FARMER DELEGATES ENTERTAINED

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 208, 28 May 1919, Page 10

FARMER DELEGATES ENTERTAINED

I DUTY TO RETURNED SOLDIERS ? ' SPEECHES OF CABINET . ■ MINISTERS •;' The delegates to the Wellington Far- ■ Jners' Union Conference were entertained ! by the directors of the New .Zealand |.-: Farmers' Co-operative Distributing Comi pany to a dinner in tho Dominion Fari. mors' Institute last evening. There was j a,large gathering, over which Mr .-John, I' Balsillie presided,' in tho unavoidable ! absence of Sir James Wilson. Among :' the guests were: The Hons. W; D. S. i iMacDonald (Minister of Agriculture) and i D. H. Outline' (Minister of Lands), the ■ ■ Mayor of Wellington (Mr. J. P. Luke, i C;M.Ct., M.P.), ifossrs. G.'L. Marfhal!,' ; president of the Provincial Union, W. j H. Field, M.P., J. G. Harkness, chair- '. man of the AVellington Harbour Board, > T. Shatter. Weston, chairman of tho ■ Wellington Repatriation Board, and .» ''. number of officers of Government De- { part'menta. ■■'.■■' [■■', The toast of the "Army and Navy" was ' proposed by the Mayor, who prefaced lis '..remarks by complimenting the farmers [ on having erected such a fine _ building [■'■ ns'the Dominion Farmers' Institute. He | eaid that everyone should appreciate Iho i great sacrifices that jhad been made by : the sons of Now Zealand in tho great ; war. Mr. Luke paid a tribute to tho ', : work dono by the British Army at Mons, '■ whose persistence in resisting the Ger- • man hprdes, he said, had spelt a good ] ; start "for -'-tho'-mighty. conflict .that was '■ " : to 'ensue. 1 ' "New Zealand had done its i/. part;'dud." the young manhood , of, 'this }'. country had not shirked its responsibil- ! ity. The sympathies of all went out to ■those who had lost loved ones, whose [/sorrow'was something in which thoy .. could take. a noble pride. , He-', trusted //•that in connection with repatriation New ' Zealand employers would do their nart, ) ■ and he suggested that, any; who failed to : take returned men back.into their em- ,■•• ploy ''should be. "black .listed" and im- ; peached, 'on the floor of the House of, ! Parliament..-(Applause.) With regard to ; .the Navy,,it was said that the Battle ; of Jutland was undecisivo, but the fact 1 remained .that the Germans did not care i'to.come out again to face'the British i" Fleet. The men'of tho merchant service ■ had also.done their duty magnificently, i and had'helped Materially to bring about : a siicce'ssful issue to the war. (Applause.) i Bcjponding ■ to' the toast, Mr. W. : H. I Field, M.P V said that the part the 'Aus- . tralian/"Navy .played in the.war riii.it. ; not" bo forgotten. The Samoan exnedi- ■ tion would have been a very "erilons • affair had it not been for.the nrbtection ! afforded by the. Australian Fleet AI- ; though' America had. assisted .'in- winning ! tluTwar.he felt sure that France and '■■, England have come out victorious ': evert if America, had not come in. Thoy' |, had all ..seen, tho terms of the Peace ■ Treaty, but he was one of those who hei lieved that the fiendish nations which ' started the war should be mado to pay I for thoir action to the uttermost farth;jng.':,.'He believed that everyone would, ! do'his.-duty-to the returned men, and I -that..the'farmers would assist those who i desired to goon the land., The.returned i men J should not bo pampered, but .should j receive'every-chance in life.;. Mr. Field • concluded: by ..expressing the hone that ' 'the 'health of the young peonle of the ': country would be so conserved, and irp- ; tected '-that, in tho event, of a future ; -war,: there, would be only a minimum of , men-unfit for service. (Applause.), '■ 'M. T. Shatter Weston proposed the ! toast of "Out Soldiers." The returned ; men, ho said, were wwthv of everything ' that could lie done for them, but much i was being dono. He was astonished at' i Hho_nmoujit__the Government was doing i for the men" "and he. thought that some ; of the criticism levelled against I be Gov- '■ eminent, was .nnjnst. It had been said i • that the Repatriation. Act should be adj ministered by one Minister, but his ex- ! porience had been that flip administraj tion.of the board of four Ministersnvas i . o uite efficient. The typo *of men coni- : ing forward for assistance was splondid, | and he really thought that good 'work ;'■ was being done by the board and the : Government in their behalf. | Mr. W. B. Malheson, vice-president nf ';' the Provincial. Union, nroposhdthe toast ■ of "Parliament." and this was replied to | ov the Hon. W. D. -S. Mac Donald. | The National Government. ! Mr. Mac Donald 6aid that the farmers ; of. th 9 country were' moving on right ! lines. _ If they were apathetic in their. own interests they could not expect i other people .to take the interest in them [that should bo taken. Parliament was . usually.what tho people made it, and ro- ! fleeted:the minds of the majority of. the ' people.- It .was. always the -better "for new blood, and every three -years"'one-.' ■ third of the blood of Parliament. : .was \ changed. So far as the present Government was concerned, it had had a : n.ost difficult time—the most .difficult • time the country had ever, seen. In. ': addition, it had been handicapped by ; the absence of tho two leaders.. "Noti withstanding all the tit-bits you see. in ; the papers about the terrible disagree- ! wents of the National Government," said Mr. Mac Donald, "I. am quite pre- ; pared to 6ay, and I feel euro that Mr. j Onthrie will back nie up, that I don't \ think any Government could have work- ! Ed so harmoniously and so earnestly iu the interests of tlie people as the "Na- ; tional Government had done." But for ■ ,the strong loyalty of tho people of the Dominion and the co-operation of all no j Government could lfave carried on. ! Mr. Mac Donald said ■ he hoped-■ that • within the next tivelve months the Agri- : cultural Department would ho brought : up. to a stage where it would bo of tho ; maximum benefit to the fanners of the ! country. Owing to the war the ac.livi- '; ties of the Department'.had been greatly ; curtailed. They were handicapped in : New Zealand by a lack of manures, and • tnere vas also the question of making the hill country more productive. Thnl could only be done by top-diessing. : With regard to the Nauru Island, about which there had been a great deal of ! discussion at the Peace Conference, it was of tho utmost importance that New ! Zealand should secure a share of that island, so 'as to take advantage of its .deposits of , phosphates, and the Prime : Minister was trying hi* bi\st to see that ■ justice was done. . New '■ Zealand had , been suffering from a shortage of shipping,. 'but .he. felt that, in the circum- : stances, the best possible was being done. It had been said that a sufficient num- : bor of ships was not being allotted to ; New Zealand, but ho desired to, point ', out'.that Australia was only getting 33 . Per- cent, of the refrigerated 'space, : whereas New Zealand wns obtaining 66 . ver cent. That appeared to be a rcason- ; ablv fair apportionment. There had I been a good' deal of discussion with re-

