CHANGE MADE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22341, 28 May 1947, Page 4

CHANGE MADE

MAIZE-GROWERS UNANIMOUS DECISION ASSOCIATION WOUND UP “It does not need mucli discussion as we have nothing to lose and all to gain,” said Mr. C. H. Cooper last night at a special general meeting of the Gisborne Maize-Growers’ Association when the notice of motion was under discussion that the association be wound up and the funds distributed. Mr. Cooper said he had learned that some of the members of the association felt it unwise to take the step and join with the Federated Farmers of New Zealand, and that the association should carry on much as it was today. The change would give growers the advantage of having the backing of the federation throughout New Zealand. In the past the association had enjoyed considerable assistance from the Federated Farmers’ movement. The chairman, Mr. Stuart McGuinness, said he had had occasion during the past year to take matters before the agriculture council of the federation, and with the backing of that body the requests had been successfully handled. Some members thought that in handing their affairs over to the Federated Farmers, the growers’ business would be in the hands of “some mystic organisation.” The truth of the matter was that it was a question of the interested growers getting behind that organisation and “putting their shoulders to the wheel.'’

Replying to a question by Mr. H. M. White, the chairman said it was his opinion that once the maize-growers’ association went out of existence a subsection of maize-growers should be formed to handle any business concerning prices and sacks. The Gisborne Co-operative Maize-Growers’ Company was distinctly a trading concern and would not carry the weight of the Federated Farmers. The co-operative company should be left with the task of trading and selling the- maize to the best advantage. The price and matters concerning sacks, for example, should be left to the maize sub-section of the Federated Farmers when such a section was formed. The motion was carried unanimously. On the motion of Mr. Armstrong, seconded by Mr. White, it was decided to vote £lO 10s to the secretary, Mr. A. R. Trafford, in recognition of his past services, that the remainder of the funds, amounting to £2B, be transferred to the Federated Farmers of New Zealand with a recommendation that the Federated Farmers’ executive grant some financial assistance annually to the p.B. Agricultural and Pastoral Association as prize-money for the maize entries in the produce section.