FARMERS AND POLITICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 September 1930, Page 6

FARMERS AND POLITICS.

Whatever else may be said of the Southland branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union it has at least the courage of its opinions and docs not hesitate to tackle thorny questions. Its recent protest against the continuance of a subsidy for the steamer service between Bluff and Melbouriie came as a surprise to many in Southland, where the local value of the steamer service Is, naturally, likely to be rated fairly high. What the executive of the Farmers’ Union saw was that by subsidising unprdfitable public services the country is wasting funds which must be drawn, in the long run, more from the farmer than from any other class of taxpayer. Realising this the union was justified in urging the cessation of the subsidy, and it is to its credit that it refused to be swayed from its decision by local interests, which desire the maintenance of the steamer service. At its meeting last week the executive discussed the thorny question of the advisability of the union entering politics and linking up with the Country Party, of which at present Mr. Rushworth is the solitary'representative in Parliament. The question of whether the union as an entity should ally itself to any political party is for its members to decide. Mitch could be said for ami against the wisdom of such a procedure, ami it is possible that in becoming a political force the union might lose a good deal

of the hold it has obtained amongst the farming community. In the union or out of it, it is quite sound advice to the farmer, as to any .other taxpayer, that he should take a livelier interest in national affairs. Particularly is this the case since the old two-party system has ceased to exist and the chances of any party having a clear majority in the House of Representatives arc considerably less. With a minority Government in office legislation is mostly compromise and _ the power ( of the bureaucrat flourishes amazingly. The voice may be that of a Minister, but the policy he expounds is generally that of the civil servant and usually means, sooner or later, that the tax-payers must find more money to keep the administrative machine workin<r smoothly. No one feels the effect of° higlq taxation more than the farmers, and until they make a serious effort to share in the government of the country by electing those pledged to economy and reform they are likely to go on bearing th burden of high administrative costs and, therefore, heavy taxes.