HAIL DAMAGE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 255, 9 August 1934, Page 6

HAIL DAMAGE

COMPLAINT REGARDING RELIEF REPLIES BY MINISTERS. (Special to the "Guardian.") WELLINGTON, August 8. The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) commenting this evening on the complaint of Mid-Canter-bury wheat farmers whose crops were damaged by the hail storm in January last, that the Government had not fulfilled its promises in granting them relief, said that he himself had given no promise that cheap loan money would be made available to all of them. Ho had visited the affected area and he told the farmers that their case would be judged on its merits and that those who were subjected to severe hardships because of the storm would be assisted. The Department of Agriculture had since taken the matter over, and each case had been considered individually. "It is natural enough that farmers should ask for something more than they have received," said Mr Forbes, "but it is a different matter to find the money." Tho Minister for Agriculturo (the Hon. C. E. Macmillan) was not impressed when he was told that the farmers were protesting. Ho said that his department had investigated each application, and that each case had been decided on its merits. He did not know of any promises the Government had made to the growers affected, and he could give no indication of what percentage of applications for practical assistance had been successful.