FARMERS' PROBLEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20562, 13 May 1930, Page 7

FARMERS' PROBLEMS.

CONFERENCE AT WHANGAREI

REMITS FOR DISCUSSION,

WIDE RANGE OF SUBJECTS,

Tlio 301 h annual provincial conference of the Auckland division of the New Zealand Farmers' Union will commence at Whangarei on May 20. The president, Mr. A. A. T{oss, will preside. A preliminary meeting of the executive will be held on the previous day.

The remits to bo considered total 159 and cover a wide range of subjects, including land settlement, education, taxation, marketing of produce, finance and unemployment relief.

Six remits refer to the eradication of noxious weeds, particularly to' weeds on unoccupied Crown land,- while-remits from tho Waikato sub-province and from the Mauku branch deal specifically with the spread of ragwort. Two important political changes urged by the executive are that tho Legislative Council rhould be reduced to twenty members elected by tho people, and that to ensure that each member of Parliament shall bo elected by a majority vote, the elections should be conducted under the preferential voting system. To remedy unemployment the Whangarei sub-provinco urges tho Government to_ expedite a vigorous land settlement 'policy. In furtherance of this object it states that, tho Government should fix the maximum - rate of interest at 5 per cent, per, annum, adopt a policy of free trade within the Empire, abolish all rates on, farm lands .and provido for the financing of hospitals by. tho State and the payment for roads by the users. An executive remit deplores the present necessity for unemployment relief works but considers, that as Jong as the co-opera-tive contract .system is applied to these as to standard works, the same schedule of piecework rates shpuld apply and thus remove any suggestion that tho unemployment problem is being .used to depress the standard of living of the wage-earners. Attention has been given to depredations made by gamo in N<?w Zealand. A remit from the Bay of Plenty sub-province requests that-all protection of deer should bo. withdrawn, as is contended deer constitute a-menaco to tho forests of the Dominion. The completo removal of protection from quail is sought by the executive.

The nomination of officers will be received on May 22 in th-3 morning, and the election will be held in the afternoon. Mr. N. M. Richmond, organiser of the Workers' Educational Association; will address delegates at the . conclusion of the conference-on ,the-activities of tho association in relation to the farming community'.