FARMERS' UNION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13394, 30 May 1914, Page 7

FARMERS' UNION.

J (Per Press Asspciation.) *v INVERCAEGILL, last night. Tber T i3th. annual Southland provincial conference of the Farmers' Union was opened thjs morning. t . ... Thet president (Mr W. Ford), m his addreis, retened to the -strike a* the greatest industrial upheaval in Do-, minion, and, taking into consideration that the ports were for a time held up, the results were highly satisfactory, and they recognise the fact that it was ciwing to tho organisation of the Farmers' Union, the Dairy 'Association^, and, €0 a certain extent/ the Employers. Association, that things were readjusted to enible the business of the country to {ttoce^d on normal lines. Southland had ittle trouble as the result of the strike, though it felt.it indirectly. He "said the grain returns were diminishing"" as a . result of the progress of science in the matter of locomotion and the substitution of petrol for oats, which was a serious problem. • He said the Farmers' ..Union was now regarded as a power to' be reckoned with, and its voice in Parliament had greater force than in the past. He referred to the cost of living, the money market, land values, and settlement and exports, and concluded by appealing to all farmers for encouragement and supP° rt - s

Mr Ford was r«-elected president, and Messi^ John McQueen, T. W. Foster, and J, Smaill vice : presidents. . , Am'ongst the remits carried was one 'That the Government continne the system of importing farm laborers and domestics." '