THE LAND BILL

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 74, 24 September 1943, Page 8

THE LAND BILL

MR. FRASER'S THREAT

FARMERS' UNION ATTITUDE

If Mr. Mulholland, president of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, threatened to sabotage the Government and the Government's scheme for the settlement of ex-servicemen, then there would be "something doing," stated the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) at his meeting in the Town Hall last night. He was referring to the report that Mr. Mulholland had advised members of the Farmers' Union not to sit on the land sales committees appointed under the Servicemen's Settlement and Land Sales Act.

Instead of getting assistance from men who should know better, such as Mr. Mulholland, the Government was receiving opposition, said Mr. Fraser. If Mr. Mulholland wished to turn his organisation into an instrument for the furtherance of the National Party that was his business, but he could not be taken seriously as a leader in- the country's war effort—and Mr. Mulholland had ddne good work—if he said that not only would he himself not assist in the operation of the Act, which was the best that could be devised for the settlement of returned servicemen, but also threatened to organise the Farmers' Union not to assist. "If he does that," added Mr. Fraser, "all I can say is, the Government plan will go on, because it was founded in justice. (Hear, hears, and applause1.) There is nothing unfair in the Act It was founded strictly on justice and was framed after consultation with th<? best experts we could get to assist us and there has been no alternative pui forward." • . ~ „ , , It was true that Mr. Mulholland and some members of the Dominion executive of the Farmers' Union came along in quite a good spirit and put forward certain proposals, but there was no sign of ringing conviction about them. Some of the proposals were good and would be examined. If Mr. Mulholland had any proposals to improve the Act, make it work better, make it more beneficial, or make it fairer, or if there were any injustices, the Government would gladly grasp them with both hands. Mr. Fraser said he knew Mr. Mulholland was a man of common sense and would undoubtedly take the wisest course of co-operating and improving the measure if it could be improved. He preferred to believe that Mr. Mulholland did not want to advocate the sabotaging of the returned servicemen or the plans for their settlement and that his statement was made without adequate thought. FARMERS' UNION REPLY. In reply to the Prime Minister's assertion that Mr. Mulholland was asking "his union to sabotage the Government's attempt to help returned servicemen" Mr. A. P. O'Shea, Dominion secretary of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, said that up to date the Farmers' Union had done everything the Government had asked of it in regard to rehabilitation. They had even secured the nomination of a member of a Rehabilitation Committee in the Chatham Islands. "The union, however, is definitely opposed to the principles (or rather to the lack of them) in the Act, and, therefore, does not wish to be connected with it," said Mr. O'SHea. "Mr. Fraser has said that the Government would grasp with both hands any suggestion to improve the Act. Will he indicate, then, that so far as the acquisition of land is concerned, the Government will adopt the principles of the Land for Settlements Act, which after all have stood the test of time. If this is done, and a more impersonal and more effective method of checking trafficking in land is adopted, Mr. Fraser can be absolutely assured of the co-operation of the union." .