NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 212, 4 June 1929, Page 10

NOTES OF THE DAY

In one important respect the British Labour-Socialist Party differs very much from its overseas prototypes. In New Zealand, for example, the personnel of the Labour-Socialist Party is almost entirely trade unionist. Its political ideas and aspirations have, therefore, a very narrow and pronounced class-conscious savour.. In the ranks of the British Labour-Socialist Party, however, are quite a considerable number of people who do not belong to the working classes. There is the son of the British Prime Minister (Mr. Baldwin), for example, who has won a seat for the Labour-Socialists. Many of these “outsiders,” so to speak, have joined the Labour-Socialist movement because of their idealism. The attractive but visionary, schemes of the Labour-Socialist leaders appeal to them. They want world peace, the abolition of slums and unemployment, to happen overnight, with a wave of a wand. It is this desire to leap before they look that makes Labour-Socialist Governments want to disturb the stability of things. Change to them must spell progress. Less impetuous and wiser heads prefer to be guided by the lessons of history, to advance steadily, and consolidate the ground before taking the next step.

There is a good deal more to be gained,,in practical results, from the farmers’ railway excursions than may at first meet the eye. When a company of some 200 people, consisting of farmers and their wives, travel from Taranaki to Southland and back on a tour of sight-seeing, they should not only be able to gather useful impressions and broaden their outlook, but to spread that knowledge amongst their neighbours on their return home. The average farmer’s holidays are an uncertain quantity. The season of the year most suitable for his absence from the farm is the last more fortunatelyplaced people would select—the winter. That is his “slack” time and his one chance of making a break from his- environment and the routine of his life. Very largely because of this, he does not, as a rule, unless he is well off, travel very far. Such an undertaking as a tour of the country probably would not occur to him were not such temptations as these cheap excursions put before him. The danger of his more or less localised life is that it induces a parochial habit of outlook. He thinks of farming in terms of the conditions within his immediate experiance. He may be prepared to hear, and believe, that in other districts the farmers are more or less fortunately placed, as regards climate, soil, transport, and so on. But he cannot visualise these differences.

Personal contacts and exchanges of views should do much to break down inter-provincial and inter-island misunderstandings and jealousies. That these exist there is little doubt. The “North v. South” rivalry raises its head whenever any proposal to establish an important national institution is mooted. Again, it is important that the farmers in one district in the north, 'for example, should be able to see for themselves, and understand, why it is necessary for those in a southern district to be helped a little more than they are themselves. The country has not marched evenly along the path of progress.. In some districts, progress in farming has been rapid, even remarkable. In others it has lagged behind. Incidentally this has meant different methods. The wealthier districts have been able to adopt up-to-date machinery and labour-saving devices. The poorer districts have not. The Railway Department, for its part, is no doubt inspired by its anxiety to popularise train travel and obtain more revenue. It is a commendable idea, provided every care is taken to see to the comfort of the excursionists while en route. The experiment might easily be ruined, as far as similar enterprises in future years is concerned, by official inattention to the little details of comfort Farmers are yery critical people.