FARM NOTES.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 144, 5 August 1926, Page 7

FARM NOTES.

THE FARMERS’ PRIME WEEDS.

PROTECTIVE DUTIES REMOVED, And Agricultural Banks. Mr. P. Keegan, provincial organiser of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, delivered an address before the Matamata branch on Friday night, the president, Mr. H. Rollett, occupying the chair. Mr. Keegan detailed the progress he had made since the last meeting, as published in the Matamata Record. FARMERS’ BANK. The farmers’ bank proposal and tariff reform were the two main things to aim at. Capital Was the oil of industry, and the farmer was the machinery, and he should therefore be provided with the necessary capital to work upon. The' Bank of New Zealand had offered something to “• head off ” the agricultural bank, but farmers would be very foolish to allow themselves to be misled by such an eleventh-hour policy. THE ' TARIFF. The farmer worked 10, 11, ,12 and even 14 hours a day, and there was none to protect him, but the protected organised Worker in the secondary industries worked only eight hours. If the secondary industry did not pay, the owners went to the Government and got more protection. Any increase of taxation created an artificially high cost of living, and therefore of wages. The merchant added the tax to the cost of the,article, and a percentage of profit on the lot. Thirty years ago a man on the road got 7s a day and was as well off as he was now on 15s a day. The cost of roading had thereby, increased, making three, times .the expenditure necessary to. build and, maintain, the roads. They should, not ask candidates for Parliament what party, they..belonged, to, but .what policies they favoured. They had been fighting for shadows instead . of for substance., , The speaker was not in fav.our of . putting new. men. into Parliament every election, as experienced , men were valuable, hut he wanted,, men who would . study the farmers’ interests and - stand up., for I Empire free trade. If they could not get: men who would advocate policies favourable to the farmers in the present parties then they should put their own men in to carry out. their instructions. Sooner or later the issue, in New Zealand would be free 1 trade versus protection. In. the old ’ days any man could go. out and make a good living on the land, but the 5 prospects now. were that still more 1 men would walk off their farms. The : expenses were now high for the best of farmers to overcome. The. im- " plements and all other requirements 3 were higher in price. Carpenters were 1 getting 7s’a day years ago, and now " three times that amount. It yras impossible to pay interest and allow > wages for the farmer. 3 Tariff reform was necessary to e bring down the cost of living, which s would reduce wages without reducing the workers’ purchasing power. It 1 ‘was necessary to educate the farmers, t for many of them did not understand - the questions of protection. . , r v The president agreed with a statement made by Mr. Keegan,, t}ja,t. the f difficulty was. to get farmers .to.,ate tend meetings to hear educative,, lecr tures, whereby they might become y better informed on the larger subjects affecting their welfare. 'There,,.had e been as many as 107 mepiberp. b,i. the ’> branch, but an average attendance of * six or seven. , r" e Mr. Keegan explained that the subscription of 30s was disposed of as n follows : Dominion executive 10s, n provincial executive 7s 6d, newspaper

ss, organising 2s 6d, refund to branch ss. They could not finance under 7s 6d allocation. The Dominion executive had only about £SOO in credit, whereas it should have thousands. The solution was more membership. Now that there were good roads and cars there should be bigger branches, with meetings held alternately at the various centres. Waharoa and other centres might work in conjunction with Matamata. The president said there might be some arrangements for affiliation, each branch holding its own monthly meetings, and a combined meeting and social' evening held at Matamata quarterly. There had been some talk of a sub-provincial area for South Auckland, centred on Hamilton. Mrii Keegan thought it might be better to move the 1 seat of the provincial executive to Hamilton &nd have the sub-provincial at Auckland. Mr. Bowler considered that the move might result in an increase of administration costs.

The president did not think the moving of the headquarters would increase the costs. Immediately around Auckland the people were not as interested in farming as they were in the Waikato. Mr. Simpson proposed a very hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Keegan for his address. It was time the farmer put on his thinking cap, and he wished Mr. Keegan success in inducing him to do so. The president seconded the resolution.—Carried by acclamation. In reply, Mr. Keegan commented that the real interests of the wage worker had to be considered, both as a matter of justice and because the worker was the farmer’s customer; also,-they must go out for trade within the Empire. The sweeping away of protective duties would reduce wages and the cost of living too, so that the wage workers and the farmers, too, would benefit.