The Press Tuesday, March 3, 1931. The British Farmers' Tour.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20176, 3 March 1931, Page 8

The Press Tuesday, March 3, 1931. The British Farmers' Tour.

In the Mmnke Tfek Boole, 1930. the annual joi&fli of the British National Union, toOT of % British farmers' parte through New Zealww, Austria, and Canada fa., recorded with such care and fullness as to show how high ifs practical value is reckoned, without being exaggerated. The Editor, who is the secretary of the Union, Contributes a long account of the toijr, which is followed by the two offloiAl reports issued by Jir Whitley, the leader of the British pitfty» and by, Mj. A. v. Allan, the leader of the South African members; and after these are printed addresses delivered on shipboard, papers read at the conference between the New Zealand Farmers' Union and Empire Farmers in Wellington, and a short account of the Canadian tour. New Zealand farmers in particular will be chiefly interested in the impressions left on the visitors' minda after their rapid but remarkably thorough inspec-. tion, in their criticisms and suggestions and estimates of future developand so on, especially as impressions generally clarify themlelvea' a, little with time and perhaps criticism takes a firmer tone. < There is no question at all about what impressed the visitors most. Their interest in co-operative methods and institutions was profound and enthusiastic; it ia expressed over and over again, and sometimes even predisposes them to take a too, kindly view. Mr Whitley, for instance, pointa out how New Zealand fibmerdliavo won from the disadvantage of distance from their markets the blessings of co-operation, while their English fellows, cursed by the advantage of a market at their doorstep, remain "tOQf individualistic "in outlookai}<J and he admonishes th<j English farmer, in italic type; to leara lesson of suc-cessfuloo-operationfixttntlie Dominion. But Editor, ,tbk happy song rnnningj iif. his heqa hp looked at the Dominion'* found in.it "little of that yancoor.which so often " «|d controver- " sies of oldir and thanked for this state of virtue * 4 the co-opera-spirit wiK& jieryades the whole community.A' second and closer look might have made him wonder whether the calm of public life in New Zealand were not suspiciously dead. Ajtitongfa Valtlea puzzled the 'ii. good deal, they were satisfarming Was "aproflt<»'jjW business," in which New j&em much} but arable soodvanced." ;;Tbey

cropland inspected that too twonotqiutugb jput back, so that tytio alifceiHjood deterioration; .they tmddm&ud why~so much straw was burnt, when it B%ht be ill .again. One of ifid 'sl&gle r sentences lit' the record lis that which declares , that "grassland management is obviously i "the most important work in the, "future of New- Zealandand one ■jl&gjM-most diifcnrbing S^^Vi£rican tsh" though a-||o^"wflll eoner J tfeebitter e U& Allan, t suf&Qlently i want &> little nich ■ dismal le than se& sh expresses for their work; judicious and friendly unbounded confidence in - wmM&. i,

■«nrdend the decision announced G6xat on Saturday, Cloture With shopjiltfflre, of the offender's' mK Ofrthd eitent of the offence. *' As thb obseeved, , and as too many shapleMpeite know, " shoplifting biHM>minjjf v tpp. pmfdent, and ojust flftfrP"'''. The fact tKat,. the: deli»q(iifi)at on tie oeoasion had stolen a f it { 2& 6d, and fras conviction and - warning because of 'his extreme youthj .6d :tf&deptea a« \ jweeedeiit. ezperieiioe thaj; in times q£ ec'onomio 4eestate becqmtes something Ijke a sgtepiaX Industry. The spirit of lawte&jaesg not only becomes more active, aba qulekly a disregard So far,there has been developmbht of crural ift Ntw-Zealand as a r«?nlt i6s, olthougrh th&re h&s "been i r |fi the nnmber of offenders ! &Qs&ufed Jot tiieft, breach of trust, 1 and fcp'pjpprifttiop of othke 'tries of Australia since the dfr'began tct be aente A yentidgoi Bbom ulift can liajipeii, and does when crime goes Itblitr Itt&ome almpst i/' the Melbourne Agd SO find youths of 18au iding in. the doofeiito,:i of bousehr«aking h &s£ers arderted,' profpssiooal eir associates. - jl&e plainly that "tjho igcd delibenitely into (fa; nature possibly. & elifef. ti»t a criminal K.' 1 ' The mfax tl>6 4«ysafle$ 4 dfialt t&l®8, . haa; £o,ooo^l

BO iSx t . and from the nature of the case anybody who attempts'to supply one will ,have. to make some daring guesses.., There ia the further fact, that conditions in New Zealand are quite different from those' in Australia in bad tithes and good. But this at least can be said safely, and ought to be quid; that neither the police nor the Courts should waste so much time over offences that are not crimes, and that the country which., teaches its people,, that ©rime does not pay, but must be paid for, will have the fewest criminals. •