A FARMERS' CLUBTRADE MARKS BILL. Auckland, July 31.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 391, 7 August 1889, Page 3

A FARMERS' CLUBTRADE MARKS BILL. Auckland, July 31.

At the conclusion of Mr Buckland's sale at Pukekohe on Monday, 29bh July, a meeting of farmers was held in the Pukekohe Hotel, called for the purpose of forming a Farmers' Club. There were between thirty and forty farmers present,' being fully representative of all classes of farmers in the district. Mr John Saunderson was chosen as chairman.and after reading the notice convening ,the meeting said that at; s a meeting of the Pukekohe farmers' tiel'd some time ,ago, Messrs Allen, Ch.a'dwtck,,Pvpulston, J. H. Wright and himself had been appointed as a committee to take action on the butter question, with a view of having the farmers 1 epresented on the Committee which fixed the price of butter and eggs in the intetests of the Auckland Grocers' Association, in order that the farmers might have some show . of getting a little justice meted out to them ; this they had done,and were now as it were come to a standstill, so that it was necessary for the farmers to take another step, if they wanted the good work already commenced to continuo further ; he would therefore call -upon Mr Chadwick to make a few remarks. Mr Chadwick said that as it was not a ! very nice day and many of them would no doubt be anxious to get home, he would make hip remarks very few and short. He was glad to be able to tell them that the representatives of the farmers and the ' Auckland Grocers' Association had held their first united meeting on Thursday last. Mr Anibury represented Pukekohe and surrounding districts : Mr Bollard, Papatoitoi and surroundings ; and Mr Ellingham, the Waiuku districts. >At the last meeting of the Pukekohe Committee he had been asked to take steps to got a Farmers' Club or Association started here. There had been a certain amount of expense attached to the action taken by their Committee, and although, they had on this occasion cheerfully paid this themselves, yet it would be manifestly unfair for them to continue doing so for ever ; it was therefore necessary for a Club' to be formed in order that the expenses incurred in fighting the battles of the farmers should be borne by the many instead of the few. He thought he need not say much to convince them of the need for a Farmers' Club. They had already had experience in the butter and egg question in which all would admit there was absolute need for something to be done. Now they had the Trade Marks Bill before Parliament ; this Bill amongst other things required that a certificate of analysis of contents should be supplied with every bag of bone-dust or artificial manure ; surely this was a very important question for the farmers to consider. (Hear, hear.) He thought that, hefore going further with the Farmers' Club, it would be well for them to pass some sort of resolution on the Trado Marks Bill which would help to strengthen thehandsofthecountrymembersofcheHouse of Representatives as against the merchants and dealers, who were doing all they possibly could to prevent the application of tho Trade Marks Bill to artificial manures, on the ground he believed that manufacturers of and dealers in manures were such an honest class of men that certificates as to tho composition of the manures were altogether unnecessary and not wanted by the farmers. (Oh, oh.) Mr Saunderson agreed with Mr Chadwick that some such resolution should be passed ab once and telegraphed to their member, Mr Hamlin. The farmers lound Auckland had held a meeting, and had approved of the proposition, that certificates of analysis be placed in every bag of artificial manure. Mr Chadwick proposed, " That this meet' ing of farmers approves of the principle ot the Trade Marks Bill before the House of Representatives, and requests Mr Hamlin to 'give the measure his hearty support," and that ■ the resolutioti be telegraphed to Mr Hamlin by the Secretary. He understood -that the dealers '■had held «*■ meeting, and- come to the conclusion that such a scheme as certifying to the contents of every bag was unworkable, but he could not agree With the dealers. Mr James McDonald had great pleasure in seconding the resolution, though in his opinion the Bill scarcely went far enough. He could say positively that it was very necessary to have certificates with artificial manures, as a great deal of what was sent into the country consisted largely of rubbish which not only did no good to the land, but was actually injurious'to it. Mr Puubherford supported tho motion, and said that in some cases the better the land, the more bonedust was required for it. He considered that the merchant who knowingly