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-"TOO MUCH FARMERS' UNION"

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"TOO MUCH FARMERS' UNION" Councillor Jones Regrets Personalities. To the Editor of the County Times. Sir,—I am grateful to your correspondent, Mr W. J. Price, for his answer to my last letter. Before replying, I must acknowledge a keen feeling of regret at allowing myself to give way to the too strong temptation of writing in a personal spirit in some portions of my last letter. I should have remembered that indul- gence in personalities does not assist the dis. cussion of any subject. I hope to avoid that practice for the future in our controversy. If Mr Price bad not referred to my protest at the last County Council meeting as an impertinent one, but had criticised my statement on its merits, these undesirable personalities would not have arisen. I trust, too, that Mr Price will believe me when I state that I only knew of him (previous to the 12th instant) as the chairman of the local Farmers' Union and his colleague as a member of that Union. The latter, however, has allowed his correspondence to degenerate to such a degree in your last issue that I am forced to disregard his letters for the future. To return to Mr Price-his letter demands an answer, and I propose to answer it with the .respect it deserves. I agree that we have deviated from the original cause of trouble, the mileage question; but I was forced to it in endeavouring to explain how pertinent (not im pertinent) was my protest at the Council meet- ing. But I gladly take this opportunity of dealing more fully with the mileage question. There is an error in Mr Price's letter in his statement that I joined the 3d and the 9d mile- age. I only referred to the 9d mileage in order to say that no protest by the Farmers' Union bad been uttered against that amount, whilst a great protest was being aroused against the 3d mileage. As to the 3d mileage, however, the Main Roads Committee, on the motion of the writer, adjourned a long discussion of it at one meeting in order that the Finance Clerk could cheque the figures by which the Road Surveyor had arrived at the mileage and report apon it at the next meeting. The report, based upon the actual expense on the motor cycle for the past year, was to the efiect that the cost of run. ling it, allowing for petroi, depreciation and the other usual incidental expenses, was some- where between 2td and 3d. The Committee had, consequently, no alternative but to vote for the 3d mileage, especially as the Road Sur- veyor had stated that he would gladly, if requested, refund at the end of the financial year any monies allowed on the scale, which bad Dot been actually expended. If that committee had been directors of any company (public or private) could they have possibly done more in the interests of the company than the committee did on t ehalf of the ratepayers m th.- llla: ter? I subnii tbey r-ould not, The i'iuaibi"' Union representative, at the Council meeting, made an excellent speech in his plea for a reduced mileage, and I wou'd, on no account, have interrupted Ie, had not Ald. Davies stated that the Surveyor should not be allowed to make a profit ou the miieH!:e I then raised the point of order that Aid. Davies should not make such a statement unless he could prove it. The Roads Committee had sub- mitted their recommendaiion for the 3d mileage on the strength of the Finance Clerk's report. The Chairman upheld my point of order. These are the facts of the case. Immediately following the decision of the mileage, the Council considered a further re- commendation of the Roads Committee to the effect that the whole of the main roads of the county should he, for greater efficiency and iess expense, placed litider the supervision and con- tbO of the Road Surveyor. The adoption of i^ls recommendation would have meant a saving mtudare8 of at least 8 year The recom- Was uit°D Was n0^ aPProved of. Not a word by ejtL ered in favour of the recommendation by an er Farmers' Union representative or pre those to whom I have referred in my Uni 10U8 .Otters as "those of the Farmers' Was^h ^0'nt view." Indeed, one of the latter tio Wrongest opponent of the recommenda- Any unbiassed ratepayer will regard the to H.0 °f the Farmers' Union in thus objecting o the 3d mileage and in not supporting the ^ort to save £ 47 a year in salaries as absolutely IOCousisten t. to the replies to my 8 questions, Mr Price ^grees with me in bis answers to questions 1 and ? when he says that the majority of farmers in the county are small farmers in the true sense o. the term." That is just the trouble, but you J?1'! remember, Mr Editor, that my criticism in I's connection has been confined to the minority ? (2) The argument of scanty capital is applic- able ODly to the really small farmer. For the rest, it is scarcely fair to use it these days when agriculture is, we are glad to know, exceptionally prosperous. This prosperity is largely due (so we glean from statistics and reports) to the more general adoption of intensive methods in areas where 1 co operation and co partnership (as generally defined), credit banks, and