FARMERS OF EMPIRE

Taranaki Daily News, 17 July 1929, Page 16

FARMERS OF EMPIRE

TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND ARRIVAL IN FEBRUARY. LORD BLEDISLOE AS LEADER. I — ' (Auckland Herald Correspondent.) London, June 6. Already th© British National Union lias received about 50 names of farmers who are contemplating joining the tour of New Zealand at the beginning of next year. The party will consist of tiiree sections: 50 British farmers, 15 Canadian and 15 South African farmers. It has been arranged that the British section shall leave by the Remuera on January 17, arriving in Auckland about February 20. The Canadians will go direct from Vancouver. The South Africans will travel by the White Star liner Runic, arriving in Melbourne about the end of January. They will make a tour of Victoria and New South Wales, and then go on to Auckland, where the three sections meet. Mr. W. J. Polson, president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, states in a letter to the British National Union: “The exchange of visits between farmers in the different and widely spread possessions of the King must be productive of good. While the Australian and New Zealander may learn painstaking care and meticulous neatness from his British contemporary, the latter may in return learn of labour-sav-ing expedients, marketing systems and co-operation efficiency from his colonial competitor. As comprehensive an itinerary as is possible has been arranged in conjunction with the New Zealand Railways and the Tourist Department, which are enthusiastically assisting the Farmers’ Union in organising the tour. “During his tour of the Dominions the Secretary of State, Mr. Amery, promised favourably to consider, and as far as possible facilitate, a conference of the primary producers of the Empire at some suitable point, when matters of Imperial importance, such as inter-Em-pire preference, might be considered from the farming point of view. It would be a splendid thing if, during this Dominion tour of British farmers, some such conference could be held in Australia or- New Zealand.” Lord Blcdisloe, who was Parliamentary Secretary to .the Ministry of Agriculture until the middle of last year, and who is an authority on agriculture and a farmer himself, recently wrote to the British National Union intimating his intention of taking part in the tour. When this was reported to the executive they immediately passed a resolution inviting him to take the leadership of the party. The union has now received Lord Blcdisloe’s reply, in which he says he feels honoured, and he •will be very proud to give his leadership to the party. Lord Blcdisloe will not be travelling by the Remuera, but he will make his own arrangements ami meet the other members at Auckland. After the New Zealand tour, which is being arranged by the local Farmers’ Union, the Canadian and South African sections will return to their respective countries. The British section will cross to Sydney and make a ten days’ tour between Sydney and Melbourne, finally sailing for Home by the Esperance Bay. Both Lord Bledisloe and the secretary (Mr. Arthur Canham, who will go out with the party) express the hope that it will bo possible to arrange a conference at some stage of the New Zealand tour.