FARMERS' PLEDGE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 191, 15 July 1941, Page 6

FARMERS' PLEDGE

ALL HELP FOR EMPIRI

(Press Assn) WELLINGTON, July 15. j The Farmers' Union conlerence to-1 day recorded its deep appreciation of I the untirincr efforts of Mr W. W. Mul-| holland (Dominion president) in the interests of the farming community in particular and the Dominion as a whole, recognising his sterling worth, undoubted ability, and sound judgment, and assuring him continued support and loyalty. One speaker described Mr Mulholland as "the Churchill of the farmers of New Zealand." Before proceeding to general business the conference passed a resolution of unswerving loyalty to the King and Empire pledging itself to do its utmost to maintain and increase, if de.-! sired the supply of commodities to the' Mother Country, and to shoulder whatever sacrifices might be necessary to this end. in his address Mr Mulholland said the farmers, as a responsible body of people, must weigh their words and actions with a due sense of their effect upon the successful termination of the present struggle. It would be little! gain to maintain some cherished right l at the expense of the triumph of the enemy. He could not agree, however, that that meant they could not criticise things they considered wrong or were preventing them as a section of the community or the nation as a whole from doing their full duty, nor could he agree that criticism ol the Governments actions or policy, if expressed in appropriate manner, was injurious to the war effort. Misuse of the word "political" by Ministers had become ludicrous. He declared, they used' it as a cuss word, weaning something evil—just what was not clear. '•1 was recently referred to as a politically minded person. Apparently this is a severe reflection upon me, said Mr Mulholland. "The Minister of Public Works, however, faced by complaints from a number of farmers near Timaru that his irrigation water was flooding them out. crowned all his previous efforts by describing it as political. In suitable company I do not doubt that the Minister could have found a less insipid adjective to describe that water."