ENTRY INTO POLITICS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 256, 28 July 1927, Page 9

ENTRY INTO POLITICS

VIEWS OF FARMERS’ UNION When the annual conference of the '.New Zealand Farmers’ Union resumed vesterdav morning the chairman (Mr. W. J. Polson) suggested that a number of remits advocating the taking by the Dominion Farmers’ Union of an active part in politics be considered in committee. Holding that the matter was a pure Iv domestic one, and one which vitally affected the future of the union, Mr. jy G. Anderson (Pelorus) moved accordingly, and the motion was carried unanimously. The first remit discussed urged that the rules of the Farmers’ Union , be amended /.to allow for free political action and that the Dominion conference appoint a commission of members to formulate a platform. Another remit from Auckland asked the confersupport the opinion that nohe of W political parties at present in Parliament had made any effective attempt to give the primary producers fair treatment, and that the time had arrived when the union should take an active part in politics on an independent basis. Other remits advocated the preparation of a suitable questionnaire in readiness for next election, and that candidates be asked to reply to same, the replies to be circulated to provinces and branches when received; and. that as the present economic conditions which were bearing so heavily on the primary producers liad been intensified by legislative measures, passed and maintained by past and present Governments, the North Taranaki branch .was strongly of the opinion that it &as imperative, in the interests of primary production, that the union adopt a definite and active political policy. Following on a debate, in which practically every delegate present participated, it was decided That a committee be set up to consider the question of the taking by the union of an active part in politics, and report to the conference this morning.