FARMERS' UNION RIFT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21326, 29 October 1932, Page 8

FARMERS' UNION RIFT

It is riot, surprising that the Dominion executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Union should have agreed to the severance of the Auckland provincial body from the organisation. Naturally this decision has not been reached without serious consideration and regret, for the strength of the -union lies in its national character. Without Auckland it cannot fulfil its whole function nor claim to represent the united voice of the primary producers. But no matter how "friendly" may be any basis of separation, the reason of the Dominion executive's acquiescence is clearly a refusal to engage in party politics. In recent years it is doubtful if the Auckland policy has not been to put politics and not farming first. Whatever degree of liberty to engage in active politics it has possessed—the provincial secretary stated in October last that the union had always had the power to use its funds for political purposes though up to that time it had never used the power—it adopted a course of aggressive political action that was bound to have disruptive consequences. No political party can possibly be grafted on to an industrial organisation created by men of every shade of political colour. A compact body of propagandists may succeed in establishing a following from the ranks of the members, but the more they achieve in that way the greater becomes the resistance of the others. It is absurd to contend that the majority of the rank and file of the branches of the Auckland Province have followed the political lead of the executive. The question that will immediately arise if separation is persisted in is the future of the Auckland body. How long for instance will it be before local branches are disrupted through the withdrawal of members who will form new bodies affiliated to the Dominion union i Already, it is understood, there have been resignations because of the political acrobatics of the executive. In addition there will be Dominion support from many farmers who have kept aloof on account of the political bias of the past. There may still be a hope, though a faint one, that the Auckland executive will exercise judgment and indulge its political tastes through a distinct organisation.