ADDRESS TO FARMERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9040, 25 January 1908, Page 7

ADDRESS TO FARMERS.

• ME ADAM BELL DISCUSSES VAiRIOUS MATTERS. — in the course of an address at Kaeaea .(Auckland), recently, Mr Allen Bell, Acting-Provincial President of the .New Zealand Farmers' Union, said if the farmers of New Zealand wished to attain a position in the political economy of the country, which was their undoubted right, they would have to .rouse themselves, throw off the pitiable apathy that they had formerly displayed, and bear themselves as men. Then, and not till then, would the farmer come to his own. Undoubtedly the greatest question that agitated the minds of the settlers of the back blocks was the land legislation of the present Ward Government. There was no doubt in his mind that in the ati«knpt to destroy the freehold the Government had struck a blow at the national character of our people, the evil constquences of which it was impossible to estimate. The Farmers' Union stood for the optional tenure, and was not the organisation that was upholc ing the big landowner. The Union wished to see every man, who had the ability, become a successful farmer, and have the right to acquire land whether he had capital or not. If he had not the necessary capital it was the duty of the State to assist him. Another question on which the Farmers' Union had taken a strong stand was that of taxation. The burden of taxation in this country was increasing at an alarming rate. Unfortunately the main portion of this burden had to be borne by the farmer. The unimproved value of the lajl he used to produce the wealth oFfhe dominion was being rushed up at the rate of about £10,000,000 per year for the purpose of screwing more taxation out of him, and for the purpose of showing good security for money to be borrowed on the London markets. In rushing up the unimproved values of lands in the dominion the Government were playing into the hands of the speculator. The land-grabber and the capitalist were running unchecked through the country inflating values to the ultimate detviment of the bona-fide farmers, who, whan less prosperous times. arrived, would be "left in the shafts." The Farmers' Union wished to see every labourer get a good wage, recognising that on the prosperity and purchasing power of the labourer largely depended the success" oJ-the farming community.