Take wool: The value of I lie previous vear's clip when sidd on the open market wouid be aJ leasl a million more than was accepted by tin' fanners when the .Minister for Agriculture bought the dip. if i''ie wool had riot been purchased, go great was (lie demand lor it thai our dip this !:)st season (at least the wool that reached Home) would have fetched *3 per cent, .more than was paid for it here. Our wool lias peculiar qualities which make it specially sought, after for military purposes—an elasticity not found in other ivools—and we may fairly any that in wool aloue the fannery of Xew Zealand have made !i contribution to the clothing of the armies of the Allies ot at least ut couple of million pounds. ( Our meat has clearly been a cheap purchase. Compare the price with what the Argentine people are gotlinj, and it cau easily be seen that the Imperial Government got it at a cheap rate and we are only sorry that t'he people of England did not get the advantage of the cheaper prices when the meat that was not needed for the Army was disposed of to t.lie retailer, Cheese, too, came in at. a much cheaper rate than that from Canada, and that made at Home, Sio that, instead of pointing the

linger- ol' scorn at the New Zealand fanner, lie should receive the grateful thanks of (lie Kmpire on doing liis best to feed and clothe the Army and the armies of the Allies nt such reasonable prices, Shippii'S. Another questoin of great importance is that of the shipping of our produce. Shortly alter the war began,

Hie shipping combine announced timt freights would be raised in the aggregate by about a million pounds. This

naturally alarmed the producer, especially as the British Government provided the war risk, both on vessel and cargo, at a low rate. Wo were calmly told that we ought: not to object, because wo could look upon this as a contribution by the New Zealand producers as a war tax seeing that'all additional prdfit that shipping companies earned was subject to a tax of GO per cent. I thought it was a piece of giatiluous impertinence to make the suggestion, especially seeing that despite the heavy taxation one shippin:; company has paid 00 yer cent, in dividends, after no doubt concealing as unieh profit us possible, and we have it on the evidence of Mr Bonar Law, "that, he li.nl invested .ESI 10 in fifte:".i shipping companies, and had received in 1 interest «1 and .S3B-J7 respectively during the last two veavs besides £IOOO for a steamer which had been sunk and in which he had .-20) invested."

Tliat means that the interest on iiic investment was -l-"> per cent, and -!7 per cent., and this after paying the (i'J per cent, excess profila tax. If one body of men can lay themselves oat lo exploit another body tiio first remedy that is at. hand is for the find the capital and do the work themselves. This was what■■gave, the' im-

petus to the New Zealand Shipping Co., when it was formed. Freights were so high that a •'company was formed b provide competition. Most of lite lost (heir mo.'ley when going through the slough of deapiiiid, and they fell gradually into the bunds of the capitalists looking t'of a good investment. Strange to say it was the freezing process tliaL ''mined flic greatest loss. Steamers were built, and in the competition the New Zeiland 1 Shipping Company's shares fell very low. They were bought' rip at a small, cost and when the merger took place with the P. and J)., the'shares were mostly held in England. Lord inchcape, at the general meeting of the P. and 0. intimated that lie had not much fear of any shipping company under the control or run by any Government, and 'lie was probably right. The producers of Now Zealand liow.ver, can willi the assistance of the government, fkht this ironI o ' opoly if (hey combine. The combination must be ' complete, Not as usually the case, that soine find the money and the rest benefit, for that would end in failure; for .all. Xoi only must the producer come in, hut if necessary the agents must do so too. That means, however that Government aid must be invoked. This is nothing unusual. Even in Conservative England, where the llorgan Trust threatened to ..moil up the whole, of the Atlantic shipping, Mr Balfour stepped in and advanced £2,000,000 to the Cun-

