A FARMERS CRITICISM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 98, 31 August 1942, Page 4

A FARMERS CRITICISM

Sir, —One of the planks of the Farmers' Union is monetary reform, but Mr Mu'lhollancl's report at the annual conference .-held in Wellington lately would belie the fact. It is when lie (Mr Mulholland) takes upon himself the role of a financial critic, that he lays himself in his turn open to criticism.

I have little to say about the first half of his speech—which has its points—marred to some extent by a tedious prologue. lit is the second half, with which I want to deal, fvlr Mulholland commences with a majior error when he compares the bank deposit of 1936 with the deposits in 1942. He points to the increase between those years and assumes that, that increase is purchIng power in the hands of the public. He takes no notice of the fact that about 1934 the £ had been brought back in vallue to 20/- and in 1942 had depreciated to an unr known amount. At the conclusion of the last Avar the depreciation had reached the vicinity of 8/11 and there is reason to doubt it is very much better to-day taking these facts into consideration and. no criticism is valid without them. Mr Mulholland's competence in this direction is nil. He talks of getting back to normal, what is normal? A succession of violent booms and slumps, strikes, lock outs, political unrest, threats of war, and finally war again, this is the only normality we have had for the last 25 years. Is that all Mr Mulholland has to offer a tormented humanity. It would seem so, for later on he ventures to forecast, the future and suggests that lower wages and longer hours will be normal, or the way to get to normal. Well we had some of that last slump, that was the panacia offered us tlien, lower wages, less bujdng power, longer hours, more goods, unemployment, finally starvation in the midst of. plenty and sabotage, the old. weary round again.

A very bad speech without vision and without hope. If Mr Mulhollancl does not learn or won't learn the constitutional elements of the Farmers' Union platform, then the sooner he vacates his present chair and makes room for someone who lives in the present and, whose life did not end in 1914 the better. As it is his present views, or rather the lack of them are a menace to the Farmers' Union and the community. Yours etc., DELEGATE SUB-PROVINCIAL BAY OF PLENTY