STOP POINTING AND GET TO WORK

Chronicle (Levin), 17 April 1947, Page 6

STOP POINTING AND GET TO WORK

-Press Association

' MINISTER HAS A TILT AT FEDERATED FARMERS

By Teleg"~ph-

YVBLLijN G1UN, April 10. ' ' Federated Parmers seem hurt at luy pointing a hnger at some anonymous tired farmers m tne Gisborne distriet but after all it was the tarm-ers eoncerned who started this linger pointing business. Moj eover, the Federated Farmers' organisation ltself lias ben making' rather a speeiaity at. pointing Iingers at other sections of the community for quite a long tiine now. in faot ii has almost earned the aiias of Federated Fiuger Fointers," said the Minister of Rehabilitation today. "in the first plaee 1 expressed my appreeiation of the exeellent war eli'ort of our farmers in my previous statement. This dan be said of all our workers but I pointed out that the farmers were in no worse position than other seetions of the eommunity. 1 am quite ready to believe that many farmers now getting on in years are genuinely industrially tired and unable to rnaintain their wartime eft'orts in faee of postwar dilfieulties but that by no means justilies them in 'restricting their eft'orts a littie' and not making full use of their land at a time when the. people on the other side of the world are aetuaiJy starviug and while thousands of youug exservieemen are eagerly scouring the eountry for farms. Let them give up the 'unequal struggle' and sell their farms to these exservieemen and en'joy a well-earned retirement. It will be interesting to see just how many of those complaining ' bureaucratic controls and interf erenee ' are suffieiently fed up to want to let tlieir farms go. "The Lands Department is subdividing and developiug land as fast as it can for the settlement of exservieemen with a resulting increase in the productiou oi: foodstuffs but that is not an overnight job and we urgently need reasonably developed properties for the early eompletion of our land settlemeni and reliabilitation programme. Not my linger alone will be pointing at any tired farmer who adopts the dog-in-tlie manger attitude shown by tlie anonymous farmers concerned, but under the eircumstanees 1 t'ee! I will have 5000 fellovv exservieemen scornfully pointing their fingers in the same direction. " The fertiliser shortages were quoteci in the original statement, said the Miu ister, but the aetual position was that Ihe supply of fertiliser was, if anything, gradually improving with better nrospects in view. Under the preseni quota system every farmer was assured of receiving his fair share. ' ' Federated Farmers suein to be daring nie to do some linger pointing ai other sections of the eommunity whieh have recently been indulging in direet aetion in the industrial lield," added the klinister. "I want to emphasi»o now that 1 think just as badly of any other vvorker who disregards eonstitu tional procedure and strikes or goea slow to acliieve his ends, as 1 do oi' farmers who are taking this attitude. Whether it is farmers, miners, water'siders, shop' assitants, eivil servants or servieemen, all member of the eommunity have an obligation to New Zealand and to the Mother Country to give of their best and to negotiate reasonably and constitutionally for improved eonditions and pay instead of defending their self-accused members. Federated Farmers have underlined their guilt by inviting me to include otlier seetions oi the eommunity in my linger pointing. The Government has been eontinually badgered by Federated Farmers, along vvith certain other organisations, to intcrfere with other elasses of workefs who have adopted unconstitutional methods. I need hardly mention the hullabaloo that vvould arise at any suggestion that the Government interfere with farmers suspectcd of restricting their ell'orts for the same motives. "For Heaven's sake let tliis contin ual inter-seetional sneering and biekering stop and let us all -do our best for ourselves and our kinsfolk, " the Minister pleaded. ______