HOW THEY CAN HELP.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12569, 9 February 1934, Page 2

HOW THEY CAN HELP.

AIM FOR FARMERS’ WIVES. A\ hat farmers’ wives could do to help their husbands was the main point of an address to Oentral Taranaki members of the Women’s Division of the Farmers’ Union at Stratford by Mrs W. H. Ward, Southland, Dominion president of the Division. Once farming was on a firm footing the whole country would be sound, she said, and the farmers’ wives could best help to that end by wholeheartedly supporting the Farmers’ Union. We dissociate ourselves entirely Women’s Division members,” Mrs Ward said, '‘from those farmers who speak as if farmers were the only producers. It js sinful to stir strife between town and country or one district and another. .Everybody doing necessary and useful work js a producer. 7 ’ I arming, Mrs Ward said, had not paid since 1914, except, of course, where a man had inherited his farm or had had money left to him. There he had no charges to meet or improvements to make. It might be said that in the really good years farmers were making money—they were certainly handling large sums, if nothing more. But against the £$00(1 years had to be placed the bad, and there were the great majority who had hew farms to improve and other charges to meet. They had to pay for what they wanted at high prices. The intensive use of top-dressing brought a change. Farmers found that their, farms would carry twice, and sometimes three times the stock, and all their money went into purchase of stock at high prices, or they held the young animals they were wont to sell, foregoing the money. Then the slump came, as disastrous as an earthquake in its crushing effect and the inability of anyone to prevent it -or lessen the *il SU t* Everything went down, and the improvements and increased stock for which people had paid such high prices fell to bedrock. The costs of farming had been shown by unquestionable figures to be much too high. x, 1 the Women’s Division can help the Farmers’ Union in putting things right the farmer’s positionwill never be any better,” Mrs Ward said. “Wq could not help them half so much were it not for the fact that they take a national view. In putting farming on a sound footing we are making the whole country stable—the truth of that statement has heen proved again and again—and we make this country eafe not only for our own hoys but for all boys and girls.”