The New Zealand Farmers' Union as an interest group: some aspects of farm politics, 1918 - 1928

Abstract

This thesis does not try to cover the activities of the New Zealand Farmers' Union in all its aspects. Rather it is an attempt to look at a few selected questions which highlight certain points about the political role of a farming interest group, and to see how the particular historical conditions in the period under discussion (1918-1928) affected this role. The social role of the Union is not discussed, though this is not to say that it was unimportant; for example, the Woman's Division of the Farmers' Union was started in this period. Other questions of interest that are not dealt with here, include the Union's activities in gaining local concessions and services (e.g. railway sidings, veterinary surgeons, extensions to sale yards, etc.) and its activities in regard to organised labour and the arbitration system. Although marketing problems are discussed in two chapters, the question of dairy marketing has not been entered into. This question requires a broader discussion than a thesis on the Farmers' Union could provide. In fact, it is worthy of a separate study. An idea of the general purposes of the Farmers' Union can be gained from the Objects and Platform of the Union in Appendix A. The origin and early development of the Union is not discussed here. This has been dealt with by R.J. Duncan in an unpublished thesis, also by L.J. Wild, in his book on Sir James Wilson, and the "Point Blank" Publishing Company, in its 1940 survey of New Zealand Farming. All these works are listed in the Bibliography.