THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, June 8, 1939. FARMER-POLITICS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23829, 8 June 1939, Page 10

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, June 8, 1939. FARMER-POLITICS

The picture of the farming industry which has been presented in Dunedin at the conference of the Otago Provincial Council of the Farmers’ Union is in depressing contrast with the evidence of the hard work and ability of the man on the land that is manifest in the rural exhibits at the Winter Show. Yet these two contrasting commentaries upon the state of farm production in New Zealand are, in the present circumstances, in the most essential sense complementary. It was suggested by Mr Mulholland, the Dominion president of the Farmers’ Union, in his address to the conference that the urban population is out of sympathy with the farmer, indifferent to his problems and impatient at his reiteration of them. That may to a certain extent be the case, but it can confidently be said that the town-dweller in New Zealand is fundamentally aware of the vital importance of primary production in the economy of his country, and gives pride of place to the people of no nation in recognising the integrity of the farmer’s work and in extolling the quality of the fruits of his -labour. If some lack of patience with the fanner’s troubles does exist —and the premise is debatable —then is it not possible that the farmers are themselves to blame? They are not, and have never within living memory been, incapable of voicing their dissatisfactions. Their union is a powerful and influential organisation. But the leader of the National Party offered a most pertinent comment upon the necessities which govern the farmer’s case at the present time when he told the conference that “ when they put up a fight they must do more than merely make a noise. They must know what they wanted, and know why they wanted it.”

As an instance of the diversity of opinion which prevails among farmers, extending into the sphere of what may be called farmer-politics, nothing could be more striking than the addresses to the Otago conference by the Dominion and Provincial presidents of the Farmers’ Union respectively. Both Mr Mulholland and the local president, Mr Michelle, were agreed in expressing a doubt whether the proposal, which as yet has come in very tentative form from the Government, for the extension of the guaranteed price to a larger range of farm produce would meet the present difficulties of the farmer. Mr Michelle’s comment that fixed prices would, to satisfy the producers’ needs, require to be much above present export values, and so would inevitably increase taxation over the whole community, was a fair and thoughtful observation upon the debatable merits of this proposal. But when it came to consideration of another proposal which has been widelyadvocated throughout New Zealand, the removal of control of the rate of exchange to permit it to “ run free,” these two Farmers’ Union executives were at once at variance in their views. Mr Michelle stated what is now generally admitted, that the previous increase in the exchange rate has by now been cancelled in increased costs, and expressed the opinion that a further increase would probably bring about a similar eventual result. Mr Mulholland, assuming, as it appears from his reported remarks, that the farmers are unanimous in wanting a free exchange, advanced this device as a necessary remedy for their ills. When so great a diversity of opinion is to be found among the farmers themselves as to the methods that might be adopted to assist them in a time of hardship and uncertainty, it is scarcely to be wondered at if the non-rural community is occasionally disposed to be critical of farmer-politics. The gravity of the problems that are facing the man on the land to-day must be acknowledged by all thoughtful people. Mr Hamilton’s searching and disturbing statement to the conference showed that production is declining, lands are deteriorating, simply because farming cannot at the present time be made to pay. And crisis in the farming industry would spell crisis for every section of the New Zealand people. But, recognising, as they must do, that the basic cause of this position is the uneconomically high standard of wages and cjosts ruling in the Dominion, the public still is entitled to expect that the farmers, in seeking to bring pressure to bear on the Government to correct this state of unbalance, should make their approach with a united mind, prepared to demonstrate the worth of what they propose and its real and permanent value in bringing them the relief they so urgently require.