SWING FROM LABOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22675, 12 March 1937, Page 12

SWING FROM LABOUR

DISAPPOINTED FARMERS EFFECTS OF LEGISLATION Amazement at the extent of the swing away from the Government among the dairy farmers in the North Island was expressed by Mr. S. G. Holland, M.P. for Christchurch North, when giving his impressions in Christchurch after a fortnight's organising tour on behalf of the National Party in a number of North Island electorates.

Mr. Holland addressed meetings at Te Kuiti, Taumarunui, New Plymouth, Stratford, Wanganui, Palmerston North and Levin. He said the tour was a great surprise to him, because of the enthusiasm shown for the National Party.

To give an indication of the way in which the National Party was gaining strength, Mr. Holland said that in the Wellington-Manawatu-Taranaki division over 10,000 members had been signed up. "And they are all financial members, who have paid their subscriptions," he added. He said he had made it his business to find out why the dairy farmers were so discontented with the Labour Government. He found that everybody he approached told the same story. There were several reasons why farmers had turned against the Government. One was that they considered that their costs had risen out of all proportion to the guaranteed price. Another was that tney were having- great difficulty in obtaining labour at prices they could afford to pay, with the result that there were more women and children in the cowsheds to-day than ever before in the history of the industry. The same conditions existed in regard to haymaking; he was told that more women were seen in the hayfields than for 50 years. The farmers also considered that the loss of New Zealand's advantage over Australian, Polish and Siberian butter was due to the Government's control measures, notwithstanding the statement of the Minister of Agriculture to the contrary. The loss of control over their products was a burning question with them.