THE FARMERS' UNION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 267, 31 July 1918, Page 8

THE FARMERS' UNION

j' . ANNUAL CONFERENCE 1 THE OPENING DAY i i. . | The annual Dominion Conference of the ■ New Zealand Farmers' Union was opened in Wellington yesterday. Sir James , .Wilson presided. i The president, in the course of his nd- ; dress, said: "The year which is now past j has been one of disappointments an.l anxieties; tho greatest of all disappoint- ■ inents has been that the horriblo 6tragglo . for supremacy in Europu is still going '• on. Our cause—justieo and freedom of j nil-continues to bo our motive as • against tha doctrine 'of 'might is right' i which the Germans still hold. The dcfecj tion of Russia has enabled the enemy to ; concentrate troops in great and over- ; whelming numbers on the "West front, : hut this makes us all the moro deterj mined to put forth greater endeavour. : When the great offensive began on March ! 21 there was considerable unrest amongst ! labour and determination to resist i'tir- ' ther combings out. Tho moment tlieso jluen heard of our retreat all disputes ;ivere put aside. Workmen and workI women fell into their places, and with I renewed efforts soon replaced the whole ■ of the munitions of war which had been . lost, besides keeping up tho regular, out- ! put. Tho call to 1 - arms was readily responded to. . One bright spot, however, ' in the dark cloud is the splendid work '. of our own boys at the front, and in 1 their behaviour towards the people : (imongst whom they for the moment j dwell. In fighting qualities the Australasian . troops have shown themselves second to none. Those atthe front havo : our undying gratitude, and we useless 'ones only wish wj could he with them, j One of the returned men said to a j friend: 'You know it is not so bad as it fieems at the front in attack; you go over ' the top and go on; if you are killed i there's an end of it, if you are wounded you know you will he welt'taken care of, 1 nnd if you go on sou are doing your i bit.' Most iuen get into this habit of thought at the front, and it is a great comfort that it is so, for their life :s a hard one and the risks great. Tt is those who have an aching void when : the names appear on the casualty list that fee! the war most, and to whom ; our sympathy goes out to the utmost. The disappointments that come to tho , farmer in matters of business are easy to bear and overcome in comparison to ■ losses of that kind. Disappointments ' lia/e been felt to the greatest extent by the agriculturist, yet ho has perhaps ' more than • any other • class received .abase.in public. I think the agricultural farmers have shown a splendid I example to the other people of New [ Zealand. j • War Loans. ; "We are enjoined by all and sundry i that the way to meet our obligations is ;to increase our production. I am not ! going to preach upon that point because ; it is obvious that it is the only means jin our power. One point is in our faI vour, at the beginning of the war no one would have been found to predict - that the huge loans to carry on the war ! could bo raised in the Dominion, but wo ! have transferred nearly all the amounts : received from our produce and much of tho surplus incomes of companies into debentures to help win the war. The i interest on this remains in the Dominion | and will 600n got into circulation. It is ! useless speculating as to the amount of : loan money we will require. I suggested | ft sum last year and was a long way out. Unfortunately the Russian withdrawal : has completely altered our views as to . the length of the war, and there seems ;no present prospect of peace. It should : not bo forgotten that the taxation im- ' posed has enabled tho Treasurer to accumulate a fund in London invested in 'Imperial Government securities of ton . anil three-quarter millions which will relieve hy that' amount necessary payments for the war. Yet iii any case a ; a /very considerable increase in revenue J will be required to meet tho interest i nnd sinking fund oil war loans, besides ! the usual Tevenue for general expendi- • ture. The interest must be paid and the j revenue must be' collected to pay the , expenses of government. We are not ■ nnd, until wo find a market for our ; goods either by increased population or : exportation, cannot be a manufacturing country, but must rely upon production ; and exports as a. means of meeting our ■ engagements. That means it is necessary either to increase the products or reduce the cost of production. It is'not a question of wages, however, that will enable jus to do it, but by the true industrious j co-operation of all engaged. Science, education, invention, brains nnd the use of machinery, will have much moro to Ulo with increased output than the rale of wages. Yet such increase can never : come about except by that co-operation i between Capital and Labour which was ifio marked in the earlier days, and so obviously absent at present, it reminds Ime of an incident which happened when ! in. tho earlier days two trains started at the same time from a station in our neighbourhood. At night these trains were backed against each other ready to iinake an early 6tart in the morning. A native who lived near conceived the idea of coupling these two trains together and : watched in the morning to see what iwould be the result. It was far beyond ibis expectations. After a pull or two ;au investigation showed the reason that (the trains would not start, and his exultation was sufficient evidence of the ctiljprit, and ho got fourteen days in Waliganui Gaol for his morning's amuse!ment. Is that not rather like what is :going on at present? Capital and Labour [are coupled together, and yet they are ijiulling different ways. By the time the ;ivar is ended it will be proof conclusive ithafc all interference and direction of ;trade by Government would in ordinary times he intolerable. In war time we put up with it, but no nation or country could survive tho ordeal of Government interference, nor indeed could it .prosper, for thero would bo a continual .ferment, and tho stormy petrels would have the time of their lives, and those fin search of 'soft jobs' (as Tommy 6peaks of) would b'o the gainers. Trade, profession, and occupation must be as free and untrammelled as possible within our Empire. I am not going to be tempted into the great controversy of the relations with other countries, but our views ■will probably he modified as to those of the various units which comprise. our Tlmpire. Some system will yet evolve which will bring about-' the old-time between the employer and the ymployee, the old feeling (I am speaking 'more especially •in regard to one's own experience as a farmer) of the employee ■who has as much interest aud pride in ■the farm and the. slock as the owner himself. ' Taxation.

