"BAD AS A DROUGHT."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19720, 20 August 1927, Page 14

"BAD AS A DROUGHT."

LANG MINISTRY'S POLICY. CONDEMNED BY FARMERS. In his presidential address at the annual conference of the Farmers and Settlers' Association of New South Wales recently, Mr. T. I. Campbell compared the effects of the Lang Government's legislation with those of a drought. Mr. Campbell saia that hitherto it had been a fairly general belief that Australia could stand any form of government, and that droughts alone brought disaster. That belief had now been proved to be a fallacy owing to the class legislation that had been enacted under the reign of the Lang Government during the past two years, when more one-sided legislation had been put on the Statute Book than during all the period prior thereto under constitutional government. The trend of this legislation had been to add largely to the alieady high cost of production, with the result' that many producers had been forced to limit their operations to what could be accomplished by their own labour and that of their families.' One effect of this had been to reduce considerably the number of employees engaged in rural occupations, and this must inevitably lead to a still further drift to the city. Another effect was tlrt> probable decrease in prirnarv production. During the last election compaign, continued Mr. Campbell, Mr. Lang and his candidates had posed as the friends of the farmers, to whom much would be granted if the Labour Party were returned. Unfortunately for the country, Mr. Lang was put into power—which he boasted at the time was due to the farmers' vote—bv a slender majority, and had brought in what he never tired of "humanitarian legislation," ostensibly in the interests of what he called "'the working class." ... in actual practice, said Mr. Campbell, this "humanitarian legislation was haying a boomerang effect on the very people whom it was intended to benefit More legislation of a similar character was threatened from the same quarter, if the opportunity were given, without, apparently, the slightest consideration of its ultimate'effects from an economic standpoint. A continuance of that legislation could not fail to result in an eeonomic collapse that would be disastrous. After two years of this socialistic legislation by a workers' Government, added Mr. Campbell, it was deplorable to note that in April last there was an increase of 2000 registered unemployed, as compared with April the previous vear, and it was generally recognised that there was more unemployment throughout the country than for many years past. This was the achievement of a Labour Government, whose legislation penalised instead of benefited the workers.