NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1933. FARMERS’ PASSIVE RESISTANCE

Northern Advocate, 19 April 1933, Page 4

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1933. FARMERS’ PASSIVE RESISTANCE

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper.

Sections of the New Zealand. Farmers’ Union have started a movement the consequences of which they have possibly not considered very carefully. In order to force the issue of rerating rural lands, they are urging riding members of county councils to refuse" to strike rates, or, if rates are struck, farmers are asked to pledge themselves to ignore the rate ! demands. Meetings are being held throughout the Dominion, and the proposal has been receiving a good deal of support. Farmers, however, have not been unanimous by any means. This was the ease at the last meeting of the Hukereuui branch of the Farmers’ Union, when twenty-six representative fanners wore equally divided, the proposal being carried on the casting vote of the chairman. The main reason for a policy of passive resistance is ostensibly the action of the Government in diverting a large portion of the petrol tax from the purpose for which it was originally established, thus throwing upon county ratepayers a burden from some of which they had been promised freedom. Another section of farmers evidently base their objection upon different, grounds, for, as is stated in a message from Kaitaia printed today, a deputation from the Bay of Islands Ratepayers’ Association ‘ which waited upon the Ho;is. Ransom and Masters

pleaded financial inability to pay j rates. Only a small number of settlers are paying- rates, it was | stated, and those settlers found they had only a small equity in their land. It ‘was contended that none would be able to pay in a short time. Many farmers were said to be in the awkward predicament of the individual between the devil and the deep sea: they had no money with which to buy fertilisers and pay rates as well, and without fertilisers they could not keep their land in' a productive state. There would seem to be those who urge refusal to pay rates as a matter of principle and those who base their refusal upon the plea of -poverty. Whatever may! be the moving force, there can 'be no question as to the consequences of a policy of passive resistance such as is proposed. Already it is seriously affecting the collection of county rates in various parts of the country, and, if allowed to go unchecked, must undermine local body control and authority, and lead to a state of chaos. It should be appreciated by the Farmers’ Union that in asking riding members of county councils to refuse to support the striking of rates it is a'.sking them to do that which must result in their withdrawal from office, for, according to the obligations entered into when sworn in as a councillor, a riding member must act in accordance with the law, which requires that rates must he struck to meet expenditure incurred by a council in carrying out the work with which it is entrusted. This, by the way. It is simply mentioned to indicate one direction in which the coming of chaos may be hastened. The non-payment of rates in East Coast districts has resulted, in the appointment of receivers: that suggests a development if the policy of passive resistance is persisted in. Passive resistance is no new method adopted for the remedying of grievances, real *or assumed. It has been used, for instance, by Gandhi and his followers in, India, and it was a weapon wielded by Nonconformists in England as a protest against rating for Church educational purposes. Famous men, among whom may be mentioned Dr. John Clifford, had their goods and chattels seized in settlement of unpaid rates, and eventually went to gaol rather than obey the rate collectors’ demands. These are possibilities the repetition of which it is to be hoped was given due thought by the promoters of passive resistance by the farmers of New Zealand. It is unfortunately a fact that many farmers cannot, pay their rates. It is imperative that they should be given all the relief it is possible to give, but the aim of everybody should be to assist rather than hinder the State in meeting the great problems which confront it today,