TIMARU FARMERS' ASSOCIATION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 4, 30 September 1918, Page 8

TIMARU FARMERS' ASSOCIATION

ANNUAL MEETING,

';■■/ By TeJegraph.-KPress Associ.&tiAn. 1 ■ '• Tima,«u, Septemlier .23. ■ :_ ; At..tlie annual fleeting:'of thd Ti : Farmers!-.. GoV>nefative (tion the chairman .'.stated that the j turnover for the''year'was-£1,579,00L\ I a record, hut'partly-:due_ to. the,higi : prices v of everything-. ,'■ The gross profits ! on merchandise were £2000. The stock ! and merchandise were valued at £250,'000. ■ Seventy-six' employees of the as- : sooiation' had gone to the war, eleven : Lad lost their' lives, and twenty had [returned, of -whom-thirteen had..been ;.re-employed by the association, which i-pays part of the salary of the absent ; employees, so that- ; '£ 6000 had been. !■ paid:? £2000 would be required this ; year.' '• I The chairman, Mr. John .Talbot, m ; his address, condemned as unfair and i oppressive on the mortgagor farmer the ; abolition of the tax on mortgages as [letting the real owner of the land free. : The latter was often .a person of good ! income,- following no productive occui pation. The association had paid last i year over £10,000 in land and income i tax, and had subscribed £10,000 to the ; ,AVar Loans.. ' .TJnder., -the., conrpulsory !" provisions more must , he paid under I the latter head. The only means of i. payment was by increasing the charges !. :r t6 -customers. Consequently the tax '■ in the long run was virtually all paid Jby the farmers. The multiplication of ! taxes on the producing industry must I increase the cost .of production and price of the product. The Government's 1 treatment of last year's wheat-crop was ■'satisfactory. The position regarding ; the. next crop, was quite otherwise. The i Government guaranteed the minimum i price of 6s. 4d., fio'.b., with a free ■ market, but menaced the. chances of ■ the growers getting the benefit of that i'-free market by importing Australian i' wheat, and the price at which this was Ito be sold was'not known. The farni- ; ers were most willing to keep the r wheat-growinß industry going, but were i discouraged by ■ unnecessary, and irni tating restrictions in respect to sell--i ins-being added to the risks and diffiy culties of production. The equalising ■of the tariff - <5a wheat—Austaha and ! New Zealand—was an urgent demand. : ' ■ ■■' A resolution was carried to increase UKe-.eapital by, £00.000. .At present the h authorised cauital is -£325.000, 0 which !' had; been paid jdp £225.000 (£99,000 I ordinary-and' £124,000 : shares). The reserve totalled £62,000.,

! At the annual meeting of the Feai thersttin Horticultural and Industrial !.'■ Society held last Friday Mr. ; W: Ji' Martin was- elected -as president. _ Jlie ! - Bev J G. S=- Bartlett was appointed K chairman of the Executive Committee. P'The annual- show will be, held on'JNo26/l#r than usual owing to the backwardness of"the;season.-

!:■■ Entries for the Wairarapa and.East ■-Coast Show are due to close with the [•■■'secretary,: P.O. Box 25,■ Carterton, on "Wednesday, Octc-ev 9, and intending *'exhibitors should not delay in sending :- for a schedule. --The- ••programme, as ■ in past years, caters for all sections, ', and the prizes" awarded are liberal. ■> The.AVairarapa Society claims to-be !, progressive, and, is popular with exr. hibitors 'geri.eralljy-'-and": they deserve [.the support of;all breeders. [