N.Z. FARMERS’ UNION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2256, 30 July 1908, Page 2

N.Z. FARMERS’ UNION.

ANN UAL CONFERENCE

[Piiess Association.]

WELLINGTON, July 29. At tho annual conference of tlio Farmers’ Union resolutions were passed that this conference protests against any attempt by the New Zealand 'Government in tho direction of land nationalisation, and considers tlio legislation of last session (by which nine million acres of Crown lands were removed from the optional system when thrown open for settlement is a step in this direction; this conference is of opinion that no tenure is satisfactory to the fhrniers in this country unless provision is made by which -a selector can acquire the freehold of his section after lie had complied with the conditions of residone and improvements, -and that the optional system should apply 'to all lands; that tills conference favors a reasonable limitation area, such provision to any land occupied under any conditions set out in any of the Land Acts of the colony, also t'hlnfc -where lands which have been reserved for special -purposes shall bo sold, the money resulting shall be set aside for the purpose's for 'which the land was originally reserved; that when Government reserves and unoccupied Crown lands adjoin priwrte holdings (freehold or 'leasehold) the Lands Department should pay half the cost of fencing -and keeping the fences iu repair; that the present system of valuation of r-uml land for land tax purposes upon the unimproved value is inequitable, us it -lias no reliable basis to enable anyone to make the valuation other than a purely arbitrary onojtliat the capital value is tlio only ascertainable value which can be equitably .arrived at, but tlilr-t- the taxable and rateablo value should be the average capital of land .taken over u series of years, and not the saleable value of tho day; that a further Wind more determined effort should be made to have the clauso relating to valuation of improvements in the Valuation Act -amended by -giving full value for the (actual benefit to tlie land from improvements other than visible; that the Colonial Council be urged to bring -all the influence tlie union can command to induce the Government to adopt a more progressive policy in reading the backblocks of the King Country; that the I toads Department furnish an account showing how the loading for roads on bush lands has been spent, so that settlers may have some idea wliat 'becomes of 'tbe money on which they are paying interest. An attempt wtis made by the North Canterbury Farmers’ Union to-day to get an expression of opinion from the New Zealand Farmers’ Union conference in favor of tlie South Island main tr.unk railway. The motion proposed mis, “That this conference would ask the Union to support all other organisations in urging the completion of the South Island main trunk line of railway.” The mover said the South Island line was a work of supreme importance to tho whole of New Zealand, and in this view he was supported by several delegates, but the -motion was condemned by the Southland delegate, who stigmatised it .as an attempt to involve the conference in (log-rolling. The motion wns lost by 11 rotes t 0 8. Four of tho official members of tlie conference abstained from voting. To-day the conference passed resolutions urging the Government t 0 discontinue the construction of public works by daily wage or on the co-op-erative system, and that instead the contract system -be applied to all -public works; that the conference use its best endeavors to induce the Government to have all contracts over £IOO lot by public tender, and not by -potty contract as at present; that- a radical change in the treatment of Native lands is imperative; that individualisation of all such lands is the first step and the conference would urge the Government to carry it to completion in a much more rapid and systematic manner than hitherto; it was also decided to call upon the Government to remedy dangerous riihvav crossings throughout New Zealand: that, in view of the failure of the Conciliation and Arbitration Acts, it would be in the interests of everyolidy concerned ■ (if these Acts were repealed or amended ; that tho Union is opposed to any alterations of the tariff in -the direction of increasing the import duty on timber, and would task the Minister for Railways to abolish the differential tariff on imported timber, and that -the Union asks the Government to do away with that as it is entirely a tax on the farming community; that this conference strongly protests against any export duty on -farm -produce of any description ;tliat the Railway Department be urged to devise a satisfactory method of dealing with tlie danger of fire caused by sparks from locomotives; that the -Government be asked to carry farmers in parties of six to experimental, farms at excursion rates:that accommodation should be provided at reasonable rates -as is done in Denmark; that the Colonial Conference urge upon the Government the necessity of importing an adequate supply of farm and domestic labor.