THE FARMERS' UNION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13481, 4 July 1907, Page 7

THE FARMERS' UNION.

WAR AGAINST SMALL BIRDS.

THE GRADUATED LAND TAX.

[j>T TELEGRAPH.— CORRESPONDENT.]

Wellington, Wednesday. At the Farmers' Union Conference to-day Auckland and Southland supported a remit— -

I That the laws relating to the destruction lof small birds shall, be rigidly enforced against all town authorities, the precincts of the towns now proving a secure breeding place for them, and from whence they spread through the country. Mr. H. J. Ilicliards (Levin) said the people of the South suffered in their grain, but on the Manawatu coast it was the fruit that was ruined. It was impossible to leave a, single late variety of fruit on the trees. The President (Mr. J. G. Wilson) said, about eight years ago, at a conference in Dunediu, when Mr. Ritchie wanted a general Bill dealing with the whole of New Zealand, he (the speaker) had vigorously and successfully resisted it, and.consequently the Act was not in force in the North Island. He confessed now that he was wrong, and that it would have been better if he had not succeeded. However, the Act could now be brought into force in the North Island if the local bodies'in conference desired it.

Mr. Ritchie said he. hoped an amending Bill would be brought in this session. He still thought, it- would be almost impossible to deal with the birds in the towns without going further than the Act, provided they could not poison or trap. His idea was that they should compel everybody to harry tlio birds and prevent them from nesting on their properties. It might be made an offence to allow birds to nest within a certain distance of their houses, or on small sections.

The President: It would have to be " wilfully allowing.'' Mr. Ritchie: Well, say " Knowingly." : The motion was carried.

Mr. Stewart (Otago) moved: —

That where there is no provision made by local bodies, the Minister for Lands be requested to instruct the stock inspectors to prepare suitable poisoned seeds for the destruction of tho small birds, in the same way as they now prepare pollard and grain poison for tho destruction of rabbits; also, that tho stock inspectors be instructed to enforce the Small Birds Nuisance Act, by compelling the governing authorities to make war against a pest more destructive to giain-growers than tho rabbit pest.

Mr. Ritchie endorsed a suggestion by the president that a certain day should be fixed for universal poisoning. They might have the thing arranged by a board, on which the local bodies would be represented. They could feed the birds for a while, and then, suddenly, without a moment's notice, poison all over the country. The motion was agreed to "with slight dissent.

A vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Ritchie.

RESOLUTION OF PROTEST. Mr. Leadley (Canterbury) moved: —

That this Conference protests against any further increase of graduated land tax.

Tthe mover said he did not wish it to appear that they objected to the graduated land tax as a tax. All they objected to was its increase. A man would derive a revenue of £320 from an investment of £8000 in New Zealand consols, and the amount he would have to pay the tax on would, be only £20;. on the other hand, a man who invested £8000 in land, whether he made any profit or not, would have to pay £35, or"£4o, to the State. That was a great inequality, and it was only fair to ask for the removal of it. He asked to have the remit amended accordingly. There was objection to this, so the motion was moved' as originally submitted, and Mr. Birch (Marton) seconded it. Mr. McQueen (Southland) said it had been proved to the satisfaction of the Conference that disintegration was. already going on satisfactorily, so ..there, was no necessity of an increase of the tax for that purpose. . , <■■'~ -..-•• .. Mr. Cooper considered it unfair :to • tax all .landholders, because there might be a few,estates which should be cut up. ; Mr. Jones (North Canterbury) moved : —

That there be added to motion the words " unless "a similar increase is made in income tax."

The President: If the ■ graduated land tax is forced upon the country I should not be adverse to see," under certain conditions, the whole wealth taxed. . I could not, ipersonally, vote for the motion. j Mr. Jones withdrew his amendment, and the motion was passed in this form: —.

That this Conference protests against any further increase of the graduated land tax for the purpose hinted at by the Hon. K. Mc-Nab in several of his recent addresses.

j On the motion of Mr. Leadley it was resolved:-—

That' the system of treating mortgages as land under the graduated land tax is a cruel injustice to landowners*; .as thereby the State collects the tax twice over on the same amount—first from mortgagee, on his loan, and then from the mortgagor, on the capital. ....-■

The Conference also decided to protest against the improvement being undervalued in order to unduly force up unimproved or taxable values. Mr. J. G. Wilson was re-elected president; Mr. G. W. Leadley, vice-president. The elected members of the advisory board were: Messrs. J. Peat, H. Richards, W. Birch, and J. C. Cooper. | UNSATISFACTORY STATISTICS. : On the motion of Mr. Leadley (Canterbury) a resolution was passed setting out that the whole system of collecting and publishing the annual returns of the grain i production was eminently unsatisfactory and misleading, and urging the Government to obtain from threshing machine owners quarterly returns of all the grain threshed by them. j The Conference negatives the motion from j Gisborne to alter the date for making up sheep returns from April 30 to June. 30. MISCELLANEOUS. It was decided to again request the Government to appoint only persons with veterinary knowledge to chief stock inspectorships in each province, and to urge the Government to bring in a Bill making it compulsory for seedsmen to guarantee all seeds sold as true to their name and the germinating power of a specified percentage.