WITHDRAWAL URGED

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 127, 25 November 1940, Page 9

WITHDRAWAL URGED

FARMERS AT HASTINGS

REPLY TO MINISTER

(By I eleirrauh —l'tvs.« Associative.)

HASTINGS, Ncvamfcsr 24.

A reply to the statement, made'by the Minister of Lands, Mr. Langstone, when he declared the intention of the Government to proceed with the Small Farms Amendment Bill, was made by the Dominion secretary of the Farmers' Union, Mr. A. P. O'Shea, when addressing a mass meeting of farmers in Hastings yesterday.

"Mr. Langstone said the Bill now befcre Parliament differed in one regard from the Small Farms Act, 1933," said Mr. O'Shea. "This is not only in* correct but misleading. That Act wa* passed purely for the purpose of providing small farms for unemployed men, and was not designed or intended to be used for the general settlement of land."' -.•-...

Mr. 'o'Shea said that Section 14, which the Minister admitted was being repealed by the Bill, provided that the board could take land that was not

being adequately used, but the owner had the right of appeal to a Magistrate on the grounds that (1) the land was . being adequately farmed, and (2) that if the land or part of the land was jt^ken the residue would not be sufffjcient for the reasonable requirements of himself and his family. The land, owner was also given a right of appeal to the Supreme Court against the Magistrate's decision. .■• . ' Section 14 also made the provisions of section 4 of the Unemployment Amendment of 1932 apply. This section provided that where land was acquired compulsorily it was to be acquired either under the Public Works Act, 1928, or the Lands for Settlement Act, 1925, this, of course, providing for land to be taken for settling unemployed persons, but this, of course, as stated before, was, the original intention of the use to which the Small Farms Act was to be applied. / v ; SAFEGUARDS CUT OUT, "Mr. Langstone has not said anything about the numerous safeguarding clauses in the Public Works Act which have been cut out by his Bill/* said Mr. O'Shea, "nor has he said anything about the right of appeal to the Supreme Court being cut out, nor hai he said anything about the fact, that the tribunal he proposes to appoint will be a tribunal entirely under the; Government's control and alterable or removable at- its pleasure. These points are among the major objections the Farmers' Union has to the Bill, and they are principles which one of the most eminent lawyers in New Zealand has submitted 'must be freely criticised and strenuously opposed.'" The meeting unanimously adopted; the following resolution: "That this; meeting views with alarm the powers which the Government is seeking under the Small. Farms Amendment ; Bill. These powers are in excess of those, which should be asked for by any democratic Government, especially t the invasion of constitutional rights which; is contemplated in the BilLL?eln the interests of that national unity-which, is so necessary during^the present crisis, we urge the Government to withdraw the Bill, which, should it become law, can lead only to class animosity. Further, we pledge the farmers of Hawl-ie's Bay ta work unremittingly towards drawing up a scheme of land settlement for returned soldiers which will he fair to everyone."