N.Z. FARMERS' UNION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17065, 25 July 1917, Page 5

N.Z. FARMERS' UNION

annual conference. ' (Peb United Pbesb Associatioh.) ' wWELLINGTGN, July Ihe conference of the New Zealand JTarS mers Union was'-opened to-day. • It was resolved that the Government bo urged to introduce a liberal scheme of - land? settlement to induce men to settle on tKo fe 1 ' n '. ncrcase 4 numbera; that when Crown deals with. Crown lands in.. county council's area, the council should b«* represented in the locating of roads, mg the subdivision of the land, and . fixW the rentals. .' .. 7Tho conference jdissussod the question of? taxation, and passed a resolution to tho" effect that in place of the present exoess-' profits tax the Government be requested • toi raise the necessary revenue by • graduated ll income tax. Tie conference reiterated its protest" against the imposition of an export tax. A proposal that the amount of - should be lowered was defeated. It was resolved that this conference cord an emphatic protest against the btrf tor fat tax, it being unjust and uncalled fori* and a special tax upon one of the worked sections of the community. iT*" Another resolution passed ..was to 1 tHtf effect that as the labour of a farmer'a* family is eo essential for oarrying on fanoi* work, there should be additional exenjptaoitf of, say, £50 for each member of the family? over 14, who, the head of the family der clares, is engaged for at least one-third c* the time on the farm work. Tie following remits were earned: —"Thai the occupiers of national endowment land* be granted the option of purchasing : tho' freehold, and that all be thrown open oil' these terms, as required, and the however invested, remain a national endow- 7 ment." "That the Government' be asked' Ve land of the dominion periodic cally valued at intervals of not less thaaseven years, and that the valuation of contiguous counties be undertaken in aooordin? to their position <o each other;'": "'That it be a recommendation /to: tho National Efficiency Board that in all cases' of appeals by sheaiers and slaughtermen Board's report be obtained", for; presentation to the Military Servioe' Board before a decision is arrived at."

THE PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. fl Sir James Wilson commenced his prestH dential address with a reference to theH war, which, he stated, showed no sign '"of being over thia year, although the position! had greatly improved and our army had| reached a high point ot efficiency. . Hdl was sure that the suffering of- the past years had not 'eesened .our determination tofl crush the enemy and defeat the militarisms the despotism, and the tyranny that! Ger-M many stood for. The men who had would not be forgotten. Those who wereH left to grow old had duties them. Their task began with the men, and nothing should be left; undone assist them to settle down again to' able work. They must not, however, discouraged by a percentage of failures, ;an|M he was sure the farmers in any distriblH would always be willing to lend the menH should go on the land every help that layH in their power. At Home the food . quesfl tion was causing the greatest anxiety, farmers were breaking up land..which' ht&H not been ploughed within the memory man to grow wheat and food for the After referring to the wheat situationH and the frozen meat and dairying industryj^B Sir James Wilson observed that there were^B still a large number of bales of wool awafcH ing shipment in the dominion. In all;' value of the produce in store must to many millions. He defended the of this country against a charge of unpatriotic for asking a' reasonable for their produce. The value of the ous year's wool clip, he stated, on the open market, wordd be at least million more .than was acceptod by farmers from the Minister' of The wool that reached Home , would fetched 25 per cent, more than was for it here. New Zealand wool ally sought after for military purposes,' it might be fairly said that in wool the farmers of the dominion had made contribution to . the clothing of the armies of at least a couple of pounds. Our meat had clearly been cheap purchase as against that from •' Argent.no, and ep had. cheese with that from Canada and that at Home. , After _ touching upon tho present : prosperity in this country, the speaker ferred to the difficult problems that - have to be faced in the future. We not get , away from the fact that the would would cost us 30 or 40 million and interest on the larger sum meant million more to be raised by way of ation_ than before the war: That curtail incomes. The only -way wealth was to produce'it. Mr*W. suggested one way when he said, by ing the runs in the south, they conld made to carry two million more sheep they were doing now. He did not for a moment that this could be done; man would improve land to the unless it was freehold. He was sure they buckled to in a few years . could increase the output by 25 perper year, .not in money value, for depended upon the world's markets, - the quantity. " Sieed the plough another way. It was of • 'ksnite]j' ! consequence, as far as immediate was concerned, that the present should farm their land to. the best age than that further Crown lands bo. eettied, though that would. have on too. We could by proper methods; ' was convinced, largely increase onr One means suggested by the assisting to bring abnnfc a Rounder tion of our internal economy was the van cement of • agricultural education, in this connection he remarked that absurd that there were only two or bachelors of the science of agriculture the dominion. He thanked the Min Agriculture for what was now. being at Weraroa, and went on to advocate' establishment of a chair of agriculture Victoria College cs well as the of several professional lecturers in New:' land. In conclusion, he drew special tion to the work of the- high school Ashburton and tho farm which had started at Stratford. -