the exten- sion of small holdings are existent. (4) Labour, thanks to the general awakening democracy, is now only attracted to fair Conditions of wages and of livelihood. The *P<*t of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, | £ blighed last Friday, will amply bear this out. cask does not tell us what is the average Weekly wages paid to farm labourers in Ie, When he does supply the answer, the k.e ali'e discuss this matter. So far, all Of "VII" bi wage statistics as given in reports the f. Departments have been supplied bv gj«'j| luers and not by the labourers, but I will ojv y accept Mr Price's figures if they are rji as the average throughout the county. fa° Sa^ ^at 90 per cent, of the Breconshire labourers are living in is to supply all st are interested in the subject with the ir°0gest indictmerjt cf their condition in our j as well as with the strongest reason why In °Ur. anc* should be, scarce in the county. agricultural districts which adjoin or border lah1 atrial centres, the wages of farm „ °urers are higher than in strictly agricultural ea8, and yet the farmers in the former districts as successful (authorities tell us they are en more successful) than in the latter dis- o1(;ts. Labour is consequently-not so scarce in heformer districts. to ldr Price agrees with me, again, in his answers j Questions 5 and 6 and we can now look tjl^rd to securing the support of the Farmers' jj» l0n in Bieconshire in reconstructing village j e< insisting upon better housing conditions e,r the farm labourer, and in granting better ticational facilities in our rural areas. The Union's assistance in these matters ^i»l be most welcome. When Mr Price states the farmers "contribute handsomely" to e education system, the answer is inevitable— do all the other classes of the community, Ven the farm labourers indirectly!" This no explaining J It is the need of a scheme to which I ^reW Mr Price's attention. One w„culd have .l&ected the Farmers'Union to support every °rt to create small holdings, if only on the it oUod of the. security of tennre tvfforded to it3 tenants. Insecurity of tenure is one of the difficulties the farmer has to contend e fact that Yol. 1. (Rural) of the Land ^uiry does not refer to Breconshire doe^ not be milck« This absence of reference may I ?Ue io several causes. It may be due to the c ct that no answers could be bf lined by the far ittee to the enquiries sent to Breconsbiie jj .^ers. Jn the absence of information, the lQt cannot be discussed. |>.kave r.r.t criticised the Farmers' Union as a sVji0n- The exact reverse is the truth, as Xln *n mv letters. The stronger the the better. Indeed, I sincerely hope all farmers of Breconshire will join their Union. Let us have unions by all means—the more the better. I even wish we bad a thriving Farm Labourers' Union in Breconshire which could assist the county in every legitimate way, to attain, if possible, to an envhble position among the agricultural counties of Great Britain. To conclude, I am still hoping "the day of deliverance is at hand to small farmers and farm labourers throughout the land. There are, we gladly note, many indications and portents of that desirable arrival in the near future. For many years, Liberal and Conservative Govern- ments have vied with each other in their efforts to assist the farmer as much as possible, even under the present conditions of land tenure. At best, those efforts have been proved to be mere palliatives. Farmers, as a class, have commanded considerable and beneficial attention from the Legislature in the last twenty years- much more so than many other classes of employers in the State. I may only refer to the various Budgets of late years, the Agri- cultural Holdings Acts and the Agricultural Rates (Relief) Act of 1896 Nevertheless, the farmers, like other classes in the State, have immense difficulties to contend with. We realise their difficulties in rent and rates," (but not in taxes and wages,") bad harvests, sickness I and death of cattle, but other classes have their serious difficulties also. No industry or trade is immune. Are not the rates and rents relatively far heavier in urban than in rural areas ? The incomes of other trades, occupations or indus- tries are taxed under Schedule D farmers are taxed under Schedule B. Under Schedule B, if the rent paid by a farmer does not exceed j £480, he is not assessable to Income Tax The Income Tax received by the State under Schedule B for the year ended April 5th last I only amounted to 1229,960 Nevertheless, as a class-through its Union, at any rate—the farmers grumble more than any other class in the community against auy progressive adminis- trative functions which of necessity entail extra I expenditure. Expert students of the rural problem tell us that that spirit among farmers accounts to some extent for the fact that agri- culture is not more advanced and profitable in culture is not more advanced and profitable in England and Wales than it is to day. And yet the value of imports of agricultural products in 1911 amounted to £219,267,012 I Yours, &c., ERNEST JONES. Cefn Coed, 22nd Dec., 1913.

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