The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1059, 11 September 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1879.

It w n»>c nfteii that we concur with the es,|>E«.\«c<l tit the Australaaian. That paper ti > n the side tt> ui in pwlitica. It has grown strongly Conservative in the strujcyle the !scrrj* administration, and writes must bitterly against anything having the semblance of Liberalism. It waxes learned at times on the political situation in Xcw Zealand, and Sir George Grey in particular. In fact, the aged knight receives a little attention when the editor has gr»>wsi weary of writing down, and the Australasian readers have gr*»wn tired of reading about, Mr. Kerry, and all the B's in the compositor's cases have been exhausted. But, in the number that caine to band to-day, we have something more vektmo **"»" the blackguarding of cither

Mr. Berry—whom the Australasian knows quite well—or Sir George Grey, whom it knows "through a glass darkly," or, rather, through the Christchurch Press and New Zealand Times. The Australasian says : —" The farmers can determine the policy of the country » f the y onl y choose to tate the proper course to do so. Nor do we fear that the power which they could command if they please is in the least danger of being applied to any sinister or injurious use. It is almost impossible to imagine a policy that would be acceptable to the farmers of Victoria and at the same time hurtful to the community of which the farming class form so large a part. In pleading, as they now plead, for the relief of agriculture from the fiscal burdens under which it is at present oppressed, the farmers of the colon}' are advocating the general interest as well and as much as their own. In protesting against taxation levied for the purpose of subsidising ruinons industries in towns, or of being squandered upon the artisan and laboring classes collected in the towns, the farmers arc only taking the ground of sound economy, and at the same time are directing their efforts against a prolific .source of waste, corruption, and degradation to our political and public life." e will not here enter upon a discussion as to the merits or demerits of protection of native industries. The principal question at issue 13 that of political union amongst farmers, an object which is being sought in Victoria by the establishment of tanners' unions. We touched, in a late issue, upon the necessity for the absolute enfranchisement of agriculturists by giving agricultural districts separato representatives instead of combining them with towns. If thw were done, and farmers' unions were established, the tone of our Parliaments would be raised, for we have every confidence in the good sound sense of our farmers. They are away from the numerous influences and petty jealousies which frequently poison the minds of dwellers in towns, and view politics, not as a means to obtain special personal benefit, but as a means to secure honest government as cheaply as possible. We think that it is high time that the farmers of this district asserted their rights, and nothing will enable them to do so effectually as farmers' unions, through which they could speak as one man. So far as this district is concerned, we have much to gain and nothing to lose by the greater political activity which is showing itself amongst our farmers. They are men whose judgment may be relied upon as cut iiiin to favor that which will be productive of benefit to others as well as themselves.