THE WAR EFFORT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 62, Issue 4403, 17 March 1941, Page 4

THE WAR EFFORT

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT ? MR SEXTON’S VIEWS. When, at the annual meeting of the Ta Awamutu branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, Mr Wallace Hodgson proposed that a remit should be sent to the Waikato sub-provincial annual conference urging the formational Government, some interesting comments were heard. Mr H. Heddon urged members to be careful lest they should hurt themselves. An election was coming on, and he felt that if no election took place as the result of the formation of a National Government, the farming community might be treated as a nonentity. It Was, he asserted, very seldom that any Government survived after a war; the whole situation seemed to be in the laps of the gods. “THREE POWERFUL INFLUENCES.” Mr A. C. A. Sexton, vice-president of the Auckland Provincial Executive, asked to express his opinion, said there was a great deal in what the last speaker had stated. Farming was facing its most serious crisis for forty years, and the farmers would have to stick solidly together, otherwise they would “ get left.” There was a lot to be said in favour of a National Government, yet its formation would not affect production. The outlook for the farmers was most serious. One of the objects of a National Government would be to hold them down. In New Zealand there were three great interests, namely (1) Labour, at present the dominant party; (2) the commercial and financial interests, which commanded a very great influence with the present Government; and (3) the farmers. The first two were very strongly organised. The farmers were essentially individualists, fair-minded enough to see too much of the other fellow’s ” point of view. To him it seemed that the idea of a Coalition Government was not one to be chased. As far as war effort was concerned, Coalition would not assist much, as remarkable progress was being made, and the Government was fully seized of the seriousness of the position. Mr Hodgson remarked that at the end of the war the farmer would realise that neither party was any good to him;; they made all sorts of promises which they never kept. THE FORTY-HOUR WEEK. When a remit dealing with the 40hour week was being considered, Mr C. J. FUiy held that they should press for its abolition. With the high rates of pay and overtime the farmers would be left to maintain production, or increase it, against overwhelming odds. The 40-hour week added to costs, and its abolition Would tend to stop the rise in costs. Mr J. Rea said the farmers should be careful. If the Government “ dug in its toes ” and fought the organisation (at the Hutt railway workshops) it might result in the formation of another political party with a more militant attitude. This present party had learned its lesson, and they should let the Government get out of the mess of its own creation. It would take the farmers ’another six years to educate another party. Both remits were sent forward to the Waikato annual conference.