FARMERS' UNION RALLY.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 1395, 18 October 1932, Page 3

FARMERS' UNION RALLY.

The members of the local branch of the \Vomen8 1 Division, together , with the mei »bers of the Aparima of the Farmers' Union, met fin. the Supper' Room on Saturday 1 for a Rally, Mr J. D. Clouf ston presiding. s; In opening 1 , the chairman was to welcome those present, 1 -over 100 an' trusted they i would enjoy listening to the several speakers, who would deal with the several branches of work of the Farmers' y n i° n «

, - Mr E. K. Sim;ilmmediate past Prouncial Resident, said these Rallies peere held really for stimulating inl^rest m the Farmers' Union as well Tas letting members know what the Union was doing. Unfortunately, the Union had not managed to disseminate the work to members by means of their own paper, three had

been started', but all failed. The only executive .to jlave such a paper was Auckland, < and many of its views did not meet with the approval of the Dominion Executive. It would take too long to telr all the Union is doing, but he assured them the ,£1

subscription members -paid would return them the biggest interest or dividend of any single pound* invested on the farm. " Proof of lihis statement is shown, m. the amount of time anY support giyen by executive members' to forward the Union's move-

ments .without any remuneration

whatever." When he was President he spent -30 days m the year, as well as many evenings purely on Farmers' Unwm affairs. The Union was responsible for the Fertiliser BUI and Bill restricting the adulteration of fleds. These safeguarded (the farmer a~nd compelled certificates and analyBis to be supplied for the goods of these classes he bought. The -supply of lime m Southland wasj inmost , iinpbrtant factor and; ' working; during recent years^the^ Unions hacl Vigot ;^hey price down nearly-50 per cent.. X Not only m positive, but m negative maf-

terß the r Union worked. It was the '^vatjchdog tfor the farmer." It sfirove to check legislation detrimental to the interests of the farmers. M had jollied the Government about tie Arbitration Act and was very^ acPve m curtailing Government 'Expenditure of public funds, the last f«w years hadf seen the "Ship? of democracy" on jbhe rocks and to-day, the Union could almost get any lfegis^ lation proved useful put through. Me of the"greatest duties was^to get costs down. -We were striving to have salaries cut down m all .branches feeling sure such economy was onlybeing exercised where' competition m made it necessary. If this was not done he was of the opinion that all profits over and above 4 per cent. on the Capital should^-, be' commandeered. ~; ; v : . [ 'This is not confiscation of capital, tat of the earning of capital." Ffrmars themselves were making no m- j teresti on, capital and # ferfc;sure they were not ' asking tod much. This vision would make, commercial concerns more careful, because rather tttan pi^taxation they would lessen thereby lower costs. This idea is a permanent suggesiaohy but only^a temporary measure, J)<^aUß(B wheit |>he econbnii& positipii improves we do not want to cripplfe emefp*ise a^d^must^make facilities to allow money to circulate instead/ of ;.j

being placed d n fixed deposit as at prcsenil. ' ' ; _.;'.- The speaker then dealt with, the Various small; Committee as set up by the Executive, telling of the work of Ifche Mea* and Wool Committee. The repot* of the Hon. Coates over, the reBUlts obtained) at> Ottawa m this connection were re-aesuring and the restrictions to be placed on foreign importations into Britain starting at 10 per cent, and rising \o 35 per oent, at the end of the year.and this must help our country eventually. *{ I alsp say the;Wpmen'B Division has been a great Bource of strength to the TJpion ;and we musib give them credit for what they have achieved m 5 years aa far as membership Bfoes, Remembering the same_ success took the Union 30 years to accomplish; The work of the Division has enlarged our prestige and increased our Influence, while stimulating interest m our Branches. One of the main things we have to \watch ; iß"to keep wp *he quality ofour products and the • idea mooted of shipping third quality jUmb was turned down v emphatically.

Mra Smith, Winton, then spoke ■-«£ the W.D. work, outlining the start an<i good work now being done un-

der the Housekeeper's scheme. The Division was now over 10,000 strong and .there, were 30 branches m 'Southland. The Invercaijgill branch was the. mqther branch and was started by the late Mrs Alex. McKenzie with 12 members, but now totalled 500. Otautau had now a large and enthusiastic branch and'the monthly meeting on Friday was a fine one.

' She appealed to all farmers to get their wives, and daughters to join ug. The demonstrations given were of jnjberest to all, while the support given *'; us by the Home'' Science Department was valuable. Tie establishment, of

market shops m Invercargill and Gore bad proved a great success, the Jnvercargill shop showing a turnover of m 16 months. This method put. ©uB the middleman's profit as gpljr Id m. ea,cfc 1/- was charged on