Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, NOV. 19, 1935. THE FARMERS’ VOTE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 302, 19 November 1935, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, NOV. 19, 1935. THE FARMERS’ VOTE.

A determined effort is being made by tbe Labour and Democrat Parties to capture the farmers’ vote. Possibly never before have such lavish promises been made by parties untried in government, and it is certainly correct that, so far as the Labour Party is concerned, in no other election have there been so many different interpretations of a plan to help one section of the community. The Democrat Party declares that “it will help the farmer by direct personal payments of an export subsidy to a degree at least equal with his exchange benefits, while at the same time halving the costs to the community.” But before this can be brought about the exchange must be restored to “its true relationship with sterling,” and this the Democrats promise to do without giving any thought to the chaos that would occur among the importing community. But even assuming that export subsidies equal with the exchange benefits the farmers have been receiving are paid, how can the Democrat Party determine the exact amount farmers have received under the National Government’s policy and pay accordingly with a subsidy? An army of inspectors would be required, and such a scheme would necessarily break down under its own weight and costs; while most farmers now benefiting from exchange would be left without the present increased returns from their exports. The promise of the Labour Party is guaranteed prices which at first sight no doubt proved most attractive to a section of the community which in the past four years has suffered considerably from low market values. The problem before the promoters of such a scheme is how to determine the guaranteed price and how to finance it. In the former connection it has been said that Labour would strike an average of prices over recent years or take the average cost of production plus a profit to the farmer. But such a plan, it has been inferred from speeches by one of Labour’s leading campaigners, is conditional on the ability of a Labour Government to make ‘ reciprocal agreements with other countries to take the goods of this country.” Such agreements, the party’s manifesto stated, can be negotiated and completed. But Britain is our chief export market, and it is right and proper that we should provide a better market in return for her goods. Her policy definitely is not to make bilateral agreements. As other countries, imbued with the policy of nationalism that has caused acute trade dislocation during the past five years, would insist upon a quid pro quo were they to enter into agreements with the Dominion, the consequences to our own manufacturers would be disastrous. And yet the Labour Party is insistent that they should be helped to assist the workers. Such plans as the Democrat and the Labour Parties have , ex P to win the farmers v 0 1 , really those of city men who do not understand farming problem or the business of farming.