The Daily News MONDAY, AUGUST 3. FARMERS' UNION CONFERENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 191, 3 August 1908, Page 2

The Daily News MONDAY, AUGUST 3. FARMERS' UNION CONFERENCE.

When the president of the Farmers' Union declares that " the union of farmers is desirable," no one will be disposed to say him nay. liver since 18i)i there has been quite a passion for unionism. Employers in every branch of industry, employees in every department of labour, down to taiioresses and waiters, have their unions, and why t'armeis should not have their unions it would be extremely dillieult to conceive, it is when Mr. Wilson proceeds to givw reasons why it is " more than over desirable " that farmers should have unions, and proceeds to make statements in support of those reasons that dillii-ulties arise. .Mr. Wilson candidly admits that the- Post OHicc " lias been conducted in a most excellent manner by the Uoverainent," and the f'lti that the work ot the 'Post Ollicc is mostly clerical in no way detracts from the excellence of ih>" performance. In all these southern lands the railways are run by the Governments of the several States, and uo complaint worthy of notice has Win heard against the competency of the management.

Mr. Wilson asserts that in connection with till! railways of thin colony flit* work is " im>stly administrative, and not much ot' it manual labour." l'his is hardly putting the position quite fairly. The road maintenance, the engineering, the stoking, the coal supplying, to «av nothing of the portering anil ticketcollecting. is all manual labour, so that if it had ben asserted that in eoniiecti m with the railways there was not much clerical work in proportion to the manual labour it would have been more nearly correct. The railroad building, almost the whole of which is manual labour, the president of the farmers' I'nion appa--ently overlooks. Then he ventures upon a comparison of the Government manacement of the railways of the colony with that of the Wellington-llauawatu line. This is most unfortunate for Mr. Wilson. The Wellington-Manawatu line lias been endowed with large areas of both city and country lands, all of wlu-di have been sold to put dividends into the pockets of private individuals; the company, unlike the State, has never declared that whenever their road is pay ng over 3 per cent, the time, has arrived for making concessions to the people, nor does the management; agree to carry manures free of cost; nor does it make any commutation in rates to pupils attending art, commercial, or technic il classes in the cities.

A resident ill tile happy neighbourhood of Hulls—where the rose, the jasmine, the pomegranate and the tamarind luxuriate—may lie excused for believing that tile management ol' the WellingtonManawatu lino lias been prefect../ •• j-odcssiaii," but if he lived nearer to or knew more of the Empire Citv it '» not improbable lie. would hold (|Uite a dill'ercnt opinion. Tin- people of Vellin"l'>n and its northern suburbs eor.i-plato-and jusl ly-lhal. the company ,» its cave for the supposed interests ol its shareholders lias shown a deplorable lack of enterprise and of concern !or l.i" convenience of Hie people. All along the line for the past three or four yea is siieeut.itimi in land has been busy m expectation of the rise in values tli.il must assuredly take place when the line is taken over by the Covcrnuient. A president, of the fanners' Union shoull 1,0 sure of bis fuels before he. publiciy commits himself.

We are in perfect agreement with ihe view recently put forward by Sir Joseph Ward. No movement should be made RoWly because it i* a step towards Socialism; 110 proposal should be rejected solely on the ground that its tendency is Socialistic; every quest) >n shouid he analysed and decided purely upon its intrinsic merits. It seems a> surd ou tljo part of Mr. Wilson to it tempt to raise, a .scare about laud nationalisation and single tax when theie is no strong parly in the dountry demanding anything of the sort. f Jhe probability is that Mr. \\ilsou himseif still continues to sleep quite soundly at nb'hts. There is one Oovernmeut department. however, distinctly socialistic, and where the work is almost wholly manual, to which Air. Wilson, singularly, has omitted >U) make reference--the* coal-mtuing, a producing industry! Die State owns two coal mines, one of whicl) turns out to be of very little value. Last year Uie Point tilixabeth mine. after clearing o!Y vhe obligations of the Seddonville mine, was able !o show a prolit to the Department of £BOOO. No voice is heard in the land proposing that the- (Government should abandon it« conl-mining operation*. O l the contrary, a voice is here raised for their extension.

In view of the experience of the people I of Queensland—indeed, it may be said I ol! the Commonwealth—in view of what lias been heard quite recently of toe j possibility of a general strike of the | coal-hewers of tkis country, it is time I the Government itook steps to render our coal KU])plies more secure. It is scarce'y possible to regard with ealmness •the possibility of.a failure in the supplies of coal. In every aspect the injury wouhl too widespread, too far-reaching, too calamitous; yet in this respect we are wholly at the mercy of companies—nav, of n r ingle company—-{or in the event of onv company disagreeing upon any point Willi their employees, all the miners in the Dominion may go out on strike in sympathy. This would he something more than a scare—it would be in the event of its 1 occurring, where would Mr. Wilson be with his prating about single-tax ami Socialism? The country has already got notice. Such a thing as a general strike of coal-miners is quite within tile bounds of possibility, and it is tlhe bounden duty of the Government in ensire the people against {he results of smdi a disaster. The coal-mining operations of the Stat* 1 ought at once -io be vastly extended, and tin? question of Slate Socialism or otherwise of such a policy may be left to be debated when a greater security than now prevails against the agitations of Socialists luis been attained.