The Dominion TUESDAY, JULY 28, 1908. FARMERS AND POLITICS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 261, 28 July 1908, Page 6

The Dominion TUESDAY, JULY 28, 1908. FARMERS AND POLITICS.

Coming immediately after tho Trades and Labour Conference, the Colonial Conference of the .Farmers' Union, which opens in Wellington to-day, will come as an agreeable change to people who prefer the sober talk of men who know whereof they speak to the extravagant ideas promulgated by ; the recent gathering of labour leaders. The questions to be discussed. by the Farmors' Union delegates are real questions; they are to be discussed by practical men; tho delegates are really representative of tho agricultural community. Properly handled, the Conference should prove a source of enlightenment to tho public • upon one of tho most important,'but one of the most neglected, features of the day. The farmer, closely occupied by his work, and lacking tho leisure arid t£o opportunity to din'his grievances into the ears of the public, is constantly in danger of having his rights overlooked. Yet there was never a time yhcri it was more necessary for the,farmer, to speak up for his rights and : to use his political strength in opposition 'to the Socialistic influences which, dircctly and indirectly, are ceaselessly working against him. In A'ew Zealand, as in every other agricultural country, the happiness and well-being of the nation depend upon tho prosperity and contentment of the husbandman. Pushed far enough, tho constant subordination of' every interest to that of the city agitator }vill react, through its crushing of tho farmer, to the great distress of country and town alike, but it will bo small comfort to the farmer that his ruin has been tho price of educating the people up to a realisation of his importance.

The agenda-paper oftho Conference jg a very lengthy one, and is admirably practical in character. There arc three subjects for discussion upon which the public will look forward with special interest, namely, land tenure, tho representation of farmers in Parliament, and the problem of industrial arbitration. A host of remits demanding tho restoration

of the freehold principle to the land laws bear witness to the determination of the Union to light against the land nationalisation movement in the face of any temporary discouragements. The new " special land settlement " scheme forecasted by the Government should encourage the Union to continue its agitation, since there is in that scheme, whether the Government knows it or not, a partial recognition of tho superior virtue of a land settlement- scheme which makes for freehold settlers instead of perpetual tenants. We cannot go again into the whole question of land tenure, but we may suggest that the Union should lay greater stress than it has hitherto done upon what seems to us to' be the greatest evil of the leasehold policy, namely, the political corruption that must ultimately flow from the creation of a very large body of State tenants. .Everywhere the ranks of the State employees are thickening, and, unless a halt is called, we arc within a measurable distance of the time when the tenants and employees of the State will exercise a and pernicious control, for their own ends, of the general taxpayers' money. JNot much that is new can be said by the Union upon the Arbitration Act, which figures in no fewer than nineteen remits.- The most useful discussion should be that which wiil take place upon the uncompromising proposal of the Auckland Uonfercncc that the Act should be done away with.

It is to the discussions upon the political .duty of tho Union, however, that most importance will attach, and the remits bearing upon this question are sulliciently varied to enable the Union to make an unmistakable pronouncement. That the farmers of .New Zealand should take an active pari; in politics if they desire to protect themselves from disaster is an obvious enough fact, and it is no friend of the farmer who seeks to persuade tho agricultural community that there is no cause for alarm. The question is one of ways and means, and it is to be hoped that the Union will not listen ■to any suggestion that political life will mean attachment to any particular politi.cal party. If the choice lay between political death and partisanship, the Union would bo foolish to shrink from a " party " existence. But no'such awkward choice is necessary, and the people who will cry out .that the-Union is an Opposition organisation if it does anything definite will do so because they see that agrarian lethargy is Socialism's best hope. The Union has no o'ccasion to ally itself with any party: its only concern is to oppose whatever is hostile to the interests of the farmer. It is to the Union that we must look for resistance to the increasing momentum of tho Socialistic drift. The official " platform " of the Union is a little too narrow for election campaigning, and the Conference should have no difficulty in broadening it, even if only by incorporating in it, in general terms, ah expression of dissent from the Socialistic doctrines now cur rent.