FARMERS’ UNION

Otago Witness, Issue 3524, 27 September 1921, Page 12

FARMERS’ UNION

ADDRESSES BY MR I’OLSON AND CAPTAIN COLBECK. PLEA FOR CO-OPERATION. An important- meeting of fanners, representing- branches of the Farmers’ I'nion in different parts of Otago, was held in the board room of the New Zealand Express Company on Friday morning. The meeting. which was held under the auspices of the Otago Farmers’ Union, was prej sided over by Mr J. A. Macpherson. president of the Otago Provincial Council. Its purpose was hear addresses from Mr W. J. Poison (dominion president of the Farmers’ Union) and Captain F. Colbeck (dominion vice-president), who are at- present engaged on a brief tour of the South Island in the interests of the union.

Mr Maepherson expressed his great pleasure at seeing ladies among the audience, and said he trusted this was a good omen for the Farmers’ Union. He extended to them a very hearty welcome, and trusted that their numbers at such meetings would increase. He introduced to the meeting the dominion president and vice-president, and referred also to the visit of Mr E. C- Jack, dominion secretary, who is travelling with them. These gentlemen were there to let them know what the Farmers’ Union was doing in the interests of the union and of the farmers as a class. Air Poison said the foremost plank in the Farmers’ Union platform was the plank of CO-OPERATION, and it was about co-operation he wished to spe.tk. What he would say would be the official opinion of the Farmers’ Union of New Zealand, as expressed at its dominion conferences, though he might to some extent interpret that opinion. In this cooperative movement they wanted first of all co-operative handling of their produce, cooperative shipping, co-operative marketing, in vviiieh there should be no middlemen intervening, and finally co-operative agricultural banking, by which they would get cheaper and more liquid finance, which would enable them to carry these projects to a successful conclusion. He referred

to what co-operation had done for primary industry in Denmark. Co-operation was a legitimate development in an ideal direction, and they said it was the duty of the State to assist co-operation. History showed that while periods of depression might come suddenly, they had never departed as rapidly. At such a time co-operation was their great stand by, and they must make full use of i(. DAIRY FACTORIES AND FREEZING COMPANIES must be co-operative. That would end the “rotten” system now employed of selling their products c.i.f. The c.i.f. system was the bane of the producer’s existence in this country. It meant handing over their goods to someone else to do what; he liked with. It was the middleman’s system, and it should be abolished, as far as was practical, in favour of the consignment system. The first duty of a freezing company direetoi —and he spoke as one himself —was not to the producer as a whole, but to his own shareholders, but if the freezing works were co-operative the position would bo entirely different. There could then be no question of settling a dispute bei ween the freezing company and its employees without the producers’ side of the case being represented. lie was glad that northern freezing companies had agreed to let the farmers put their case fully before the Arbitration Court. SHIPPING. Coming to the question of shipping, Mr Poison said that while he was not sure that it. was in the immediate realm of practical politic? it was a question of vital importance of which they must not lose sight. The committee to advise the Government about shipping and wool marketing had drafted a scheme, a report of which most of them had doubtless seen. They were going to have a very great; light indeed with vested interests in this country before any producers’ scheme at ail was put upon the Statute Book. Yet ihe producers’ .scheme went no further than that unanimously adopted by the freezing companies. I lie companies passed a resolution urging that the country should go in for the charter, purchase, or construction of suitable ships. Yet when the farmers proposed this tlie representatives of the freez ing companies went to the Government urging that nothing of the kind should be done, because it would bo a dangerous thing for the Government to go in for the charter, purchase, or construction of ships. All that the companies had previously meant, they said, was iliac we should do what had been done with the Tyser Company some y.trs ago. What had happened? They tame and settled in this

country and joined the shipping ring, and to-day the shipping ring was immensely more powerful. Every attempt would he made to disgust them with anything in the nature of a producers* shipping concern,

and they must be prepared for that. A speech by Mr W. M. Hughes had recently been very widely circulated. This was Mr Hughes’s defence of his own shipping line, which lost money last year. State enterprises had a habit of doing that sort of thing. Even State railways did not always pay; and no one would be more horrified than Mr Hug es to find that speech circulated as a reason for opposing a producers’ shipping line. '1 he cost and most vital plank of their platform was THE MARKETING PLANK, lie referred to his own’experience of the marketing of New Zealand produce on purely a consignment basis. The concern lie referred to .-applied a large number o! retail shops in the South of England, and it had proved that we could supply from British ports depots which would go directly to tho retailer and cut out the middleman altogether. We must have some means of this kind that would leave the middleman high and dry.

