The Dominion. FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1918. FARMERS IN COUNCIL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 216, 31 May 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1918. FARMERS IN COUNCIL

Delegates attending the provincial conference of the Farmers' Union showed a wise discretion in rejecting tho proposal laid before thqra at Mastcrton on Wednesday that the union should abandon its non-party attitude in order to "take- up a political stand in the affairs of tho Dominion." Farmers as a body have amply demonstrated their ability to take an active and intelligent part in shaping the public policy of the Dominion, but it docs not by any means follow that they would make their influence tell more effectively in their own tho national interests'by becoming a political party organisation. Mu. Hugh Morrison gave pithy expression to sound -common sense anii to a judgment. that will bo '.vidcly endorsed ivhen he denounced party politics as a curse to any country, and urged his co-delegates to maintain the non-political character of their organisation. It is undoubtedly the case as .matters stand in New Zealand that a body like the Farmers' Union, organised to deal with public questions, and particularly thoso affecting the producing interests, on their merits, would be started downhill if it were turned into a political party machine. It is the worst defect of our existing political methods . that they too often exclude the fair and open consideration of public problems and substitute action, or more often inaction, based on a party compromise. As it is constituted the Farmers'. Union is free from such hampering and deaden-, ing restrictions, and _ it is largely ' for .this reason that it is. a power, in the land. No one, of/course,' would dream of suggesting that farmers should abstain from taking a'due part in the political lifo of the country, but even at the narrow-

est view they would bo unwise and shortsighted to attempt to enclose themselves politically in a watertight compartment. Even if they were intent_ only upon protecting and promoting their own interests as primary producers they would have more to hope from combining with other sections of the community, but no one can follow the proceedings at periodical conferences of the Farmers' Union without realising that it habitually faces and deals with all public questions from a very much broader standpoint, and that a national loss as well as a loss to farmers would be entailed if the union were converted into a political organisation. The discussion at Mastcrton j the other day is chiefly-interesting! as serving to emphasise the great j national'value of a powerful organ- j isation which deals freely and in a practical spirit with public questions of all kinds, and at the same time refuses as a matter of standing policy to be drawn into party politics.

It is not more evident that the Farmers'' Union would contract its working scope and probably weaken its present position and 'influence by exchanging a non-party for a political attitude than that, the activities to which it is now devoted make in a valuable degree for national progress, and at the same time tend ,to renovate and improve our politics. ■ The most promising way of escape from the stereotyped routine of party politics undoubtedly is to concentrate upon measures, without regard to party interest or welfare. It is precisely upon these lines that the Farmers' Union is now working. Without actually engaging in politics it is a great political force and is likely to become a x greater force as time goes on. Its delegates meet as farmers and primarily as representing farming interests, but in a country at the stage of development tlie Dominion has reached the essential interests of the farmer aro closely identified with those of tho whole population. Tins union is thus admirably placed to focus public atlention iipon questions of real importance and to.stimulate a public demand for useful and progressive reforms which the most casehardened politicians will b'j unablo to resist. Denunciations of the politician and politics are in everybody's mouth, but the existing state of affairs can only bo amended by the development of a more active and intelligent interest in public questions on the pari, of the people who send politicians to Parliament, hi stimulating this development the Farmers' Union takes a far more effective part in Hie political life of the country than if it concentrated its energies upon retui'niug a given number of men to Parliament with its own particular brand on them. Its natural line of advance and l.hr one from which most is to be hoped is to neck tho co-operation of other bodies and groups of people throughout the country, who aro prepared to work

! for and support sane and progressive ideas and progressive measures irrespective of the considerations ordinarily described as political. Ample evidence was given at the conference which has just ended that there is a wide Held for useful co-operation between the Farmers' Union and other groups throughout the country, lu regard tu education, for instance, delegates advocated and voted almost unanimously in favour of a sweeping policy of reform in keeping with the spirit of tho times, notably in the matter of offering such salaries to teachers as would tend to raise the standard of the profession. Dealing with this _ question delegates vitro in the strictest sense looking to tho interests of the section of the community they represent, but they were at the same, time demanding reforms wliich arc called for equally in the interests of the whole population. Much the .same niiqht bo_ said of various other questions raised at the late conference and at many others at which farming representatives have met and conferred.