FARMERS' ATTITUDE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 4, 5 July 1939, Page 18

FARMERS' ATTITUDE

MEANING OF SOCIALISM

As a representative of a ..farming electorate, Mr. Boswell said that farmers knew perfectly well that Socialism meant to them just that thing in which their prosperity lay. It was exemplified to perfection in the cooperative dairy factories. The Leader of the Opposition. and members of his party had gone about the country and put forward from the platform a cruel story. They said the Labour Party would take away the land. He wished the members of the National Party joy in the votes they had extorted from some of the electors by .fear. OPPOSITION ARGUMENT. He wanted to know what' farmer would vote away the means of distribution. It would mean the giving up of the guaranteed price and the mai-keting scheme. One farmer, had informed him that; he would rather rer ceive 9d a pound under the guaranteed price than go back, to the old system with all its' fearful worry, when the producer did riot know from day to day what he would receive for his' butter. The argument had been put up'by the Opposition: "Let -the/farmer market his own produce." They knew that the farmer could not market his own produce. The only time he had. done it was in the old days when butter was carried into the towns and sold at 4d a pound. The co-operative scheme that Mr. Grounds had * taken to |fcngland was frustrated, but not.by the'ALabour Party. The farmers also knew something of the socialisation of the means of exchange. The former member of the speaker's district (Captain Rushworth) had educated them well on that point. The farmers said that that was just what they waned, and so they voted for Labour. They owned the Reserve Bank and the farmers were convinced that the currency should be based on production. and service. Mr. Boswell, referring to a manifesto issued by the National Party which put forward a furniture loan scheme for married couples, said that Hitler was the father of the proposal and the Leader of the, Opposition was the foster-father. PLEA FOR THE NORTH. "We have been left behind for years and we do. not want to be left behind any longer," said Mr. Boswell, when appealing for better access and transport facilities for the people of Northland. The North was the cradle of the Dominion, but for a number of reasons it had been neglected for a considerable period, said Mr. Boswell; It had been called the "Winterless North" and the "Roadless North," but its people now felt that it should no longer bear the latter description.' The North was richer than many other parts of New Zealand, but very little of the wealth that had been extracted from it had been left behind, to develop the territory. People were being attracted to the North and their great difficulty was that of transport. There were practically no railways and very few roads, and they were looking to the Government to meet their needs. The present Minister of-Public Works had done more for the North than any of his predecessors, .but the settlers were still just struggling along. %"I appeal to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Works nbt only to be just to those people, but to be generous,' said Mr. Boswell. '.;. "They have suffered long enough." He added that the dairy farmers of the North thought-they could not have any better scheme' than the guaranteed price. The growers of citrus fruit were in favour of the scheme, which: had already been applied to their :; lemons, and the wool growers were also asking for it.' T ".' "A .SPECTRE." ■*;■ | The spectre of autocratic totalitarianism was raising its head in New Zealand, and New Zealanders should consider whether they would allow the creature to creep forward or whether they would build a State where the less fortunate would not have to suffer because of their misfortunes, ]\ir. Boswell said. On June 14 the member for Tauranga (Mr. F. W. Doidjge) had declared that the Government should broaden the basis of its control by taking six of the best business i-men in New Zealand into the Cabinet* "That is a- terrible statement," he declared, "a statement that strikes at the very roots of democratic jigovernment; a statement that should tMfought tc the last ditch." • Mr. C. Carr (Government, Timaru): It is a silly statement. "I don't think it is a silly statement. It is a well-thought-out statement with a definite purpose," said Mr. Boswell. The member for Tauranga had stated that, per medium of the Legislative Council, six Ministers over whom the people would have no control should be appointed. "What will these Ministers be?" he asked. "Ministers who will strike at the roots of democratic govrenment?" A PRINCIPLE OF EDWARD I. Edward I had laid down the principle that what touched all must be dealt with by all, and not by six gentlemen from another place. What portfolios did the member for Tauranga propose to give them? No doubt he would give them Finance. Railways

and Commerce, State Advances and State Housing, and certainly he would give them Defence, because any Government which could not be moved by the democratic vote of the people must have a pistol to hold at the head of the people.

"In days gone by men died for the principle laid down by Edward I," said Mr. Boswell, "and the only man who attempted to bring in such ciple as this, suggested by the member for Tauranga, although he held a kingly office, died on the block." Why should business men control New Zealand? Mr. Boswell asked. New Zealand was not a' business concern but a home, and the members of that home should be looked after and not managed by business, men. The country had already had experience of one business man put into control through the Legislative Council as Minister of Education. . v "MODERN SINBADS." The member for Tauranga had not given the names of the business men who were to,/- help the Government. Were they to be the business men who had enacted the role of Sinbad the Sailor by putting oh their necks an erstwhile professor? Would he choose a manlike that who had not won a handful of votes for the National Party at the General Election, but who still sat on the necks of those,who had chosen him like the Old Man/of the Sea? Or would he select his men from the Kelly Gang? Who-was the Heaven-born leader who was to choose the halfdozen gentlemen to rule from "another place"? When he had his half-dozen men to rule .New. Zealand without the consent of New Zealand, would he throw away the. good old name of Cabinet—a Cabinet drawn from the elected representatives of the people— and have a Fascist Grand Council? -Was the member for Tauranga speaking for his leader or was he a "cuckoo in the nest"? Mr. Boswell asked. If the Nationalists did not believe in the policy put forward by the member for Tauranga they should beware, but if they did believe in it. then the people of New Zealand should beware. It was not the Labour Government's idea to implement the Fascist policy put forward by the member for Tauiranga, Mr. Boswell concluded. The ; Labour Government desired to rule by the will of-the people; and to build a State wherein the less fortunate did ! not have to suffer, because of their misfortunes Its aim was to build and preserve a State under the control of a Government whose policy was based on brotherhood, justice,-and right. The debate -was adjourned at 9.50 p.m. until 7.30 p:m. today.