THE QUESTION OF FINANCE. The fourth plank of tlieir platform was the question of finance. What they were suggesting in farmers’ agricultural banks vras nothing new at all. It was in successful operation in Denmark, and the Danish system was based on the German system, which was the finest agricultural banking system in the world. This was a landsman’s bank, to which 1,600,000 farmers belonged oat of a total farming population ot 6,000,000; it was managed by farmers for farmers; it advanced from 50 per cent, to 60 per cent, on land values; these advances were compulsory; they actively assisted in the closer settlement of land and lent sums of from £5 to £500.000. They did not aim at making any profit. Some such system should be adopted in this country. It was the duty of the Government to set up a Royal < ‘cnnni.ssion to inquire into the matter and get legislation upon Hie Statute Bock which wo-dd enable them to have the u.e of the safe finance which such a system would give them. These were the font planks upon which they were insisting. How did they propose to carry them into operation? We had in New Zea’and a wholesale co-opeia-tive federation which was linked up with Australia and with South Africa, and had large offices in London, and they must influence dairy factories and freezing companies gradually to join in and enable them so to develon tin* business that it would ultimately tal;o the phiee of the present, system of marketing. r ! here was no difficulty. It required only the assi-.tarice of dairy and freezing companies as mi insurance policy. He miuht say that he was not financially interested in any co-operalive concern himself. The advantage of linking tip with Australia was not only that it gave them continuity of supply, but it, gave them beef as well as mutton, and thus made tho retailer independent of the trusts. At the present time the e was no one adequately Lokimr after the interests of our produce at the other end. Take THE CASE OF WOOL. Anything which was 50 per cent, below the cost of production, as wool now was, must rise in value liil it reached the cost of production. ]r was already rising, and every bank and broker was howling at them to sell their wool while it was cheap. If they had their own co-operative concern with finano-* to pi, no at tlieir disposal they would Ip* vo the moans of holding their wool and getting advantage of a rise in the inaiket. It would not cost, them more than IJd a ii, in inter* 4 to hold it for five year-, end they could store it: as well for a littl o ’er 2d a lb bv such an organisation as lie had described. MEAT A\l) RUTTER. Continuing. Mr Poison asked them to consider, what was happening in regard to meat. Ibe present prices in England were £6 to £8 a head for ewes, and £45 to £65 for an ox. At tho same time New Zealand ewe mutton was bringing a lb. and wether mutton B£d, or an average of a little over 6*l. The High Commissioner’s cablegrams bad been telling them for some time that the retail price by the

quarter had been Is 4d to Is 6cl for forequarters and Is 6d to Is 8d for hindquarters. As a mailer of fact their own inquiries showed that Ibeae prices were abso'utoly accurate, and that in no case was frozen mutton being- retailed at less than Is 6d per lb. The war had shown that tli© retailer could do business profitably on a margin of 3d, and at the present time he was complaining about getting- a profit of only 2d. The New Zealand farmers were selling at 6d, the retai.ers were getting Is 6d, and were making a profit of 2d. and what they wanted to know was who was getting the of her lOd. It was very clear that the time had arrived for the farmers to take up the whole of (he business themselves and see that they got anything that was in it. Touching on the subject of butter. Mr I’olson referred to the very fine quality of the New Zealand product, and said he had been very pleased io note that tiii.s fact had been emphasised by Lord NorthciiiTe on the occasion of his recent visit to the dominion. In ihe past the New Zealand producers had been in the habit of sending their butter forward to the Tooley Street .merchants, who blended it with margarine and sold it in fancy labels, which did not give any hmt to the consumer as to its origin. ' How could New Zealand butter, possibly become known under those conditions? What they wanted to see was that the retailers got the butter under ■he New Zealand farmers own brand, and Lie article would then realise the highest price at Homo. THE LABOUR PROBLEM. YVhat he had set, before them was in mief the poncy of the union regarding the handling and disposal of the products of h,s country. The whole scheme was based on v.hat existed elsewhere with adaptations to the lccd needs, and it was coped they would.have the Government bemud them. At the present time the cost of embarking cu such a scheme was cnorinous and that brought him to Ihe matter of. labour. 1 hey did not condemn Labour when it banded itself together for its own protection and for purposes of organisation J-nat was exactly what they were proposing to do themselves. But there was an extreme section of Labour which went much turther than that, and which demanded the government of a section of the community by a section It was responsible lor s!nk(\s, the “go-slow’ policy, and active disloyalty, and it was based on the pernicious principle of preference to Unionists —a principle which they demanded should Ro. ihey wanted to see compulsory unionism none away with, because it meant that every working man had to join a union and help to provide the funds which enabled the paid agitator to go up and down the country stirring up mischief and ul o H1 o the worker to do a minimum amount of work for a maximum amount c r . pay. They had seen it on the wharves where the men were actually putting one bo x of butter per man per dav on board the boats They knew what had happened m the coal mines, which were the most, easily worked mines in the world and yet we had been forced to import lanm quantities of coal from outside (o keep our industries going. The same thing was happening in the freezing- wotks, where the actual cost of putting the sheep through was infinitely greater than anything the shearer was asking for. “This” pernicious system, added Mr Rolson, “is undermining the moral fibre of the worker, and we should cease cow-towing to this extreme section of Labour, and leach them to respect us.” CONCLUSION. The List, subject to which he would refer would he that, of taxation. They Would see that in the Speech from the tin-one. the Government intended to enforce the strictest economy in every department. TJjgy were asking for reduced taxation because they know the farmer could not pay his present taxes, but, how weie they going to get reduced taxation unless there was not. only economy but retrenchment in tile Government departments? In Wellington there was in existence a Taxpayers’ Association, and it had prepared figures for the year 1920-1921 showing some most, extraordinary increases both in the staffs and in (lie cost, of administration. Tu every case there was an increase in the expenditure, even although in a few cases the staff had been decreased.

