FARMING INTERESTS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 21, 27 October 1919, Page 8

FARMING INTERESTS

MEETING AT PALMERSTON

CAMPAIGN OF PUBLIC ; ~ EDUCATION (By Telegraph—Special Correspondent,) ■ Palmerston North, s.October 26. !-' The Manawatu. Sub-Provincial Branch ; of the Farmers' Uniou sat all day on ■ Saturday.' There was a largo attendance of delegates from all'parts, and several important matters were discussed. The following • two remits iver.e taken together:— I , "That in view of misrepresentation en- , tertained by the average city consumer that the Farmers' Union arrange for a publicity campaign to place the exact \ position of the farmers befoTe the public regarding cost production and farni- : ers' interest generally";. "that the Do- ; minion. Executive prepare a list of all !V 'farm products, showing the farm selling price. and retail cost to the consumer, ; and that the Government bo jifged to -inquire into the cause of the»differonce : in, prices for farm products, as .between producer and consumer—such as wool, Is. 6d.- 'per lb. off farm, while knitting I .wool is retailed at 12s. 6d." : Th the course of the discussion it was , pointed out thnt if the farmers were -,to get anything like fair treatment, they •.' must educate the .public to understand J the Idiffioulties.from which thoy suffered,and the only way was by means of propaganda. The consumer had no idea of the cost of production, and any rise was immediately ■ put down to the producer an exploiter. A campaign should be arranged.so .that the cost of production could bo." obtained and published .-pith .. authority. The middleman was the worst i exploiter, and should lie eliminated. Farmers should deal directly with the consumer. Fanners who got their land in the'.- early: days .were practically living rent free and making money, while tho "-young' and struggling farmer was making too-small a margin of profit. The wool . commandeer had acted detrimentally to -~ the growers. They were supposed to set > 65 per cent, increase in values, but few pot more than 25 per' cent., which was distinctly unfair, as it did not tend to cheapen woollen goods. It was contended that tho woollen millers and clothiers :■■. were exploiting both the grower and the •'-. .consumer, and tho shoddy stuff put-on the market"'wfts simply., disgraceful. Eventually the, following motion was substituted- for tho remits and carried unan-' imously: "■'' ' ' .-. • ' .V ■- vThat'-the; executive endorses the resolution passed by the Dominion Conference re - exploitation,, and a literaturo campaign,; and co-operate with the" Dominion Executive in promptly urging for- • .ward the "publicity campaign outlined in the" remits.". .That bugbear .to motorists on the road over the.-Pa'eliakariki. Hill came-up for discussion" ori"K "remit from Foxton, sug---..gesting tha't'in'.viewof the large amount of money required to make the top road /passable; and the high cost of maintenance, the ; 'Go'verhni6iit bo urged to make : a low level road, which would be safer ■for" the travelling public and cost less for .upkeep. A suggestion was raado that • /Foxton should withdraw the remit.' All wereianxious to havo the deviation made .frpmvPukerua t» Plimmerton, .but from present appearances, it would not bo con-structed-for-another twenty years. In time'tho Government should be encouragement to improve • „the-top-a-oad,--which would be required for-"all time by settlers as a 6tock route. The delegates acknowledged tho good work being done here at the present time : by the returned Tunnelling Corps in ini* proving the grade and widening the road at dangerous corners, so as to improve . the conditions for motor traffic. The' remit was • eventually withdrawn' pnd a, motion was. carried urging the Government to improve the Paekakariki v Hill : and make it as reasonably safe for - motor traffic-as possible until'such time as'n. start could be made on the lower road;"* The :meeting also decided that the .. Union -Executive call a conference of * delegates of town boards, borough coun- . oils, counties, and others interested in the'question to discuss-the \best means to be adopted. •' In the course of a long discussion on the standardisation of balance-sheets of . dairy, companies, it was pointed out that therefore quite unaware of- how their companies adopted the 6amo style. Some wero most intricate, while it would tnko a Philadelpliian lawyer to unravel tho r others. With the advance of' the ccoperative companies, many of,the share-holders-were not experts in figures, and therefore quite unaware of how their panios actually stood. A suggestion was made that ,a\ schedule should bo issued, with all'balance-sheets giving shareholders sufficient information as to the sources of income and expenditure. One delegate said he had looked through over n* hundred Mance-sheets of different' companies, and no two were prepared on the same linos, the majority lacking de- . tail.; It was suggested that the Companies Act, which had not been amended since 1908, was out of date, and Tequired reviewing. An addition should be made to tho cfauso compelling companies to give sufficient information to disclose their actual position. All should be compelled to submit: balance-sheets on stereotyped linos, which would bo intelligible ordinary individuals. It was suggested that ni',l balance-sheets should be in- . epected by Government auditors. Eventually a motion was carried to tho effect ; that dairy companies' balance-sheets : should, be standardised in the. simplest ; form possible. Tho matter of tho embargo on the export of hides and the prices paid for sheepskins was thoroughly gono into. It ' was pointed out that under existing conditions tanners took all the best hides .at schedule prices, 'arid only loft tho poorer and faulty sorts for public competition, in spile of which the latter realised higher price.? than tho better quality. Complaints wero made tbnfc it was most unfair to the producer. Not only did the tanner get tho best hides at prices below market value, but they were actually allowed a certain proportion. ..Instead of reducing Hie prices of leather locally, as it was supposed to do,, the reverse was tho case, while- inferior stfiif was being used to make inferior- boots, which did not wear, and for .which very high prices were charged. ilventually.it was decided to send a ■ strong protest to the Government on : thßi:,#e;.sceretary..-be instructed-,-to wire' tho -Primo Minister to", the effect that tho Manawatu Executive emphatically protests against any continuance of the embargo on hide? and skins; on tho ground that the embargo is" unjust to the producer, n great loss to the country- in finance, and lias proved : to be absolutely of no advantage to tho consumers. It was further resolved that the Government be requested to publish prices of sheepskins of various grades,

