The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo The Sun. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1939. OUT OF TOUCH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 266, 10 November 1939, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo The Sun.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1939. OUT OF TOUCH.

For the cause thai lacks assistance. For the -.prong that reed* resistance, For 'he future in Ihe distance, A rid the nood that we can do.

If one thing i.« more certain than any other in a time of uncertainty it is that the Dominion cannot play its lull part in the war when an important group of the community is "off-ule" with the Government. That is i lie position now. The Government and the spokesmen of the farming community are at offtis and there is little sign of any genuine effort to bridge the gap between I hem. On the side of the farmers, there is dissatisfaction and distrust; on the other, there is manifest a belief that the dis-ati-faction is over-stated by the farmers' spokesmen and that the causes of the distrust are being magnified for political purposes. On eaeli -ide there is an increasing and dangerous intolerance of the other's point of view. There have been meeting- between the representatives of the fanners and Cabinet Ministers, there has been a letter from the executive of the Farmers' Union to the Prime Minister, and to-day there is Mr. Savage's reply to that letter. These exchanges, it appears t*i the observer, have been harmful rather than helpful. Mr. Savage's reply is that of an harassed and irritated man, and his statement—whatever it may mean—that ''if private enterprise cannot provide the production the Government will have seriously to consider other methods of doing the job," is certain to pro'voke resentment and irritation among the farmers. But the real problems of the farming industries remain, the Dominion's need of increased production remains, and there remains, too, the Government's need of the sterling tunds which cannot be built up except out of the production of the farmers. So what is Mr. Savage going to do? We can say only what he ought to do. He ought to set out to destroy the impression, made by his own attitude and statements and those of his followers, that he believes that a Government commanding a political majority can do anything. Under a democracy minorities have rights. If the Government by word and action shows scant and contemptuous regard xor these rights it is well on the way to being a dictatorship, however it may use Parliamentary forms. A typical expression of a feeling widely current was made at a meeting of farmers near Auckland, when it was stated that "the dictatorship in the Dominion too*k the form of economic tyranny at the expense of the politically vanquished." Mr. Savage might describe that as an exaggerated statement, and say—as did President Roosevelt when taking office—that the farmers "have nothing to fear but fear." But that would not be sufficient. He ought first to acquaint himself, at first hand—and show the community that he is doing so—with the condition and sentiments of the farmers. At other times he has gone into city factories, and occasionally also into country districts, to find out for himself "what people are thinking." Then, he found much to please him. Now, he would find much less; but it is far more important that ha should know unpleasant facts than pleasant ones. It may be the case—we hope it is not—that his health would not permit him to undertake a short tour of investigation. If so, he should at least restrain himself from issuing, from an office in Wellington,! statements which serve mainly to indicate that he is out of touch both with his subject and with what other people are thinking about it.