Protesters at Rangiora

Press, 2 November 1985, Page 2

Protesters at Rangiora

Opening the new Rural Bank branch in Rangiora yesterday, Mr Moyle said the Government was not ignoring the concern and anxiety throughout farming. The Government knew the concern was justified and was addressing the question. About 150 people attended the opening. Many were farmers who held a silent protest, some holding up banners and placards saying, “Government is killing farming” and “Interest and exchange rates down or New Zealand dies”. On his arrival Mr Moyle immediately crossed the road and spoke to the protesters. After the ceremony he again stood and listened to people concerned that interest rates were crippling farmers, and associated industries such as rural

transport firms. The protesters stood quietly throughout the brief ceremony. They were members of Federated Farmers branches.

One of the organisers, Mr Dennis Mac Gibbon, said it was foreign for farmers to take this form of action, but the opportunity had to be taken to try to make the Government aware of their economic problems. Mr Moyle said no-one had forecast the way the dollar had behaved since devaluation and the removal of S.M.P.S. “Frankly, there is little justification for it to stay where it is. New Zealand’s balance of payments is not satisfactory and I think the international investment community is treating New Zealand as a new and

fashionable type of investment because of its new economic policies,” said Mr Moyle. Mr Moyle, in discussion with farmers, said he found the present wage round of about 15 per cent too high. He admitted that the forms of protection given tomanufacturers over the years were much higher than those in the agriculture section. The Government was studying options for financial support for farmers who would have liquidity problems .this season, he said. “A prerequisite for these proposals will be to ensure that other lending institutions remain in there supporting the farmers who have made these past profits possible. There is no

way the Government will allow private financial institutions to walk away from their responsibilities.” The Rural Bank would lend but it expected others to co-operate.

Mr Moyle quipped that when he opened a similar building at Ashburton, he had been offered a one-way ticket to Queensland. In Rangiora farmers wanted him to stay at home and work on the economic package. “I will take my pick in these circumstances,” he said. Sir Allan Wright, chairman of directors of the Rural Bank, and the Mayor of Rangiora, Mrs Dorothy Harris, also spoke at the ceremony.