supplied bad bonedusb or manure committed a greater crime than the man who picked the farmer's pocket in the street, for he not only deprived him of that which he actually took, that is the pi'ice paid for the stuff, but he deprived him of the benefits to be derived from his land, his seed and his labour for, he might say, twelve months. He could mention many instances where bad bonodust had been supplied, so bad that even the seed had been spoilt, because he had seen seed from- the same bag sown with good manure in the same paddock and at the same time, and produce a splendid crop, so -that there was nothing el&e but the bad bonedust to be blamed for the bad result. He ielt very strongly that the manufacturers of and. dealers in all artificial manures should be compelled by law to provide a certificate as to the quality of their manures, as it was a perfect fraud upon the land to put bad bonedust or manure into it. Mr Roulston said that he happened to be in Auckland when the farmers met at the British Hotel, and he went to that meeting and was very glad that he had done so, as he had been Considerably enlightened by what he heard and saw there. Dealers in manures said that they were obliged to import an inferior quality in order to comply with the demand of the farmers for a cheap manure. He had inspected a sample of bonedust or manure shown at the Auckland meeting by Mr Wallace. He (Mr Roulston) had had a pretty large experience now in bonedusb, and he, as well as all the obher farmers who examined the sample, thought that it was a first-class sample, and he would defy any man to say otherwise, unless he was more expert than anyone he had yet met. Mr Wallace informed them that it was a sample made by himself, and that it contained only ten per cent, of bones, the ninety per cent, being chiefly ground cocoanub shells and sand. He had no doubt in his mind now that many of the farmers present had been swindled in this way, and he thought that every ship ment of imported manure and every portion locally manufactured should be analysed and certified, and then they would know what they were buying ; if they wanted a good manure they could get ib, and if they wanted a bad one they could get that too, and they would know that it was bad. He thoroughly agreed with the resolution before the meeting. .** The point was noised, that the cost of

so many analyses would fall upon the farmers, as it usually did, but .Messrs Chad wick and Saunderson, as experienced tradesmen, said that in their opinion fair samples uould easily be taken from a single lot or shipment, and a printed copy of the certificate of analysis of the sample , placed in every bag, so that the cost woald be trifling compared with the value of the whole, and might easily be borne by the manufacturer or 'dealer. As regards getting a manure cheap, manures were like teas and coffees, they could be had or made of various qualities, bufc. the price was always in proportion to the quality ; if the price was low, ho i was the quality, so that the 'farmer ditl'not save anything by buying ,an. article that was sold at a ,lo,w ,pri,C3 per ton. Mr J. H. Wright said he had frequently told the merchants they could easily manufacture a cheap and low-priced manure from Peruvian guano and sand, and then sell it as J&land guanb. He thought the (government might do something in this line and sell it out ot bond on certificates of analysis. His opinion was that as long as things remained as they are, it would ,be a difficulty, if not an impossibility,, to get some dealers in tr.anures to act as honest men ; and probably -the Government had similar opinions when they brought this Trademarks BUI before the House. He knew t there was a tremendous lob of bonedusb used in Pukekohe, and they all wanted to know what they were buying and putting into their land. In Sydney they could buy pure or good bonedust and have" it landed on the Auckland Wharf for five pounds j per ton, but they generally had to pay the Auckland dealer something like £8 per ton for it. Surely this was allowing more than a reasonable profit to the dealer. Mr J. Allen said that he had heard that the sample of ten-per-cent. bonedust had been shown with another sample to one of the dealers in Auckland for his opinion thereon. He pronounced the first to be a splendid sample of bonedust, but the second to be real rubbish. We could magine his feelings when informed that the second had been bought from him and that the first was manufactured by a farmer, with only ten per cent, of bones in it. If a farmer could succeed so well in making artificial bonedusb, whafc could an expert manufacturer do ? The farmer, whatever his faults might be, if he was selling wheat, gave wheat, and if potatoes « gave potatoes. If he were to supply lard in place of butter, supposing that lard could be got for "a lower price than the butter, which, however, it could not, or lard with ten per cent, of butter mixed with ib, whab would the Auckland dealer call such conduct ? He would say the farmers were the biggest lot of rascals under the sun ; what then was the dealer who would supply a bonedusb containing ninety per cent, or cocoanat shells and sand as a first-class article ? Messrs Cabhcart, Fulton, and others made remarks, showing that in their opinion there was a large amount of dishonesty practised in their bonedust trade, and thab there was great need for the Trademarks Bill becoming law. The proposition having been put to the meeting was then carried unanimously. Mr J. H. Wright then explained fully to the meeting the advantages that were to be derived from a Farmers' Club, and urged upon those present the necessity of forming themselves into a union for the furtherance of their own inberests. The resulb of the bubter question was sufficient to show them that when they united they had some chance of bettering themselves, where they had none when they held aloof from each other and allowed their actions bo be governed by their feelings of petty jealousy of their neighbours. Mr James Finlay said that ho, for one, was enabled to speak thankfully and positively of the benefits which the farmers had derived from their agitation over the butter. There were four storekeepers in his settlement, and they all sent their bubter to members of the Grocers' Association until about two months ago •$ now only three of them did so, and he could tell the meeting the -reason of this: His stoiekeeper, the fourth, had been giving him elevenpence halfpenny for his butter, and* he happened to mention to a neighbour who sold to one of the other three and was surprised to hear that he was only getting ninepence ; next week when the fourth storekeeper went to town to eet paid for the previous' week's supply, he was asked ff he was a storekeeper ; of course he' replied thab he was. The grocer then told him that he had been under the impression that he was a private person, but_ being a storekeeper, he could not give him more than ninepence. The storekeeper demanded the return of the butter ; but as part of it had been sold, this was impossible, so the grocer was forced to adhere to his bargain, and pa 3" the shilling as before ; and he (Mr F.) got his elevenpence half-penny. The storekeeper then looked up grocers who were not members of the Grocers' Association, and succeeded in getting the same price again. He (Mr F.) was quite prepared to give names if required. In onesonse this might be looked upon as a proof that the agibabion had done harm, as throe of the four storekeepers were getting only ninepence when a fourth were getting a shilling, but he thought it clearly proved the truth of statements which he had heard that the Grocers' Association were doing all they could to crush the country storekeepers (A voice, " and Mr Chadwick in particular >% ), yes, particularly Mr Chadwick ; and in order to do this were nob content with their own profits but seized upon those of the country storekeeper and farmer in addition, when they could do so. Messrs Barbour, Fulton, Roulston, McDonald, Rutherford, and Saundorson having spoken on the matter, it was unanimously agreed to form the Pukekohe Farmers' Club, and after a number of those present had- given in their names and subscriptions as members, the meeting was brought to a close by the usual vote of thanks to the Chairman and th 9 landlord for the use of the room. " Auckland Star," July 31.

Apropos of a decision given in one of the English courts the other day, we take the following: from a recent number of the "Law j Journal " :—": — " Gratuitous advice from a lawyer is seldom happy. Mr Shiel might have been content to dismiss the summons for assault against the "Duke of Cambridge on the ground that he had no jurisdiction to try it, bub he added that, if the applicant's story were true, it would be % better to bring a civil action for damages than to proceed in a Police Court. This was advice worth considering, bub when the learned magistrate pressed it home by saying, ' If you proceed criminally your cause of action will be gone,' his gratuity overpowered his law. There is a moot question whether the suffeier from a criminal act must not 'first prosecute his criminal remedy before suing for damages, but it has never been suggested that an injured man lpses his right to compensation for the effect of a criminal act by taking proceedings in the Queen's name, and perhaps being bound ovor to prosecute or give evidence for the purposes oi vindicating public justice."