:inl line to enable them to build the Lusitania and the Mauritania. At the moment very much the same condition of things has arisen here. The P. and 0, Company lias mopped up both our local shipping companies just in the same way, 'Shares held in England enabled'them ,to control any body of colonials, and 1 am told that the I'. and 0. have got a bargain, and that the price should have been liighfi'. Be that as it may, the whole of the New Zealand shipping is governed by one man in London. The directors and managers here have practically no say in the matter, and by a judicious fprfcading among agents anil shippers of commissions and rebates, there is no one'to make a fuss, except the producers, It is well known to every one what their position is. Nothing short of an Act of Parliament will bring them together, and advantage is taken of them at every turn. First of all, there is a combination of all shipping companies to exclude any other company coining in. Then contracts. are entered into with freezing companies, dairy associations, exporter of all kind; as to freights, Care is taken that these contracts do not run out at the same time, and this is'used as a lever when new contracts are being fixed. The representatives here have been so long at this game that tlicv can play one set against the other with the art of a politician. This will go on to the end, if the producer does not wake up ami take a hand. . We must, however, be all producers and exporters. We are up against"' a ' big concern, and probably a bigger concern in the Meat Trust as well, The only way, if we want to start an oppViSirion company, is to lirsl nobble the freighls. The only way to light such a monopoly is to do as tliey do. They nobble the capital and "call the tune'' as to freights;'but if all the produce e!' New Zealand is conl rolled by another company (hen Ihe lane is changed. No shipping company can get on without freights in and out. Once control that, or even a large proportion, and lewis are possible.

Sir James Wilson then referred at

some It to Ihe surest ions set out iiy the Dominion (-'ominissinn for the contral of shipping. A Wc.vd 011 lL>c Future.

Thi:i war hi'.s fortunately caught us at a better time than we could IuKC expected. There is apparently plenty of money at present and the good linns pai :;;'d t lately have induced many extravagancies in conducting our business. The times in store for us will see to that. The working man's ban!;, despite the rise in the cost of living, shows that the deposits have exceeded the. withdrawals during the year by over two millions, The other banks have shown large profits and ample funds, but we cannot get away from the fact that the war will co3t us thirty or forty million pounds and interest on the larger sum means 1 two million more to be raised by way i;f taxation than before the war. This

will curtail incomes. The only way to produce wealth is to produce it. Mr W. I), Hunt suggested one way the other day in an admirable speech when he said by selling the runs down south, tlioj could be made to carry two million more sheep than they 1 are doing now. I do not doubt for a moment that this could be done. No man will improve land to the utmost unless it is freehold. This is only one item, but 1 am sure that if we buckle to, in a few years farmers can increase the output by 25 tier cent, per year. No\ in money value, for that depends upon the world's markets, but the, quantity. V/c can by proper methods, 1 am. convinced, largely increase our exports. The only plan to' make our .way through the morass of debt which we will lind ourselves in after the war, is by the exercise of the same energy and pluck shown by "our boys" at the front. Remember how true it iu that "Nothing is dcniefl to well-directed labour and nothing is accomplished without it,' : Brains and energy must go hand in hand, and brains require education. V,'e want the younger generation to have better directive power—for naturally we do not admit that they have more, brains—to their energies, for upon them will devolve the task of building ut roadway across the morass. The question then comes, what arc we doing to train the brains of the agricultural world which is growing up ? I am glad that the "Hitting" of the experts of the Agricultural Departments has been made from Wellington to Weraroa—and I should like to thank Mr Mac Donald for this change, for it is a distinct advance—they have (alien on a , certain number of eadets to train and teach, and these young men may eventually be'absorbed in thef Government departments. ' Tlicy ought, however, to be able, to take a decree. The time., passed at Weraroa

should bo occupied with the practical work of their course in taking a doIfi'up; which would bo a".hall-mark M ail tlifir going into au.v occupation. The cadets should luivi* been through a cdtipli) of years at the Victoria College of iiiiV oilier of (lit' University Colleges, and tlieii go to Weroroa after a year theve, ,go 'back to their University Coilcgc to'get tiicil' degree, and they would be ibetter equipped for tlicir work in life, Igo ao far as to say that any ,young man whoso, parents could afford it would be greatly ■ benefited by going for even one year to any of tho colleges connected with the University, and taking the classes which would bear upon their future work. Then wc ought to have n Chair of Agriculture. If a Chair were, established at tho Victoria College/ the Scientists at Weraroa could be a great help. Wc should never rest till we have. ' a Chair of Agriculture established. I have taken Wellington as an instance, but there is every reason why shcre should be several professional lecturers in New Zealand.

