FARMERS PROTEST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25213, 30 April 1943, Page 2

FARMERS PROTEST

I MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE I UNSYMPATHETIC ATTITUDE "Whenever he addresses meetings of I farmers he stirs up strife and ill- | feeling," said Mr J. S. Elliot at a ! meeting yesterday of the Otago Proi vincial Council of the New Zealand i Farmers’ Union, when he submitted a I remit from the Middlemarch oranch ! expressing complete iack of confidence i in the Minister of Agriculture and : Marketing, Mr J. G. Barclay. The . remit added that the branch considered 1 that Mr Barclay’s attitude throughout : his term of office had not only been j unsympathetic, but antagonistic to- ! wards the interests of the farmers, and j in the interests of national unity it I asked for his resignation. The remit, Mr Elliot said, expressed the unanimous opinion of his branch, and he was sure it was the opinion of farmers throughout New Zealand. Mr Barclay could not be held responsible for all the actions of the Government which had so roused the farming community, but as Minister of Agriculture he must, be prepared to take the blam'e. "Possibly the Government may take no notice of such a resolution,” Mr Elliot added, “ but if we do not put torward a protest the Government will continue living in a fool’s paradise, thinking that we have no complaints.” The resolution was really a protest against the impositions forced on the farmers during Mr Barclay’s term of office. Mr D. Grant seconded the motion. Mr R. McCaw said he did not agree that the council should sit in judgment on anyone in high office. He did not believe the resolution would do any good. After discussion, a sub-committee which was appointed for the purpose redrafted the resolution, which, was carried unanimously in the following form:—"That in the interests of national unity and in view of the widespread unrest among the farming community, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr J. G. Barclay, be urged to adopt a more sympathetic attitude to farmers’ problems.