It was high time that the Government put a stop to this sort of thing, or else tile country would surely come to disaster. In conclusion Mr Poison stated that the union was dealing with many minor matters m the way of competitions and ploughing matches, etc., for the purpose of bringing tile farmers together so as to foster a spirit of mutual heip and comradeship. All the matters which he had discussed with them meant organisation, and if they were to succeed the union mu. f have the whole body .of the farmers behind them both financially and as members. If they could get three-fifths of the farmers of this country behind them they would be able to translate.into practical effiet a very large part cf their programme. (Loud applause.) CAPTAIN COLBLCICS ADDRESS. Captain Colbeck (vice-president of the union) said that Mr Poison dealt with the marketing of their produce but he proposed to deal with a more particular aspect of tiie scheme. He wanted to show those present that even if they had a fine marketing scheme it was not of much value if the cost of production were greater than the price at the final port. There were three factors in the cost of an article—-(1) the cost of the raw material, (2) the cost of the labour, and (3) the profit. The;, were aware of the cost of the raw materials produced in this country. A cow hide was worth 7s 6d and a. calf was worth nothing. Proceeding, Captain Colbeck quoted a number of lines such as canvas for horsecovers, denim and linseed oil to .show tiie drop which, had taken place in prices. Other raw materials were down as low as they could get and yet the finished articles themselves (lid not appear to be much reduced in price. The reason for this state of affairs was because the cost of labour had not been reduced and at the present moment the workers, like Oliver Twist, were asking* for more. Until that factor was reduced there was no hope of further minimising the cost cf production. At. the present tune the shipping charges to England amounted to more than tiie goods were vvortn, and in his opinion they would never get efficiency oil the waterfront until there was a permanent force there working on a fixed basis. fi Lie scheme which had been put for"'at'd by Mr Poison met with the support wmen it merited, continued the speaker, they would “deliver the goods.” Nothing that Mr Poison had said and nothing that he had said was impossible, and with the farmers behind them the proposals could * :<> put into operation in the very near future. They wanted to go to the Government. and say that they wanted the right to deal in their own produce and to make a small levy on their own exports. Last year toe exports from the dominion were valued at £43,000,G00, but taking £30,(100.000 as a basis, a one per cent, levy would give theni £300,000. Vv hat they wanted for transport purposes was a fleet of 20 ships at a cost of £5.000.G j0. and by a curious coincidence the interest on this sum at 6 per cent, came to the amount of the levy —nameiy, £300,000. In conclusion. Captain Colbeck put forward a strong plea that: the farmers would rally to the sueport of the umon in this matter, and do all they could to increase the membership of the branches, remembering that in this, as in other matters, unity was strength.—(Applause.) QUESTIONS ANSWERED. Questions were invited at the close of the addresses, in answering which Mr Poison said it was desirable, of course, but not essential, for them to have cool stores of their own in England. lie further explained the advantages of association with Australia, which would enable them to send forward shipments both of beef and mutton as required, thus making the retailers at the other end independent of the trusts. I' oi* the producers' shipping line they proposed a contribution statutorily levied upon everything the producer exported. Such a skipping line must always be under the ultimate control of the New Zealand Government. He had dealt up north very fully with the question of the meat trust. He had a good deal of sympathy with Armour and Co., because they had come out in the open and put their name rip over their shop. Rut what was any trust or combine here for? Were they here for the good of their health? He thought the thing was beyond argument. Still, it was a wrong system to single out any one firm and make it the subject of hasty panic legislation. What we required was comprehensive legislation, preventing any foreign corporation from controlling any of our freezing works without the consent of the Government. Already foreign corporations owned and operated a considerable number of works in this country. If the works were safeguarded as he suggested it did not much matter what Armour and Co. did. They would bo in a much sounder position if they concentrated upon that instead of chasing the

shadow of export license and forgetting’ the substance of the freezing works. He did not exactly know the. policy of the Farmers' Union in regard to woollen mills, though he believed it was a sound policy to manufacture their own goods here as far - as possible. They wanted Government assistance, but they did not want Government control. Mr James Begg moved a very hearty vote of thanks to both speakers. The union owed them a great debt of gratitude for the step they had taken in thus touring the country. It was refreshing to meet gentlemen who had opinions and who had the courage of their opinions. The union’s energies were too diffused, and they would make more headway if they would concentrate on three or four important matters, such as had been touched on by the speakers. He mentioned that a revision of the tariff was imminent, and he did not think that the farmers’ views had yet been adequately presented to those responsible. They must insist that', they would not have a high tariff, which in the last resort the farmer always paid. The vote was carried by hearty acclamation. and a similar compliment was paid to the chair.