Organising the Primary Producers

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 6102, 15 September 1947, Page 5

Organising the Primary Producers

FEDERATED FARMERS’ HELP.

£15,000 CAMPAIGN.

Recognising that the paramount

“need today for the Waikato farmer is an organisation that will .adequately protect his interests and act as his mouthpiece on all occasions, Federated Farmers (Waikato Province) are planning to develop their organisation to the fullest possible extent so that it will be able to give maximum service to its members. The organisa-

tion in the district is still in its infancy, but its teething troubles are now over and it is determined to provide a service never previously enjoyed by farmers in this district. However, in its brief existence it has already achieved much for its members.

Take, for example, the mass meetings organised by the Federation in Hamilton last year when a demand was made that payments to farmers should be based on the 40-hour week principle. The Government could not but pay heed to this demand and it is confidently expected that this will have an important bearing on the decisions of the Dairy Products Marketing Commission. Success has also attended many of the Federation’s other efforts to better the lot of its members and it has never lost an opportunity to place the farmers’ case before the authorities.

The Federation has recognised the need to keep the farmer in touch with the latest scientific developments and for this reason it organised several successful field days at research stations last year. It also conducted a very successful winter school for young farmers at Claudelands and has taken a leading part in the formation of the Waikato Farm School Association, an association which has as its objects the holding of farm schools and kindred activities. However, the Federation realises that much more can be done in the educational field than in the past and hopes to expand the scope of its activities in this direction. Another aim of the Federation is to cater for the social life of the farmer by encouraging the formation of community centres and the like in rural areas. Lack of Finance. However,, the lack of adequate finance has handicapped’ the Federation severely and because of inadequate staff and equipment it has not been able to give the service that it would have liked to have given to members. Thus it is anticipated that its .decision to launch a campaign this week- to raise £15,000 to enable the Federation to be placed on a proper working basis will be welcomed by all farmers. Farmers have come to realise that -they cannot have an effective organisation to work for them unless they give it adequate financial support. They have come to realise that the various unions have become powerful largely because of the regular union fees paid by the workers, fees that yearly amount to a very much larger figure than the modest subscription of 30/- that the farmer pays to his organisation in spite of the fact that he ' has very much greater interests to protect. If a subscription of 30/- was recognised as a modest fee in 1929, it is realised that in the present era of rising costs it is hopelessly inadequate. The farmer today has many justifiable complaints and the Federation wants the opportunity to iron out his difficulties, but to do this the individual farmer recognises that -he must support his organisation: The campaign that has just been launched provides an opportunity to every farmer to give practical help to his Federation to help it to represent him more worthily. Great interest has been aroused in farming circles by the new campaign and many novel suggestions have been made by branches in order to raise the necessary finance. All the various branches have been put on a quota and as a guide it has been suggested that all individual contributions should be based on 1/- a cow, 6d per head dry stock arid Id per sheep. <