LAND PROBLEMS

Southland Times, Issue 21101, 5 June 1930, Page 6

LAND PROBLEMS

CUBBENT DEPRESSION

DISCUSSED BY MR W. DOWNIE STEWART

DERATING OF LANDS

(Special to the Times.) * Dunedin, June 4.

Problems affecting .farmers in view of the current depression were interestingly dis/cbssed to-day by Mr W. Downie Stewart in an address before the annual meeting of the Otago Farmers’ Union. He touched upon such questions as the proposed abolition of compulsory arbitration, tariffs, derating and local body taxation, and at the same time suggested that the remedies for existing conditions as outlined by Mr James Begg at the annual meeting of the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society were not likely to prove as effective as was popularly supposed.

Mr Stewart remarked that he was afraid farmers’ viewed politicians for the most part with suspicion, and were sceptical as to their ability to solve pastoral problems. He would like to emphasize, however, that every Parliament in the world, and every political party were standing puzzled before the common ' problems confronting primary production. The Anglo-Saxon race believed in the theory of government by amateurs. They objected to being governed by experts, possibly because they believed that the community could not stand up to the respective enthusiasms of the experts in various departments. The amateur stood as a buffer between the Government and the taxpayer. Perhaps it was because of the amateur Government that there was so much bewilderment in respect to present problems. Farmers were well represented, however, in the Government of New Zealand, so that they could expect to get their views discussed and their problems considered in as good a manner as was possible anywhere else in the world. The conference, said Mr Stewart, had addressed itself to two very important subjects in the derating of farm lands and the transference of more of the burden of road construction and maintenance' from local bodies to the Main Highways Board. Remits dealing with these subjects all aimed at justifiable relief from taxation and he considered that it was the best line of advance they could take at the present time and for a while to come. There was no doubt as to the burden of local body taxation and with the Government and local bodies reaping assiduously in the same field, the demands on farmers’ resources were very heavy. He felt that they were very wise in concentrating on derating of farmlands.

The speaker mentioned another of the opinions expressed by Mr Begg, that in respect to the Arbitration Court which Mr Stewart described as the second greatest handicap the farmer had. no doubt that rigid fixation of wages reacted adversely on the farmer, 'although he was not subject to awards. It was also the cause of much of unemployment in cities. It had often puzzled him to think of farmers crying out for labour, but compelled to watch their farms going back because they could not get it, while all the time there were hundreds of unemployed in the city. It appeared that labour unions and secretaries knew of the work available in the country, but they could come to no arrangement with the farmers because of the hiatus between what the farmers, could pay and what the workers asked. It occurred ■to him that the abolition of compulsory arbitration would be found to be a less effective move than was popularly supposed The Court had now survived 35 years. It had resisted the challenge from the employers and had withstood the fierce attacks,, of the big fighting unions. Even if they could secure abolition of the compulsory clauses, they would still be up against powerful unions.

He had noticed that in countries that had no arbitration system the unions generally managed -to get what they wanted. They were so powerful that they could achieve arrangements that were quite as irritating as anything awarded by the Court. He was extremely doubtful whether either abolition or modification of the Court’s powers would be as beneficial as they appeared to suppose. Speaking on the question of tariffs which, he noticed, was the subject of some remits on their order, Mr Stewart remarked that tariffs could be made of great service to farmers as a bargaining factor with other countries. If there had been no tariffs it would have been difficult or even impossible to negotiate the treaties with Australia and Canada that had been arranged of late years. The agreement that had been entered into with Australia’had had the result of increasing exports from this country to Australia by leaps and bounds, and the same thing could be said of the treaty that had been effected with Canada, which country was taking hundreds of ■ thousands of pounds worth of New Zealand produce. Tariffs, properly and wisely used, could be of enormous assistance to primary producers.

In regard to the exchange question, Mr Stewart said that they perhaps knew that the exchange was not working in their favour. A few years ago it had operated very much against them. This, he contended, was a subject which might be discussed with profit by a conference of the Farmers' Union and Chambers of Compierce.