Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1914. FARMERS' PARLIAMENT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8851, 30 May 1914, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1914. FARMERS' PARLIAMENT.

The boywho, in answer to his teacher's question as to what quality was most essential in a member of Parliament, replied: "a loud voice-/" was nearer the truth than he "i.s aware of. It is an asset much prized by the politician, of . to-day >. as it serves to hide .deficiencies that .otherwise would be noticeable. If, in addition, his tongue can " speak manna, and, make the worse appear the better reason," no further equipment is considered necessary. The clerk, the taxicab driver, the ploughman, the plumber, the draper, and many others engaged in various occupations must possess some experience of their work before they can find employment; but many of the makers of our laws—the arbiters of our industrial and social destiny—go to their tasks sans knowledge, sans experience, sans training—sans everything that should be necessary in the actual representatives of the people. Some day, it may occur to someone to suggest that there ought to be a test of fitness rather more exacting than the possession of a ten-pound, note now provides. In striking contrast to this state of affairs is the qualification necessary to have a voice in the Farmers'' Parliament. Practical experience gained,, by years of training, a capacity for successful management of business and of men, a knowledge of finance and of the basic economic law of supply and demand, and withal shrewd common senseall these are essential if a man aspires to office in the; executive of the farmers' Union.. 'Compare the deliberations of the body of men who have been discussing important national and parochial subjects in Christchurch during the past.|ew days with' a debate in Parliament, and it will at once be apparent that the l©gic and lucidity born of experience make for more satisfactory and expeditious business than the verbosity and "terminological inexactitudes" that make "Hansard" so plethoric and such dreary reading. More practical conclusions were arrived at during the first day's proceedings than the House • of Representatives would reach in a week atji cost to the country of about ,£7O an hour; and though a Parliament of farmers might not meet with the approval of the Red Federation element, it probably would be to the advantage of the country if the farmers' methods of conducting their meetings, and their qualifications for taking part in them, were made the pattern for Parliamentary procedure and the fitness of -members. As the "primary producers" the farmers are affected by all laws that are passed—v fact that the representatives of city constituencies are apt to overlook, or ignore—and any Government that

frames legislation antagonistic to the interests of the farming community, is laying up future trouble for tlie people as a whole, however much such legislation may temporarily benefit certain classes. The Farmers' Unipii has done splendid work in keeping a watchful eye on public affairs, and several of the most beneficial of the laws on the'statute books are the result of the Union's initiation. And though some of these may appear to be devised solely in the interests of the farmers, in the final analysis all classes are advantageously affectled by them: