TAUMARUNUI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 664, 16 May 1929, Page 6

TAUMARUNUI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

There was a large attendance at the annual general meeting of the Taumarunui Chamber of Commerce, the president, Mr. A. S. Laird, being in the chair.

In his annual report the president explained that the chamber took an active interest in the land question, which problem it regarded as the crux of the whole situation. In and out of season the chamber had done everything possible for the development of the land. It would be represented at the King Country Advancement League conference at Te Kuiti, when the land question as it affected better terms, closer settlement, longer leases and further advances to reliable and probable settlers would be fully discussed. The cry in the past had been "back to the land,” and the cry of the future must also be "back to the land.” Unemployment was just as bad, if not worse, in many other countries. Increased production from the land would mean the power to employ more labour. Mr. W. A. Campbell said that the recent conference of chambers of commerce in Wellington had “backed the wrong horse.” Men who knew nothing whatever about the farmer had "pulled him to pieces.” There was no use in putting men on the land if they were not kept there under reasonable conditions.

The chamber is steadily pressing for the creation of a central land district or other means of effectively dealing with main trunk settlement, and this aspect of the situation will be fully ventilated at the conference in Te Kuiti.