The Evening Post WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, ,1931. TO RATIONALISE POLITICS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 7, 8 July 1931, Page 9

The Evening Post WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, ,1931. TO RATIONALISE POLITICS

The speech delivered by His Excellency the Governor-General at. the opening of the annual conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union was, of course, not of the formal kind which any other occupant of his high position could have done equally well. He was able to speak as a farmer to farmers, as one who had practised farming with success under the extraordinarily difficult conditions by which, long before the present slump, the industry had been depressed in the Old Country; who had familiarised himself by diligent study with the agricultural methods of Denmark and other foreign lands; and who since he came to New Zealand has missed no opportunity of improving his long-distance acquaintance with the conditions of our agricultural and pastoral industries by personal contact, observation, and research. Apart altogether therefore from official considerations, Lord Bledisloe's exceptional knowledge and experience made him just the right man to address the Farmers' Parliament in this time of trouble. And, as he spoke not only as a farmer to farmers but also as a patriot to patriots, and went down to first principles, there is much in what he'said which is capable"'of a far wider application than to the special problems of the farmer and well deserves the attention of the citizens, at large, and. especially, of those to whom it was impossible for the King's representative to make any direct appeal, yet in whose hands the immediate destinies both of the farming industry and of every other are to a large extent placed—our political leaders and legislators. Courage, hope, economy, self-help, and co-operation may be said to have been the keynotes of the GovernorGeneral's address. A scale of public expenditure,: "unsurpassed in scope and generosity throughout the world," was established in this country in times of great prosperity, and our standards of living were based on the tacit assumption that this prosperity would last. This- assumption, says His Excellency, has proved to be ill-founded, and rigorous public and private economy has become inevitable, if this Dominion—still perfectly solvent —and its agricultural industry—still sound, progressive, and confident in spite of its present difficulties—are to avoid tho financial precipice which, but for drastic retrenchment, lies .not far ahead. Retrenchment or economy is an uncomfortable process, involving mxtch sacrifice, patience, and selfcontrol. But it is vital to the country's future. ■'■■■':....■■ Some farmers are looking for an improvement in the world's markets which will give them better prices as a solution of their difficulties. Lord Bledisloe did not seek to substitute despair for hope, but he did tell these optimists that this was not a, hope on^which to build, and that they must look chiefly to themselves. It is in reduced costs of production and enhanced turnover, said His Excellency, rather than in increased costs of farm products that the farmer's economic salvation will be found, especially in view of the competition •which he has to face in the British and other markets of- the world. To, these points the Governor-Gen-eral added two others which he described as "of supreme importance." One Is strict co-operation —unflinchingly loyal, even at the cost of some temporary individual gain—among farmers themselves; and the other is the rationalisation of all those industries and trades which convert, 'distribute, or^ handle the farmers' products. * It was appropriate that all the three political party leaders'were present to listen to this admirable address, and as they all expressed iheir high appreciation of it we trust that they have taken it to heart and realised that its principles admit of the widest possible application. About the Prime Minister there can indeed be no doubt. Whatever adverse testimony Opposition critics may draw from the General Election speeches of another! leader, or from subsequent records of bis own speeches in Hansard, it cannot be denied that, if Mr. Forbes is measured by his own words and acts since the full force of . the storm struck this country, he has not only preached a gospel very much like His Excellency's but given it, to the best of his ability, a practical application in a sphere which it was not for His Excellency to touch. After all, as Mr. Forbes himself said yesterday, it was only by testing that the mettle of the people could be determined. One could only see what was in tho Tace when there was a call for self-reliance, determination, and energy. All knew what was done during war time; all knew how the young Hew Zealanders rang true. Even the Prime Minister's political opponents must admit that in this testing time his metal has rung true, and instead of being weakened the force of their necessary criticism would actually gain in strength if it could be occasionally varied by a frank, generous, and gracious word in acknowledgment of the fact. Why does the magnanimity which Burke declared to be not seldom, even in politics, the truest wisdom, miss this j golden opportunity? The answer isj to be found in ihe analogy to which'

Mr. Forbes referred. The metal of young New Zealand rang true in the War, and a great impulse of patriotism united the nation as it had-never been united before, and has never been united since. But the effects of a common danger and a common purpose, in the promotion of unity were largely neutralised by the determination of the politicians'to continue the promotion of disunity on the lines to which they had become accustomed in v time of peace. During the year when our military administration was being gravely embarrassed by this domestic strife Mr. Coales would 'not have suggested, even in jest, that competition might.be "good for everybody, even the Prime Minister." Yet now in the presence of a more dangerous because vaguer, subtler, more baffling, more inscrutable enemy than the Germans he has set his face strongly against the solution which was then found' necessary to enable the nation to present a united front. .It is true that the, Reform leader not only refrains from the factious opposition which was so dangerous to the Massey Government at the beginning of the war But even offers co-operation of a kind. It isj however, hut-a half-hearted, semi-detach-ed co-operation that is offered, an indefinite; temporary,. arid precarious arrangement in which there can be no certainty or security, an armed truce in which both parties will be compelled to contemplate present policy from the standpoint of the state ot war that will shortly follow. The Governor-General's plea for. the rationalisation of agriculture and of the industries and trades upon which it depends is probably approved by a large majority of the politicians. Yet they fail to recognise, that one of the most important of these industries is their own, and that the rationalisation of politics is just as imperatively needed as that of agriculture or anything else.