There are two instances of advance in Agricultural Education and I cannot close without mentioning them. Tlie work of the High School at Ashburton and the farm which has been started at Stratford. The Governors of the Ashburton High School had a reserve., '■lhey wanted to further agricultural education, and they referred the matter to the Board of Agriculture. That body was able to bring abour a complete coordination of the work of the two departments, viz.: Education and Agriculture. A science master has been appointed to the school, and he also has supervision of'tti operations and experiments going on on the reserve which has practically been turned into

a small experimental demonstration farm. It has the advantage—which to iny mind is essential to the Isuecccs of any farm of a similar nature — of local interest. The Governors of the High School arc keenly interested in the success of the work. They havo a local knowledge which is of great help. They act as a ferment to create' interest and enthusiasm amongst tho people of the district, who will come to look upon the work with pride instead of the indifference usually displayed ill-connection with a Government farm. The farm at Stratford is a movement which should be an example to all districts how to supply themselves with an experimental station in their midst. A number of men said " a Government farm On land different to our own cannot teach us much. We should have a farm in our midst. 1 ' .They had among them a moving spirit' and enthusiast in agricultural education Mr Browne, under the Education Board, lie had by real hard work and,.energy, got the fanners to have confidence in him, lie showed them how they could get this farm of their own, and they worked for this great end. They rented a farm ami determined to make this a demonstration of how to make dairying pay on a farm properly conducted. They got the assiniance of the Government—f understand they are to receive £.">01) a year for a few yearn from the Minister, and a:niii the Education authorities, the Agricultural Department—and the people of Ihe district, are working hand-iu-haiid for a great object, ll such farms could lie multiplied in

various ili.stri< Is together with cooperative experiments, they would get iimcli greater bcnclit from tliem than

I'roni mi expensive Government cxperi- . mental farm. The truths of agricul- 1 'lire tan be taught anywhere, but the methods and the rotation change with Overy variety of climate and soil. While others arc talking, in both these eases the people of the district have provided a practical demonstration of ;\n educational nature, mid the farms will be utilised as instruction farms for the High School boys of the district. County Councils, and, at any rate, a i 1 roup of counties could not spend, ratepayers' money on a belter investment.

CONFERENCE RESOLUTIONS. • At the conference of liie New Zealand Farmers' Union, it was resolved that the Government be urged to introduce a liberal scheme of land settlement to induce men to settle on the land in increased numbers; that when the Crown deals with Crown lands in any county council's area the council be represented in the locating of roads, arranging the sub-division of land, and fixing the rentals of nine, The conference discussed the question of taxation, and passed a resolution that in place of the present excess profits tax the Government be requested to raise the necesjary revenue by a graduated income tax. Thecconference reiterated its protest against th» im- , position of an export tax, and a pro- . posal that the amount ofjsxemption should be lowered was aflcfe;jted. It was resolved: "That Uiis conference records its emphatic protest against the butter-fat tax as bei/ig unjust ar'd un-called-for, and is a rpecial tax upon one of the hardest-worked sections of the community." Another resolution passed was to the effect that as the labour of the farmer's family was so essential to the carrying on of farm work, there should be an adu.'tiona! coemption of, say, £SO for c:.:h me::-bcr of the family over fourteen who the head of the family declared was engaged for at least one-third of his time on farm work. The following remits were carriers That the occupiers of national endowment lands be granted the option of purchasing the freehold, and that all endowment lands bc'thrown open on these ' terms as required, and the proceeds, * however invested, remain a. national endowment; that the Government bo asked to have the lands of the Dominion periodically valued, at intervals of not 'less than seven years, and that .the valuations of contiguous counties bo undertaken in rotation, according to their position to each other; that it bo • a recommendation to the National Eili- ■■ eiency Board that in all cases of appeals; •• ■ of shearers aml ( slaughtermen, a trustees' •> board report be obtained for prostata- n lion to the-Military Service Board be- J< frrc-a I'ej'^io l : i« arrive.] s'o