FARMERS AND TARIFFS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20087, 26 October 1928, Page 16

FARMERS AND TARIFFS.

Sir,' —The papers havo been full of speeches lately about the Farmers' Union or tho Country Party chaps, stating that if you take all the customs duties off then tho farmers would be prosperous. 1 Ret Hansard but must admit I do not read all the speeches. I looked up the copies about customs tariff speeches and rearl them through. What a lot they talked about in Parliament! I was late to bed and late for the cows in tho morning. As far as I could see the Labour Party members wanted to increase the customs duty on everything. Mr. Leo Martin, the member for this district, is in the Farmers' Union and also in tho Labour Party, so I was interested o know how he got on. On October 11, 19 7, (Hansard, page 883 ) k Mr. Jordan, the Labour member for Manukau, moved to increase the customs duty on woollen goods and Mr. Lee Martin "voted for it. and if the Reform Party members had not voted against it there * would have been an increased duty on woollen goods. Then, no doubt, the price of all woollen clothing would have gone up. Then the same night Mr. McCombs, the Labour member for Lyttelton, wanted to increase the customs duty on boots and again the Reform members stopped him. Fancy increasing the price of boots for everybody! Mr. Lee Martin's name is not "on the division list. Where did he get to ? Electors in Raglan ought to remember these joints. ELECTOR.