(Formerly the New Zealand Farmers' Union)
In early years farmers' clubs existed in various districts. At the inaugural meeting of one such in the Rangitikei district, Dr Curl, a medical practitioner interested in farming, pointed out that farmers had no organisation that looked after their interests; that unlike farmers in Britain, with their chambers of agriculture, and farmers in America, with their ‘Grange’, farmers in this country had no union. But the farmer in New Zealand was, and to a large extent still is, an individualist. Unionism was a plant of slow growth.
The first impact was made by one Sam A. Brown, secretary of the Auckland Cooperative Society, whose advocacy aroused the interest of A. G. C. Glass, a farmer of Broadwood in Northland, under whose enthusiastic guidance the first properly constituted branch of a New Zealand Farmers' Union was formed on 1 September 1899 at Kaitaia. The entry fee was 6d., the annual subscription 2s. payable in half-yearly instalments. Formation of more branches followed rapidly and, in July 1902, the first national conference was held and the New Zealand Farmers' Union formally constituted. M. M. Kirkbride, in an opening address from the chair, said, among many other things: “If the Farmers' Union is to be useful to us it must deal not with party politics but with farmers politics and discuss every question that affects our interests….”. J. G. (later Sir James) Wilson was unanimously elected president, and G. W. Leadley, of Canterbury, vice-president. Wilson gave himself completely to the office for the next 20 years. He was an ideal man. He was acceptable to the large landowners because he was one of them, but his interest in the well-being of the agricultural industry was clear to all, as was his conviction that the road to national prosperity lay in closer settlement by increasing numbers of independent small farmers.
Three main tasks faced the new union: first, to set up an office and appoint a secretary; secondly, to establish an official journal; thirdly, to draft a constitution and a platform. The office was established in Wellington. Of the several secretaries over the 60 years the late E. C. Jack deserves mention, as does A. P. O'Shea, secretary for many years to 1963. At the outset the New Zealand Dairyman was used as the official journal; but in 1906 the union founded its own paper, the Farmers' Union Advocate, which ran till 1924, when it gave place to The Farmers' Weekly, a private venture. Then came Point Blank (1933), which in 1939 was taken over by the Farmers' Union and, in 1941, amalgamated with Farming First and Farming Progress to become the now bi-monthly Straight Furrow.
In 1905 the annual conference decided to try to gain the return to Parliament of candidates who agreed with Farmers' Union views. This policy, expressed in a demand for the freehold tenure, resulted in 1908 in the defeat of the Hon. R. McNab, Minister of Agriculture, and later secured the return of the Massey Administration. Farming solidarity promoted by the union was also the power that broke the waterfront strike of 1913, the strike breaking being organised and directed from the secretary's office in Wellington.
The First World War brought to a head many problems, especially those of the control, sale, and shipping of primary produce. New and sometimes impracticable proposals were brought forward; new leaders with new ideas were emerging. In 1920 Sir James Wilson (knighted in 1915) retired. G. W. Leadley took office as president for a year and was followed by the long and productive presidency of W. J. (later, Sir William) Polson, in which the union grew enormously in numbers and in influence. He was succeeded in 1936 by W. W. (later, Sir Walter) Mulholland, a man of wide and deep understanding of the industry. In 1950 W. (later, Sir William) Perry became president and, successively, J. (later, Sir John) Andrew, S. D. Reeves, W. Malcolm (1961), and E. W. McCallum (1963).
Provincial branches and provincial councils were formed throughout New Zealand by the end of the first 25 years. Auckland Province, always the strongest in numbers and branches, became restive at one stage, mainly because of the increasing importance of the dairying industry in the province and the need experienced in the period between the wars for better advocacy of the claims of the industry. Hence it formed Federated Farmers of Auckland. But this organisation (with related independent bodies, such as the Sheepowners' Federation) was brought into a unified structure by the incorporation of the Farmers' Union as Federated Farmers of New Zealand, with sections to deal with particular interests – agriculture, meat and wool, and dairy production. The Dominion Council, however, a strongly representative body, is the official “voice” of Federated Farmers. Its continuing interests and activities include a wide variety of matters, such as wage agreements affecting farm and primary production workers, legislation affecting land or stock, the supply of farm needs, and taxation and rating.