: "The only sure thing that can bo said about Hid war is lliat it cannot go on for over. So it is clear we must prepare to see that when it does end v.e can foot Ihe bill. The taxation, which lias been enormously increased, has taken more than the increase in the prices paid for wool (some three million.-;) lo meet it. In 1!)K) the taxat ion by General Government wa-s .£5,006,829, in IDI7 it had risen to .£10,.i151,C51. Of this sum only some half a million was raised through the Customs. Customs was reduced by nearly half a million, and direct taxation was increased by over two millions, this making the land arid income tax over seven millions more tlmn |t was before tho war. The farmer pays, on his capital and also on his income which he derives from il. Surely this is tho conscription of wealth? Nor is this all. The compulsory clauses of the last loan Bill were put in force and n million was extracted hy that jnean3. The next loan in a few months time will again make a further inroad into.; the wealth of those much reviled but necessary persons, viz., Ihe capitalists. The demand on the twrt of some for the conscription of wealth is perhaps excusable when we find university profpscors going about outside llieir province and urging it. Wealth is only created by the industry and thrift of the people, find when it gets into tho hands of Government it is spent and

is unproductive. I should like to place on record, too, in answer to those who nt election times talk of 'a million land tax, three-million Customs,' that land not only pays a very heavy land tax, hut also a very large proportion of the income tax. It is to he remembered that nearly the whole of the death duties come from land, awl last yenr there was at least a million from this source. Wo thus hare locnl taxation derived from land which . amounts to .£2,720,13(1. This goes to the upkeep of harbours, roads.. streets, and various amenitu-s which the general public have at their disposal. It is thus seen that tlie land tax is small in proportion to what laud pays towards the upkeep of (he Slate. We have then by way of direct taxation' on lan;l the following :~ £ Land tax I,.US,SIM Death duties, say 1.(1(10,0(10 Local taxation 2,720,150 ' *'.i,065,743 "It would be quite legitimate to Swell this by adding half the income tax, for in most wisps the taxation by way of income tax on the proceeds derived from land is greater than the land tax itself. This is, however, purely a • war tax. Still, lu-day it is quite safe to say that land pays the enormous amount of seven millions in direct taxation.

