FARMERS AND POLITICS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23002, 1 April 1938, Page 8

FARMERS AND POLITICS

Recent discussions in various fanners' organisations suggest that there is a measure of trepidation on the part of primary producers to declare themselves politically. The Farmers' Union is the strongest organised body of producers in the Dominion and it claims to be if not non-political at least non-party. In the light of present-day political tendencies, how long can the farmers afford to maintain that attitude? It ,may be expedient for them to claim political freedom between elections —their industry is subject to so many variable conditions that it is impossible for them to be tied down to hard and fast formulae—but in election year it should b6 impossible for any farmers' organisation to remain non-political or even nonparty. Mr. Nash is endeavouring to organise primary production on a set of rigid economic rules; Mr. C. Morgan Williams, M.P., one of his lieutenants, is predicting the doom of the individual small farmer and the triumph of the Russian ideal of collectivism; and even the Minister of Mines, Mr. Webb, says it is all piffle to talk about the farmer being the backbone of the country. A determined attempt is being made to industrialise New Zealand, and, within limits, that may be desirable. But older countries, with much larger populations and a far greater industrial capacity, have come to

realise that agriculture must always be their basic industry. It is for tho fanners of New Zealand to realise this fact, to sink whatever individual differences they may have and to fight for their continued existence, if needs be, with the weapons which are being employed against them—the weapons of politics.