and ask that the union lie supplied with a copy of tho schedule, and niontblly reports of the sales.

Tho matter of the desirability of a harbour board being given power to acquire) fleets of boats for mercantile purposes was brought up on a remit by the Palmcrston North 'branch. In the course of discussion, it was pointed out that the producers of the Dominion wero considerably hampered by the want of shipping facilities to get supplies, and also for exporting produce. Freights were inordinately high, while big steamship combinations were making enormous sums at 1 the expe-nso of the producers. The advance of trade with the outside world was considerably interfered with by tho operations of the shipping companies who combined to keep up freights. It was. contended that fleets owned by the harbour boards would bo preferable to v Sbte-owued ships. It was admitted that tho Dominion could.do little on its own account, but must be backed up b) all similar bodies in the British possession, who, acting together, alone could remove the strangle-hold which the ship- : ping, combines now get ,on farmers and j producers; Kcgret was expressed that tho I Foxton Harbour Board had not secured ! a steamer of its own instead of leaving it to private enterprise. I A motion was eventually adopted: "That the Government be requested to take into consideration the require--1 ments of tho harbour boards of- the Dominion should they formulate a rteclieme for obtaining and controlling a Dominion mercantile fleet." Tho matter of assisting returned soldiers who had taken up dairy farms on Government settlements to procure suitable dairy'herds was referred to. It was pointed out that many of these had I no previous experience of dairy farming and consequently were buying unsuitable cattlo for their requirements and thus building up herds from which they could never get a sufficient supply of milk to enable them to make a success with tho high-price of land. A suggestion was made that tho Government be asked to place at the service of various settlements pedigree bulls of various milking strains in order to improve the quality of the calves. This in time would enable herds to be built up. to-a standard 1 quality and double the milk supply. - A delegate who came from Denmark stated that it was on theso lines that standard quality herds had been built up in that country. • It was decided to approach the Agricultural Department on the matter. _ An evergreen subject in the districtincursions of goat's me—was brought up by a lottex from tho Jlanawatu County Council declining to declare it a noxious weed; The council stated that in its opinion it would'bo an injustice to the ratepayers in the lower portions of tho district to declare it a noxious weed while it was flourishing in the upper reaches in the Mnnawatu. Every flood brought down seed and deposited it over the-low-lying lnnds, so that even if the ratepayers of the country were to clear the lands at a heavy cost the first flood would tcsow the ground.. The council considered that the weed should be effectively dealt with in the upper reaches before anything could be done on the lower reaches. In the course of a general discussion the delegates admitted that this view was correct,*,and that while the Manawatu council declined to declare it under the Noxious Weeds Act, but little could be done. The seeds were I being carted out of the riverbed in metal and spread on the roads,'. which were, now becoming infested with it. One speaker said that the question was always being raised, and if tho Act wero'_ enforced many land owners would be ruined. That contingency should not bo allowed to stand in the way. Some scheme should he devised to obviate this by which ull interested could subscribe to tho cost of eradication. If something of the kind were not: taken in hand soon thousands of acres would be overrun and rendered useless. One delegate suggested that as the Government had first introduced the weed it 'should be called upoil to Tecoup any settler for the cost of clearing it. It was eventually decided that the executive call a meeting'of eettes interested and affected by goafs -rue, to consider the matter dealing with the noxious weed, , ,