ATTACKS ON THE FARMERS' UNION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12393, 1 July 1902, Page 3

ATTACKS ON THE FARMERS' UNION.

TO THE EDITOR. • Sin,—l liavo already intimated that it is ! ] neither my intention to answer tlio letter t of every Irroaponsiblq ecribblor nor to per- , mit tho people " who are going about look- t ing for a fight" to dtaw our union into an r unnecessary'and mischievous quarrel; but ( the letter, of your correspondent W. D, ] Mason, like 'mo9t of tlio letters he writes,. | is «o manifestly unfair and one-sided that r I proposo to eAy a few Words concerning t it. .' I, 1 do so, Sir, chiefly because Mr Mason | j belongs to that class'of man who .has dono j more to prevent conciliation between em- | ployeo and employer than all the " greedy . , monopolists" he professes to denounce. As t a matter of fact, Mr Mason and his coterie i aro the Tories of the' Labour party—the men who in ft free country like this would j not only demand (aa tlioy liavo a perfect ( right to do) tlio right of freedom of speech ■ and action for tliomsclvos, but deny to \ everybody who does not see eye to eyo with them the very privileges they profess to hold so sacred. To call those men Liberals is : , an insult to the name of Liboral. I Mr Mason's .object now is to cause dis-' sension between the farm workers and tho farmers by" attempting to show that tlio Farmers' Ultioil' is'bmiftßod to tho interests , of tho farmers'•lianas;'and ho has trotted; out the half-holiday business as a case in point. Now, every sensible man who is not ■ a " crank," and Ims had any exporionce of farm woVk, knows that. holidays on a farm | must bo largely a matter of arrangement, i and that it i 9 as impmsiblo to lay .down i a hard-and-fast half-holiday rule as it would bo to rogulnto tlio wenthor. I liavo been both an employee on a. farm and-an em- ■ ployer, and I flatter mysolf that I know my | position in both capacities, and from years of practical experience I liavo no hesitation in saying that arbitrary, holidays on a farm would never work. Take Central Otago, for instance. When I farmed there our men seldom went out before 10 in tho morning in winter, and could do very little all day for about three months. After the frost broko lip we had only a couple of months to got our crops in, and consequently had to hurry up tho work, and any practical man knows that the saving of crops must bo attended to, and that there are wet days and frosty days and windy days, and nil sorts of conditions to be taken into consideration. Our union knows that, and, a3 a consequence, would not support an' impracticable proposal. Neither will any Bonsiblo farm hand. Tlio rest of Mr W. D. Mason's letter calls for little criticism, inasmuch as it carries its own condemnation on its face. Those who dare to thipk differently from Mr Mason aro guilty, of "6tupid opposition." The labour organisations know the farmers' interests best, and tho farmer ought to sow and reap, pay taxed, and lot Mr Mason and his friends put the whole world right for him. Wo meet men like Air Mason overy day, but strango to say, although their advico is very seldom token, the world docs not stand still; farming even goes on, farmers' unions survive all tho scathing criticisms, and not 911 ly survive but prosper. In conclusion, I may bo. permitted to say, Sir, as I said before, that tlie attempts to sow dissension brtween our farmers and their men will not be countenanced by me, and so "long as I am secretary for tho union Mr Mason and his Socialistic friends will not manage to drag mo into any such quarrel, because _ I am one of those who ooliove that tho interests of tlio farmer and his employee aro on? and the same; that mutual consideration' ' and " givo-and-takc " are tho only lines on which farm work can 1)0 successfully carried on; that the farmer ought to study tho interests of his man, and the man tho interests of his employer, and that both ought to work harmoniously for their common good; and, furthermore, I would assert that the man who is always trying to set class against class, -master against man, ami town against country, is as iinpatriotio as the man who takes the part of the enemy when Ins country is.at war, and is no friend to any chwg of the community. Mr Mason has done his best to have "wigs 011 the green." but ho has failed, for, to use a colonialism, " We are nttt having any, tliank you."—l am, etc., . J. J. Raiibat. Provincial Secretary N.Z.F.U.