Shipping. "At no period of the war has the outlook for shipping been so unpromising. We are now at the end of July. Our dairy season begins this month. Our killing of mutton perhaps in .November, ami lambs in December. Last year when things looked bad wo were saved hy our neighbour's misfortune. Vessels were sent.out to take meat and other produce from"Australia, 'but our neighbours hud none, and the vessels were sent over here and loaded up. In the ordinary course of events, no doubt, some of our produce will be .shipped; how much is in the womb of the future. There is little likelihood of there being sufficient space to take more than half, and a probability of considerably less. It is ia-irly certain that our storage capacity will not be able to take our whole output of fats. There are only two ways of meeting this position, for meet it we must, and with vigour— (1) To provide more storage; (2) to provide more winter feed for the lambs which will have to be carried over the winter, in addition to those which ■are always wintered. As far as the increased frtovags is concerned, wo as farmers, unless we are shareholders of freezin» works (which we ought tu 'be), have no" voice. The additional space )f it- is provided must be a matter between the authorities and the freezing companies, and even then any increase is governed by the surplus power they lhe lat lamb question, however, will tall upon the agricultural farme;- who breeds ironi bought ewes and fattens both ewes and lambs. The lambs are really the dilliculiv. There are, however, not likely to 1» so many black faces among -them and these, if possible, should bo kilted. It is, however, quito likely that a number of white-faced lambs will have to be carlied over, and for these the only way is to grow'winter feed. It is for this reason that 1 sav the ploughman is the most essential man in fhe Dominion at ■the present moment. Not only do we require to get as much wheat in, but we must, as farmers, prepare for the worst and hope for the heat, and as prudent men we must make every endeavour to grow as much winter feed as we possibly can. We all want to win the war, aud the steamers which usuiUly carry our produce are rushing backwards and forwards over tho Atlantic, carrying men. munitions, and food for the soldiers that I no United States are sending over to help us beat the Hun. Vessels containing refrigerating machinery are scarce, for a number of our usual traders have been sunk; yet, although we havo many difficulties ahead, possibly some lossss, even financial stringency, we have made up our minds that whatever happens ve are going to win through, and the farmers are determined to do what they can to help. As I have already said there is another thing necessary.' That is cooperation between the employer and the employee; it may be that there are faults on both sides, and that there are misunderstandings which could be easily explained if they came together. The employees, however, should not come under the wing of' the stormy petrels that angur a twin. If these, would give the same amount of work to initiating the true principle of co-operation in trade as they give to disturbing it, they would soon emulate their confreres in fhe Old Country who, by co-operative trading, have now many millions sterling cf capital, and ail immense turnover. By putting their savings into a co-operative society the workers would go a long vay to counteract the increase of the cost of living. We have troublous times before ltf, and much sorrow I am afraid, before we can bring the Prussians lo their senses, but we may have a troublous time after the war before we can Gettle down again after finding out our_ nositiou and footing the bill. It will be no time for industrial differences."

For Peace. Mr. R. Dunn (Taranald) moved: "That tlie Farmers' Union do its utmost to bring before the people of this Dominion the fact that in order to win the ivar it is necessary that we should all be inspired with ft united determination to each do his or her utmost in helping to bring about the desired result, a lasting and an honourable peace.'" The motion was carried. • Fuel From .Waste Products. The following resolutions were passed: Auckland—"That the Government bo urged to go into the matter of producing u fuel from waste products to take the place of benzine." Wellington.— "That the Government he urged to encourage the production of fuel from wasto .products." Southland.—"That this conference favours any attempt to establish a distillery solely for the production of commercial alcohol." Control of FVices. Mr. li, 1). Kuxfleld (Auckland) moved: "That this conference disapproves of Iho principle of the Government controlling prices except for Imperial war purposes; but, as practically all farmers' products havo been requisitioned and the prices regulated, we call, upon the Government to protect us from exploitation by taking steps to check the unwarranted increase in the prices of materials and machinery and other necessaries which are essential to farmers for the maintenance of production." The'motion was carried. . Enemy Manufactures. It was resolved: "That, in the opinion of this conference, the only way to slop the flooding of this Dominion witli enemy manufactures after the war is by seeing that legislative restrictions be imposed, and that steps bo taken lo educate the people not lo deal with unv merchant, importer, iirm or company who in any way handles German manufactures, and that a copy of this resolution and explanatory letter be sent to the secretary of each Farmers' and In-' duslrial Union, and lo the chairman of each education board, and to the secretary of the New Zealand Educational Institute in this Dominion,' with a view to educating the people ami children in practical patriotism," Miners' Rights. On the motion of Mr, I'. Kecgnn (Auckland) il: was resolved:—"That liiis conference strongly advises the Government to amend its legislation relnting to 'miners' rights' at local election polls m such manner as will prevent the serious abuses to which such 'rights' lend themselves, such abuses thereby depriving genuine farmers ami taxpayers from obtaining their dues." The Referendum, .It was resolved:—"That the union resist any attempt lo extend the principle of the referendum beyond the limits of the liquor question." 1 Legislative Council. Mr. J. H. Joll (Hawke's Bay) moved :— "That the attention of tho Government be called to the fact that in tho recent

appointments to the Legislative Council the farming and pastoral community has been overlooked, and that in the opinion of this .conference representation* should be lnude to tiie Government to remedy this condition of things." Mr. A. J. Nichol (Southland) seconded the motion, which 'was carried.