FARMERS CONFER

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19895, 26 May 1936, Page 9

FARMERS CONFER

' AcTnmEs or UNION. I __ l ADDRESS BV PRESIDENT. . l ASSEMBLY IN AUCKLAND. 1 —— i (Special to Times). i AUCKLAND, Tuesday. 1 The Auckland provincial confervt once of the New Zealand Farmers‘t Union was opened at the Hotel Auck—t land. to—dnv, when there was a largo attcnrinnce of delegates from all parts 01' the province. The conference isi fach with a heavy programme, hay—i ing to consider a total of tht remits.‘ The president, .\ir 11. 0. Mellsop.‘ in welcoming delegates, commented‘ on the better feeling that was abroad} than a year ago for prices had beeni better and optimism was more appar—‘ ent. “ Inside the Dominion we have‘ passed through a historic year in the; affairs of the country and for the first time in the life of democratic gov—ernment we have a. Labour Government." said the president. ‘ “ There are very few in this conference who at some time in their lives would not have regarded this as one of the direst calamities that could have betaiien us, but our opinion has changed with the country's opinion and more important still, this party's opinion has changed. It is not for me to support to—day one political party or another, but to report on events as I see them." Referring to the union's activities _\lr Melisop said: “ \\’e are sucressful in again getting the Government to accept its full responsibility for railway fences. \Ve secured a complete recognition of the State's liability to trainees in camp whether engaged in military sports or not. We successfully combated the sug—gestion to lift the embargo on the importation of stock from countries affected with foot and mouth disease. \Ve were successful in bringing the opinion of the county councils and the Farmers‘ Union into closer align—ment. in this province at least, in the question of iterating. We pleaded that. the State had a duty to the soldier settler, that it could not, pass into other hands. This principle has been accepted in its entirety by the present Government. Reserve Bank. “ \V‘c kept up our condemnation of the whole idea of the management of our Reserve Bank and Mortgage Cor—poration being placed in the hands, to a large extent, of private sharehold—ers. We believed (apart from the opinion of our union, that complete lrontrol of these institutions should be in the hands entirely of the representatives of the State) that the complete controlling influence these semi—private concerns would exercise over the interest rates of the Dominion to be a danger little realised. Here again we are promised a successful issue to our representations. “We. in conjunction with other provinces. made an urgent request to the then Minister of Finance to consider the ultimate position of a farmer whom force of circumstances had placed under a stay order. \Ve pointed out. that at the end or 10 years he was to find himself with his farm and stock still mortgaged to full productive capacity and the obligation to renew his mortgage with no lenders on full values. Although we were promised up to 20 per cent equity for these men who were under the State, we obtained no assurance that others would receive this benefit. Shortage of Labour. “ The acute shortage of farm labour has given your executive great concern and we have protested strongly against our women and child—ren being forced into the shed and t the farmers paying taxation on the ex—tra. proceeds to assist in keeping men in idleness or on unprofitable work. As the result of the union's represen—lotions, a series of conferences were held with the present Minister for Labour and a union committee, at which an agreement was reached which, when publicly announced will, I think, he accepted as infinitely pre—fernhle to the proposals at first put forward. “The Primary Products Marketing Act is more or loss a framework in which the true picture has yet to he painted. The main principle under—lying the Act has been approved by our provincial executive and conference on several occasions—that of paying to the farmer a guaranteed price for his produce. We put this principle forward in 1930 and 1931. I \\’e then asked that in order-to allow us to meet. our commitments the I average price rec:iv2d for our product. .over the past it) :ecrs should be i take-n as the basis of that guaranteed price. Basin of Price. “our reason for fixing this basis “as that, in the then proceeding 10 ‘ycars most of our cxiSting contracts t hml hrrn cntcrml into and most of our l iinnnciai nrl‘angcmenis were hasrrl on ith.‘ prices received during those it) t that-s. \\‘p lmticvctl at that time, 1930. i that this arrangement would luring our Iprirrs into nlinnntcnt with our cost. t iiuwcvrr. ihr to years basis now is an tcntircly different proposal. Five of {those )‘cal‘s have been slump years inmt thr- prices received have no reilattonship \\ith the Government's inl lcntiun to make this the hosts of their ‘ guaranteed price for the ilrst year pro—- ! vilting some recognition is also made inf the sharp rise in costs which is i dil'f‘flti)‘ apparent and must by present tingisldtion in? much increased. This t\\':l.\‘ the hasis of their election cam—- : pairn. always rcnir‘mlirrinf; that n full l promise was trivcu by .\it‘ Favagc amt : 3p- Nash that pi‘t‘M‘lli farm costs would Ibo taken into account. I “\\’c. however. claim that for the 'Si‘t‘llntl your and thereafter the only Img.- >itl‘llitl lil‘ the ltusis ut‘ l‘nslS. \\’o ask. and thi< will be our of the most lhupnt'tant matters conference has to .-.~u<ittot-. that the guarantccd price lamp p.- :1 cnmpt‘usniiug price. The ‘ tat-tm-r silliilitl in“ mmpcihatmt in the I mam luv .~.w.~t\t~.t tw- the ut'tiili‘ial costs itlxttt httw inn-n :pittctt. llis scllin': l “-3-” should lw ltruusm to the high 1 Inn-i Hr pm liming: price of goods and ‘ St't‘vit'ws n:- his lluiiuu should he itl'tttljlili in the l-‘vcl «\t' srliiuu. For ‘ llldiiY )mrs the union has t’ou'rltt for 1.l i'i'llllt‘tlutl nt’ .msis \\iitimxl .ti.“ t _m