! gard to prices, but ho was sjure that an overwhelming majority of the fanners bad been satisfied with what they liad received, fff the'country was to increase its production and to pay its fiharo of the war debt it must have ships ready to transport its produce to Hie world's markets. That would be one of the big questions that would haw to be faced. In this connection there was the position arising out of tho amalgamation of numbers nf shipping companies. It might be that by means of amalgamation a great deal more could be clone in lifting the produce in tho 6tores than by tho activities of the several individual cnmpnnies. As soon as the problems connected with demobilisation had been settled he thought some definite agreement might be come to with regard to tho' freights on the can'iage of tho Dominion's produce. He hoped that whoever were wielding the destinies of the country in the future would do their best towards providing roads and other facilities for opening up the rural lands. After all there was no greater pleasure for a member of Parliament than to do his best for tho whole people (Ap-. plause.) Position Regarding Shipping.

The Hon. D. H. Guthrie. Minister of Lands, proposed the toast of "The Farmers' Union." New Zealand, he said, had raised .£42,000,000 locally for war purposes. . It was the farmers of tho Dominion who had found that money. There wero difficulties ahead in regard to the shipping of frozen meat., The ■ total capacity of the stores was something over. ■7,000,000 carcasses, and there wero over 6,000,000 carcasses in store at the present time. Had it not been for labour troubles at 'Home they, would have had a good.many more ships visiting the country, and the position would have 1 "been greatly relieved. But the Government had been in communication with tho Imperial authorities on the subject, and only a few days ago he had cabled to the Prime Minister pointing out tho position New Zealand was in at tho present time. He had said that 14 ships.'per month would bo needed for tho .ive.xt. five month's, and a reply had been ! received that three more, ships wero coming, and that in June they would have nine more ships than they expected to have for that month. The shipping prospects now seemed much brighter than thoy had been in the past. Jlr. Guthrie concluded by wishing the farmers the,greatest success in their deliberations and assuring thcin of his. earnest co-operation in promoting the interests of the country. (Applause.)... ■ • Other toasts honoured during the evening were the "Department of Agriculture," proposed by Mr. Hugh Morrison, "The Dominion Farmers' Institute," proposed by. Mr. T. Moss mid responded to by Mr. W. B. Mntheson, and "Com.merce," proposed by Mr. J. Hooton, general manager of. the Farmers' Co-opera-tive Federation, and responded to by Mr. J. Gi'Hnrkness/.chnirman-of the Harbour Board. During the evening songs and other items wero contributed by Messrs. Will Crawford and Fraser Thompson.