The first local Young Farmers' Club was formed in the Feilding District in 1927, its main work being the running of an annual agricultural show for exhibitors under the age of 21. Later, the Auckland Young Farmers' Club – a post-school agricultural club – was formed by Dr W. S. Hill in 1930. Still later, inspired by J. E. Davies (then in the Department of Agriculture), a club was formed at Palmerston in Otago in 1932, followed immediately by clubs at Moa Flat and Clinton. A. C. Cameron of Dunedin was impressed with the potentialities of such clubs and started setting them up in large numbers, first in connection with “educational weeks” in Otago, then further afield. He finally promoted the formation of the Dominion Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs, of which he is recognised as the founder.
The official motto of the federation is “Youth, Farming, Citizenship” and it aims generally to help to establish Young Farmers' Clubs throughout New Zealand and to promote their well-being. The objects of the individual club include the development of the spirit of leadership among the youth of the community, the carrying out of all kinds of educational work among farmers, and the promoting of interest among young farmers in the well-being and advancement of farming. Strict attention is rightly paid at club meetings to correct procedure. Officers are changed frequently to spread experience in various offices as widely as possible through the club. There are many club activities such as listening to lectures by visitors and by fellow members, discussions, debates, including interclub debates, stock and other judging competitions, which extend to Dominion championships, and so on. Interclub visits are also popular. The Department of Agriculture is fully alive to the potentialities of the movement and provides a secretary-organiser at Dominion Council level and general supervision at district council and club level. While the age limit for membership is 30 years, clubs are permitted (and advised) to avail themselves of the advice of older farmers or other advisory members of committee.
The federation recognises five decentralised districts – three in the North Island and two in the South – and some 47 district committees. The Dominion Council is formed from representatives of district councils. The office of Dominion president is normally held in rotation. There are now 369 clubs with 10,786 active members. The number has been fairly constant for some years. Each year some clubs are revived or inaugurated and some go into recess.
The younger Country Girls' Club movement follows generally the same pattern as the young farmers', with possibly more stress on social activities as the motto suggests: “Courtesy, Grace, and Companionship”. Club activities are naturally such as are related to the lives of young women living in the country. The movement also receives help and encouragement from the Department of Agriculture.
The Women's Division of the New Zealand Farmers' Union (now Federated Farmers) was formed in 1926 to associate farmers' wives and other country women with the general aims of the union and with matters of special interest and concern to women. The organisation parallels that of Federated Farmers. The Women's Division has, however, from time to time assumed responsibility for some special social obligations, among them the provision of relief housekeepers in farm homes in cases of sickness or to enable wives to go away for a holiday. The residence “Honda” at Lowry Bay, Wellington, the gift of the late Dr Agnes Bennett, is available for the accommodation of country families in town for a holiday; and in some places (as at Nelson) there are rest homes for elderly people. Attempts have also been made to train girls for domestic work; or, in the case of girls from the Islands, to train them for home making on return to their own country.
Country Women's Institutes were established in 1921 at Rissington, Hawke's Bay, by Miss A. E. Jerome Spencer, later honoured as the founder. The first federation, that of Hawke's Bay, was formed in 1925, followed by Auckland federation in 1927 and by southern Wellington federation a year later. The Country Women's Institutes aims to provide an organisation to enable women to take an effective part in rural life and its development, to provide for the fuller education of country women, and to arrange for instruction and training in all branches of agriculture, rural handicrafts, domestic science, hygiene, and social welfare. The movement is now organised in 51 federations within New Zealand, with 1,015 institutes, and has a membership of 36,354. Extension work has also been carried out at times in the Cook Islands.
by Leonard John Wild, C.B.E., M.A., B.SC.(HON.), D.SC., formerly Pro-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, Otaki.