TOWN EDITION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14284, 28 April 1917, Page 6

TOWN EDITION.

MEETING OF FARMERS.

At tlio meeting of farmers this afternoon, mi lus address regarding the formation of a brunch of the Farmers' Union .\iajor Lus*. said coinoined representations would ha\c- more weight aud tlie work would he carried out, much more so than by representations from a few scattered lurmers. That, was the position lie wished 1 farmers to be m, and he would speak plainly ; any farmer who did not see his way to join the Farmers' Union was not doing his duty to himself, to his country, and to his descendants. (Applause.) Major Lusk then went on to outline the formation ol a local suu-pi-oviiK-iai district, and tlie appointing ul" a nve mid' suitable man as loca. ' organiser. Ho claimed that this district be.onged to Auckland. .tie had heard since ne had been hero that it was claimed that G-isijonit* was more closely j connected witn Aapier. However, Uie ( farmers Onion was a Dominion organi-' sation aud it did noo matter to which district Gisborne was attached. However, it liad been felt at Auckland that Gisborno belonged to the Auckland province and: that tho district had . been greatly neglected m the past, and it avus considered advisable they should com© down here to try and revive interest, lie would point out that whilst the movement iiad been successful m Auckland leoentiy, unit possessed what he claimed was the beat > organisation, Hawkes Bay, on tho other hand, was tne woist and he suggested it might be more advantageous io be joined with iicauquarteis at ispdvland. , j. no &pea»voi' proceeded to detail the Sveps ittrthun. at AucKuand, m order to maiiit-a.it interest m tn© warmers' Union ! movement. J-Hey nau started a trutung ThiU indenting -a-socatiou, winch hau ' fciiico ue\ clomped into a- trading and inoentmg company, and nad grown", m seven 'years to a membership of bOOO, with. a turn-over losi year "of j_i"oo,UUu. x'ne speaKer toucned oil tlio pi-oposed • ied-erat.oii oi" farmers' co-operative organisat.o^is' decided upon, at the recent conference at Wellington, wh.cn woiua douoatss' result m tne appointment ot ,au agency m l#ondon aaid perna.p„ a line ot snips oi then* own. 'xiiose, briefly, were vie aims and oojects they had m view. (Applause.) j»ii* "tailored Cooper said he was surprised to find here vie indifferent- ieeiing mere waa towards Farmers' Unions. He did not- think these people realised aii the tinia and work others had put into the movement. The farmers should be ashamed of themselves for not bacKing up the i'iovmcial .hixecutive better, liowever, he blamed the J'Jxecutive to some extent. Continuing, Mr Coojier said they did not realise 'efficiently. What they wti-e lip against, m connectioiii with the war, and m this connection he referred to the coal strike. He waa- told tho ToKomaru Freezing Ob. were considering collecting aJI the driftwood they could. Insurances, it "tVa* pointed out, did not cover strikes aaid riots. The Farmers' Union had been battling against the registration of the Farm and Agricultural Workeus' Union. However, this uniou had. now been, registered. It x would .' probably prove a blessing; m disguise, as it would arouse the farmers to organise. Mr Cooper pointed out there w-ere good farm liands who would not join a labor union, but if they did not they could not, under the preference to unionists olaiise, be employed. Tliat was a matter requiring their serious consideration. He (the speaker) advocated making the Farmers' "Union subscription £1, which he thought little enough, to employ a permanent organiser. If any out-district -.wanted a remit sent forward what better channel could they send it through than *a* local centre. Mr Cooper went on to illustrate what could be done by organisation. In Waikato he liad increased the membership from 35 to 90 per -cent. If they could get 75 par cent, of the farmers m this district as membora they w r ould be satisfied. One of the first things - to do was to got the preferential clause abolished. Dealing with... the beef trust, the, speaker said" the object, of the trust was to crush out the small co-operative companies. They had done this m other countries. They could nob compel the farmers not to accept the big prices tlie trust offered, but they should organise and get themselves into a big strong body and afterwards- decide Avhat they should do. ' Mr* Cooper asked for assistance m. arranging his meatings'in other districts. He intrmated that \he would be charging the local district Union with his expenses as (or* ganiser. as it was not fair the < Auckland executive should bear the ,expense,this being the tisuaJ procedure. He wanted some farmers to consent to act as a provisional executive to assist him to arrange his itinerary. Regarding tlie subscription, 5s went to the Provincial Executive and the 153 could be cu^ up as they wished ; only 2s 6d should go to the branches. If they/got 1000 members here they could get to work, and he thought he could accomplish this. Major Lusk said there were 1500 farmers m this district/ and that, would give a yearly revenue of £1500. A much less sum would suffice, but they hoped to get the £1500. Mr Cooper said while he was hei*e J he was prepared to act as organising secretary until they -were m a position, to appoint a permanent man. With the assistance and co-operation of the farmers he thought he could get the thing going. Mr W. 'Bell asked how it was intended to hold the farmers together; there were so many classes. Mr Cooper said that was a matter for the executive and organiser. By having delegates from smaller branches was no danger of tjie big man ovei*riding the small man. Ml* Bell said tliey had that before. Mr Cooper: Have another shot at it, Mr Bell said lie took a great interest m the Farmers' Union -when it existed here, and they found they could not hold all the classes together. Mr Cooper said -under the new scheme this difficulty would not be encountered. He pointed out that it was necessary for the man. appointed a» organising secretary to give the .whole of his time to the Union. > Replying further to Mr Bell, Mr Cooper remarked : "Don't throw cold water on a thing that is {""Oing to he a great benefit to you." In i*eply to Mr Machell, '-Major Lusk said a central union could be formed at once, and a provisional union oouW be formed, but permission to do tliis. must be obtained' from the "Dominion t Council. Major Lusk went on to point out the advantages of having a wholetime secretary. • Mr J. O. "Field said' the old Farmers' Union here was a half-alive affair, and as far as he knew the only result was that a few of them had to foot the bill for rent, etc. After further discussion, the Chairman suggested that it would be better to start branches m the country '■first. Maojr Lusk advised tliat they should not form a branch m Oisborne at present, but a provisional executive should be first formed. Mr GV W. Humphreys moved that the meeting approve of the importance of forming- Farmers' Unions, and that those present do all , they could to help the movement along when meetings were held m their respective localities. Mr Field seconded the motion, which was carried. ' "Mr Cooper said he wished to got m .touch with the country places, and a provisional executive would bo of great assistance m this matter. Several gentlemen present undertook .to work up meetings m their districts. I In reply to Mr Field. Mr Cooper said jhe would remain m .the district until the executive was placed ori a sound footing. He could not undertake the systematic organising; x 1 It was arranged that the Chairman and Mr Dodd should go into the matter with Mr Cooper and map out a programme. On til^e moKron of' the Chaal'man, seconded by Mr Fenwick. a hearty vote of thanks was accorded Major Lusk and Mr Cooper.