CROWN TENANTS

Southland Times, Issue 22131, 27 September 1933, Page 14

CROWN TENANTS

NEW ZEALAND ASSOCIATION. SOUTH CANTERBURY EXECUTIVE. The monthly meeting of the South Canterbury Executive of the New Zealand. Crown Tenants’ Association was held in Timaru. Mr D. C. Kidd occupied the chair. . The following letter was received from his Excellency the GovernorGeneral:—“The Governor-General desires me to thank you for your letter of August 25, the delay in reply to which has been unavoidable owing to the desire of his Excellency to avoid committing himself to further engagements until his plans for the next three months could be settled. As your association roughly surmised, the Governor-General could not with constitutional propriety express an opinion as to the course which the land policy of this Dominion should take, as this would encroach directly upon party political policy. Should, however, when he next visits Timaru, an opportunity present itself to him for having a talk with the farmers of the district on their various problems, he would certainly welcome it, and I am to say that his Excellency will gladly bear the matter in mind. But according to present indications, it is unlikely that such a visit can be made during the next three months.” The secretary was instructed to forward the association's thanks to his Excellency and assure him that a lecture to the Crown Tenants and farmers of South Canterbury would be much appreciated. A letter was read from the secretary of the Dairy Board regarding the new regulation which compels a dairy farmer to continue to supply the factory he starts the season with. The regulation was stated as being necessary in the endeavour to improve the quality of dairy produce. The letter stated that at present if a supplier’s milk or cream was graded second grade the supplier often changed his factory. The delegates expressed various opinions. Some said the regulation had been brought down by the Dairy Division, and others held that it was just another move to further tie up the few remaining liberties enjoyed by the farmer. It was stated that the regulation would be found to be unworkable in practice. Most delegates favoured the idea of trying to stop the present overlapping of cream carting. This item alone cost £40,000 a year. The secretary was instructed to make a protest against this waste. A long discussion took place on several recent forfeitures. Mr Kidd stressed the fact that although he held a special meeting for Crown tenants in trouble in Timaru the Friday before the board met on the second Tuesday in every month, many tenants allowed their affairs to drift almost beyond recall before they placed the case in his hands. This made his work double, besides jeopardizing their chances. All agreed that the Land Department was giving very sympathetic treatment to all cases that the association brought forward, but in some cases the tenant did not keep the promises he made to the department when relief was granted. The association’s help was for the trier only. It was stated that some big men were getting 50 per cent reduction in rent whilst on similar country smaller men were only getting 25 per cent. Mr Kidd explained how this often came about and said those who felt they were harshly treated would quite likely get the matter rectified if they applied in the right way. He would do his best to see that fairness was given to all tenants. He also explained, as the Minister had done, that very often remissions were held up in the interests, of the tenants themselves till others interested came into line and made some slight sacrifice as well as the Government. Cases were mentioned where a solvent tenant could be sold, up and ruined just because a financial company might wish to realize on its security. It was pointed out that at present there was an anomaly in the law that made it possible under certain conditions for an interested party to get a magistrate’s eviction order from which at present there was absolutely no right of appeal. It was unanimously agreed that the association should do its utmost to have the law altered so that a tenant would have the right of appeal to the higher court. Referring to the Minister’s recent visit Mr Kidd said that the association had at last not only gained a place in the scheme of things, but its work, its suggestions, etc., were proving a great help to the Land Board and Government alike. Mr Ransom stated on several occasions that he found the co-operation and suggestions of the association at times very valuable. The demonstration farm for the bad lands on marginal areas was now an accomplished fact. The problem of these lands was about to be tackled. Reports were to be made by various Government departments whose work lay in that direction.

The secretary reported that the Hawkes Bay Association had had its first meeting as a provincial executive and he thought the Hawkes Bay Crown Tenants’ Association would soon be to the North Island what the South Canterbury executive was to the South Island —the live spark of the movement.