LINKING UP COUNTRY

Taranaki Daily News, 6 June 1930, Page 11

LINKING UP COUNTRY

MOVEMENT OF ROTARIANS VISIT TO LEPPERTON DISTRICT. HOSPITALITY TO THE SETTLERS. In accordance with its practice of visiting one country centre each year, the New Plymouth Rotary dub visited Lepperton district last evening and entertained the farmers to a dinner and an evening passed in true Rotary fashion. President Ashton presided over ’a gathering of sixty-five. Since the club had been- formed in New Plymouth in 1925, said President Ashton in proposing the toast of “Our Guests,” it had made it its business to visit one country centre each year and had many happy evenings. He apologised for the absence of Rotarians C. H. Weston, J. Power, P. White, and Messrs Old, Hobson, Harrison, Matson and Wheatley. A Rotary club consisted of a group of men limited to one representative from each trade or profession. It was felt that with one member from each trade the club had a direct approach to each association. If everyone were allowed to join all the grocers would 1 get in a corner and ail the motor men in another, and so on, but by limiting it to one each, each was taught the other man’s point of view. The club encouraged this interest in the other man’s business by having its members get up and explain their business to the others.

The first elub was begun in Chicago by Paul Harris in 1905. Three years later one of the club went to San Francisco and formed another club there. At the end of last year there were 3205 Rotary clubs in the world. Rotary had a conference, each year and this year it would : be held in Chicago, The founder of Rotary,' Paul Harris, was expected to be ' present. Rotary was becoming', ■such a big thing that they had to hold separate conferences, such as Pacific conferences and national conferences. CREATION OF GOODWILL. One of the chief objects of Rotary was to create goodwill and friendship. Nobody was called Mister in the club without a fine being inflicted. Formality was broken down. At the recent conference in New Zealand at Tongariro members wore their names written upon them for the whole three days of the conference. He regretted the absence abroad of Rotarians T. C. List, D’Arcy Robertson and P. Webster, all of whom had taken a great interest in these country visits. In reply Mr. H. B. Lepper thanked the Rotarians for bringing about the gathering that evening. He looked upon the clubs as a co-operative society. The club should learn the farmers’ business, too, : he said, and he suggested that a farmer should be appointed to the ,cluh< Ho assured Rotarians that the farmers very much appreciated the invitation to meet them and were delighted with the club’s hospitality. He had known.th© Lepperton district from the early eighties, said Rotarian W. J. Penn in proposing the toast of “Farming .Interests,” and it had im;menfeely improved since he knew it first. It had some of the finest lands in Taranaki and some of the finest herds. In Lepperton farming had been taken up more scientifically than in some parts of Taranaki. The farmers were pro.gressive. ' Thero had been a great deal of talk lately about the quality of cheese. Mr. Veale’s report was going, to be the subject of great discussion. He as a layman gathered that there were two faults. There were some farmers who did not send in their milk in the. best condition and in good time. This could very easily, be .remedied. Late milk interfered with, the proper cooking of the curd, There were other questions, such as the value of standardisation, but the great thing was to go for quality in preference to quantity. INTERESTS WITH'FARMERS. ' The interests of Rotarians ■ were 'identical with the.-.interests of the farmers,said Mr. Penn.;.,-Unless .the farming industry prospered the town did not prosper,. It seemed, that the industry was. under a cloud at present, but increased production would come with the increasing knowledge of grasses. In reply Mr. R. Hellier said that he had been wrapped up' in farming in the Lepperton district all his life. His father had the farm before him. The family went to the blockhouse each night, at one period, for safety, and returned to the farm to work each day. Farming had gon© through many phases since those days. Those had been the days of clearing fern, felling bush and dragging goods across unbridged streams with bullocks. Then some people had planted the blackberry in the district and the minah had spread it all over the country. Local bodies, said Mr. Hellier, had generally considered the farmer. The roads in Taranaki were excellent. The co-operative movement had been begun by private enterprise. The farmer could bo congratulated to-day in the success that had followed the co-opera- : itive movement.'- The factories looked closely to the interests of the suppliers and tried to keep up-to-date in service and equipment. The farmers were very grateful to the Rotarians for their visit, said Mr. Hellier. He believed that' they had come out with the honest intention of getting to know the farmers’ problems and, in addition, they had given the farmers a very pleasant evening.

“COMMERCIAL INTERESTS.” His toast, the toast of “The Commercial Interests,” was a toast to every man in the room, said Mr. H. E. Blyde. He thought that farmers generally did not realise exactly what they owed to tho commercial pioneers of tho country. There were pioneers in commerce just as much as in agriculture. The credit for the great invention of refrigeration was to be given to commercial men. The interests of fanners and commercial men were identical. There was no great undertaking in which farmers, could hope to succeed without the support ,of tho commercial interests. Commerce had had a very chequered career, said Rotarian McLeod in reply, and m the early days had been an iili'avoured business. In comparatively recent years, however, commerce had grown to bo to) faro iof itlhe world. If there was' oho 'thinia wanted < wao that febimSpree shodr<Y’M cdmiUctCa'so that * ■(1 . —

it should gain, the eonfidtace of iilio people, especially the primary producers, Rotary .played no small part in bringing about fair dealing and good fellowship. There was one more way in which the influence, of commerce was highly important.. They had been told of the depression in tha farming industry. That depression /was directly duo to the heavy load carried by Great . Britain, The prosperity of New Zealand depended upon .the prosperity of Great Britain. New Zealand Great' Britain and consequently ,'iteell by buying, as far as- possible, British goods. - ■ ; A great number of people in the town had been wondering, said Rotarian R. H. Quillihm, in proposing the toast 01 "Town and Country,” what the real object of the gathering was. He had tried to explain to those people that one of the real objects of Rotary was to develop acquaintance, and one of its particular ■ aims ■ was to develop the acquaintance • between town and country. The men of the town wished to understand the problems of the farmers and help towards their solution. If they got to know each other better the suspicion and distrust between town and country would disappear. The toast he .was proposing was the most important toast of the evening. It was the combination of the two other toasts, Farming Interests and Commercial Interests, and he suggested that all should rise and: drink tlie toast together. In reply Mr. F. T. Crowe said that New Zealand depended for its prosperity on the success of agriculture. At the same time the country depended on the town for the sale of its produce. He believed that the day was at hand when the bonds between town and country would be drawn close together in complete friendship. The thanks of the Rotary Club were due to the ladies’ committee of the Lepperton Hall, said Rotarian L. A. Nolan, for their help in serving and controlling the dinner. From the point of view of the catering tho /unction that evening had been a splendid success. So wholeheartedly had. they entered into the work that there had been practically nothing for the Rotarians to do. He proposed the toast of the Lepperton hall ladies’ committee. i ..

The toast of “Th© Ladies” was proposed by Rotarian P. E, Stainton and responded to by Mr. P, A. Openshaw. “Th© Press” was proposed by Mr, W. N. Ackland and responded to by Rotar-. ian W. J. Penn. The toast of the “Artists” was proposed by Rotarian D. MeKay. < ' ]' Musical items were given by Rotar* ians K. Ward and C. Blake, .and ccnfe juring items by Sir. Egene. At the call of Mr. Lepper cheers wers given for the Rotarians. President Afih*' ton replied.