FARMERS AND RETRENCHMENT

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 88, 11 October 1921, Page 2

FARMERS AND RETRENCHMENT

REPLY TO THE UNION;

10 THE t'WIOR. Sir, —From the published utterances of the members of the executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, I am quite sure that the whole of the, inhabitants of the Dominion will sympathise with them in the hours-of their travail, more especially that large -bt)dy of non-workers who are ill the Civil Service. Although the executive before-mentioned no doubt consider that they have <a preemptive right to the whole of the intelligence of this fair Dominion, I do not thinfethat they have gone far enough, probably owing to their innate modesty. Is it a fact that during .the years of the* vrar they nealected their flocks and herds, their sole and only aim being to participate in the profits under the commandeer? Have they forgotten to tell the public how much they assisted the Government of this ■country-to. repatriate the returned 'soldiers who had kept the flao flying while they were devoting their energies to the amassing of wealth and to the pursuit of pleasure? Is it true that their properties were offered at prices in excess of the actual producing value of the land? Did not some of the farmers, instead of devoting the sums they were receiving for their produce in the development of their farms and the reduction of their mortgages, speculate in other lands, thus making it more difficult for the Government to acquire properties to settle the returned men?

As to the wail, about the over-paid and over-staffed Civil Service, I am afraid they are woefully ignorant of the true position, and am surprised that men of their mental calibre- should make statements without first endeavouring to obtain the true facts. I am inclined to think that the farmers show their real courage b> attacking a section of the community who ?,re debarred from defending themselves. Probably they are not aware that the whole of the members of the Civil Service received no recognition, by way of increases in salaries, until after the Armistice, in spite of the fact that" the cost of living throughout the war period had practically doubled itself, solely because of the increased prices which the' farmers were receiving for their produce. The farmers on the other hand have always been assisted by the' Government in times of disaster and, even during the' war period, when the Civil Servant was struggling on his prewar salary, they received subsidies for the production of wheat and butter. Judging from the expressed opinions of the executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, it appears to/ me that the members of the union seem incapable of managing their own affairs,', as the onlysolution they can find to alleviate the present financial difficulties is by the wholesale dismissal of a loyal and capable body of men. Owing to the retrenchment thathas already taken place. I feel sure there are numbers of retired Civil Servants who will only be top pleased to advise the fanners how to put their houses in order.—l am, etc;, avis. llth October.