COUNTRY QUOTA

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 195, 16 May 1944, Page 6

COUNTRY QUOTA

Serious Danger Seen In

Removal MR. HOLLAND’S VIEW

“It is the Government’s intention and determination to remove the country quota,” said the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Holland, speaking at Upper Hutt last night That would be the third and final blow at the primary producer. The other two were the Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Act and the Local Elections and Polls Amendment 4«t. ■ . ~ “Whether we like it or not,” said Mr. Holland, “New Zealand is essentially a primary producing country, and I suggest it always will be. Approximately half of the total goods required to produce our standard of living must be imported because we cannot produce them here. There can be no success in the cities of the Dominion unless there is prior success in the country.” Since 1881, with only two minor amendments in the meantime, the country quota had been in operation to ensure that the primary producers had adequate representation in Parliament, or, in other words, to provide a balance between. population on the one hand and production on the other.

After nearly nine years of office the Labour Party saw the writing on the wall and intended to remove the country quota because it thought that would hold it in office. “It has been estimated, that, if the quota is removed, there will be eight more city seats and eight fewer country seats —or 16 fewer seals to advocate the claims of the farmer,” said Mr. Holland. “Seeing that the Labour Party prospers more in the town than in the country, one can readily see their motive.

“In my opinion, if the country quota is removed and the farmers are denied the right of adequate representation it Parliament, it will be a colossal disaster for the whole Dominion, city as well as country. “The one thing that can stop the Government is a healthy public opinion, mobilized and expressed within the iaw, so strong that the Government will not dare to fly in the face of it.”