VOICE OF THE RURAL CONSTITUENCIES

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 1, 27 September 1943, Page 4

VOICE OF THE RURAL CONSTITUENCIES

Farmer Asserts Himself COMMENT ON A STRIKING FEATURE “A striking feature of the election is that the Government almost failed .to secure any representatives whatever in the rural constituencies,” said Mr. A. J. Sinclair, secretary-manager of the Te Awamutu Co-operative Dairy Co., Ltd., commenting on the result of the election. “In a few isolated cases where it has been successful, as in Raglan, this was due to a highly industrialized block vote in the electorate —in Raglan, the Huntly miners. , , “The Government can no longer delude itself or its supporters with the statement that the primary producers generally are satisfied, and that the apparent unrest was due to a few so-called 'anti-Government agitators.’ ” The dairy industry, said Mr. Sinclair, would find itself in a most fortunate position in the new Parliament because it would be greatly strengthened by the addition of some of its ablest leaders who had an intimate knowledge of its problems. He had in mind particularly men of the calibre of Messrs. Murdoch, of Marsden, Smith, of Bay of Islands, and Corbett, of Egmont. “The contrast between the support received in the cities and the country districts respectively.” said Mr. Sinclair, “must give the Government food for thought. The prosperity of this country after the war cannot be accomplished in the cities, and the Government should now be convinced that the problem of the man on the land must receive more equitable consideration. “Speaking for the dairy-farmer, I can say that he will return to his job with redoubled enthusiasm aud no hard feelings, now that he has had an opportunity of asserting himself in the only constitutional method he will recognize in the war period, namely, the ballot box. I am convinced that the farmer will cooperate in every way to secure the maximum production possible if only the Government will meet him halfway. “The first step in that direction would undoubtedly be the formation of a National Government representative of all sections of the community,” declared Mr. Sinclair, “because in the new Parliament the Government will have no member who can justly claim to represent the primary producer.”