FARMERS' UNION DIARY

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 1, 16 January 1937, Page 15

FARMERS' UNION DIARY

I. S

Gardiner.)

(Specially writtan for thi "Tribuno"

by

We Appear in Fiction. It may interest members to know that the author of "The Little Country," Jokn Gnthrie, considers the Farmers' Union of sufficient national importanee to devote several pages of kis noyel to tke description of a branch meeting. Aa to the accuracy of his opinions, we will allow members to form tkeir own opinions. Looking Forward. In conversation with a farmer during tke past week several quite noVel ideas wero put forward as follows:— "You know," ke said, "it seems to me tkat we kear a lot about tke refinements and experiments in tke manufacturing world. Take Ford, for instance, and the complete Tevoltttion tkere kas been in the production of motor cars. Why can't we borrow some of his ideas t I don't mean that we skould turn dairy farms into moving belt producers of butterfat, but I do think tkat a closer co-operation between. tke technical expert on tke machine side and tke farmer would evolve sometking tkat would be of benefit to us. Nobody wants to milk cows; tke modern cowboy is almosty extinct. What are We going te do about it! What about contract milkingf 'Suppose, for instance, a man were to cOnstruct a movable plant of up-to-date milking machinery. He could cover a specified district, just as tke tkresking mills do. All tke owner wpuld have to do would ba io kave kis cows ready at a certain time and tke' contractor would do the rcst. Tke owner would spend kis energies in feeding kis kerd scientifically, growing the necessary crops and so on, but tke actual .burden of inilking would be taken from kim. Or if you don't like tke idea, why not establisk central milking skqds in tke centre of eack dairy f arm area. Tke work would be under tko care of a trained expert, tke milking could be done by tkree ekifts eontinuously during tke twenty-four kours. Tkere would be no tfouble about staff, Bince fegular kours, holidays, cpmmunity "life, and so on would make tke work attractive in addition, of course, to good wages. Think of the grading of tke cream under tkis scheme; no more first grade, since tke proper conditions would ke opserved as soon as tke milk left tke cow, and delivery to tke butter factory would be in glass lined Tefrigerator tank trucks. Well, anyway, I've given you sometking to think about." "Yes, indeed," I agreed. "You kave," and I'm still tkinking. New Use for Wool, A cable message from London states tkat "a new .bedspread of merino wool, instead of eider-down, kas been establisked on tke British market," following a display in tke window of the Soutk Australian offices in Oxford street. . A Eoad to Prosperity. Bruce Barton, an American Editor, has tke following to say on tkis matter: — ' ' Perkaps you receive a good deal of 'economic literature' relating to programmes like Social Credit, Townsend Plan, Share tke Wealth etc. If so, let me suggest a yard stick wkick kas kept me from going crazy. It is tkis, Does tke programame promise a solution via sometking easy, via passing laws, printing money, or pulling wkite rabbits out of silk kats. If so, you may know without' reading^ tke literature tkat it is no good. If some group would put forward a kard way to prosperity it would kave my support. By a kard way, I mean a programme suck as tke Australians worked out. They decided tkat tkeir country could be saved from bankruptcy only be reducing Government' expenditure and balancing tke Budget, and tkat tkis would demand an extraordinary sacrilce on tlie part of every eitizen. So tke landlords took less rent, bond kolders less interest, employees lower wages. Everybody paid more taxes and tke victory was won. It was kard, but it worked. Tke present agitation in tke United States is all in tke other direction. The Government is somekow to give everybody everything at no cost to anyone. Muck talk tkere is of the good old frontier days, as though tke people in tkose days kad no troubles. We kad plenty of pioneer troubles in my fatker's parsonage. We children were taugkt tkat if we plugged kard and lived within our incomes, we would get along, but if we did not get along nobody in Waskington would send us any money. Every current insanity is going to blow up. You can save yourself a lot of time by not even reading tke literature. Merely put the yard stick up against it and ask, is it easy? If the answer is yes, it is just a very old fake witk a faney new name." The Financlal Year, Members are advised tkat a ckange kas 'been made in tke flnancial year for tke payment of subscriptions. Tke new finaneial year begins on Jannary 1 in eack year and ends on December 31. Tkis arrangement kas been made in tke hope tkat it will now be easier for members to remember tkeir finaneial state witk regard to tke union.