THE FARMERS’ FATE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 223, 20 August 1937, Page 2

THE FARMERS’ FATE

HON. J. G. COBBE’S WARNING

SOCIALIST POLICY CONDEMNED

“It must not be forgotten that the introduction of Socialism in New Zealand means the adoption of the Bolshevic system of collective farming, under which the prosperous farmers are simply ordered off their farms and the land taken by the state without the payment of a single penny as compensation,” declared Hon. J. G. Cobbe, M.P., in the course of an address at Hnlcombe last evening. “This statement,” he added “may be disputed by some Socialist who does not want the real aim of his party to be dkclosed at the moment. But in support of my statement I shall read part, of a recent magazine article by Mr Morgan Williams, Socialist member for Kaiapoi, in which he indicates plainly what is the real aim of his party. He says: ‘Many of my friends say to me: “The Government is doing a great deal for the wage-worker, for the unemployed, and for the business people, but it is not doing much for the small farmer except to make his life harder!” My reply is: “What can be done for the small farmer? What can be done for the village blacksmith, the saddler, the chaffcutter and all those people who are left behind in the march of time?” He says further, “I have no doubt that the improvements in wages and conditions not only on farms but .in industry generally ’ have made it impossible for many small farmers to employ labour, and have had the effect in many instances of driving the farmers wives and children into the cowsheds. From the point of view of political strategy it was a great blunder on the part of the Seddon Liberals to settle thousands of workers on the land as individual farmers. Economic and social forces combined have doomed the small farmer to gradual extinction.’ “This is the written and published statement of a Socialist member of Parliament, representing a district in which there are a large number or, small farmers,” said Mr Cobbe. “And is an outspoken statement of the objective of the partv in power to-day. Of course, if the small farmer prefers to leave his farm and homo and become one of many hundreds of workers on a collective State farm, under the orders of overseers, his best plan is to bid goodbye to his freedom and manhood and vote for the Socialists. On a State farm he won’t have either to think or plan : he will only have to eat and sleen and do the work ordered by a Socialist inspector. It is almost incbnceivable that here in this loyal, prosperous and free country, people of British blood, and of at least ordinary intelligence. can be led astray by the silly vapouring of men, many of whom would not be listened to oil any question of ordinary business, and who actually have the supreme audacity to suggest that the New Zealand small farmer is doomed to extinction. On the contrary, I look forward to a great extension of the small farmer class under the fostering influence of sane, enlightened and honest legislation. Those foolish visionaries who dream of introducing the Russian system of collective farming and State ownership of all property into New Zealand have evidently forgotten that the last thing a Britisher will part with is his property. “WON’T BE DECEIVED.”

“A system that may be imposed upon hordes of ignorant men with Tartar and Mongolian blood in their veins will never deceive the New Zealand farmer, be he small or large, or ensnare .him within the chains of Socialistic dictatorship.. The fact that -such things are in men’s minds to-day shows plainly the need for organisation, in defence of their rights amongst those concerned. “I assert that the tendency of the legislation of the Government of New Zealand to-day is definitely towards revolutionary Socialism,” continued Mr Cobbe. ‘‘One has only to study recent enactments or listen to the utterances of members of the present dominant political party to learn that its object is to bring down to a lower level those whose ability, enterprise, work and thrift have secured for their families and themselves a competence, and divide their means amongst those who have failed to take full advantage of the opportunities which a new country like New Zealand offeis to all. Surely commonsense should teach everyone that a policy of levelling down the competent man does not necessarily mean the elevation of the incompetent or of the man who has not made the most of his opportunities. “There is no doubt that the avowed object of the Socialist is the abolition of the private ownership of land and other property. It need not be thought that what I have said is m-any way far-fetched. The question of the abolition of the right of yinheritance has been discussed at a conference field in Wellington and is part of the Socialistic programme. It is time for every man who owns even a quarter of an acre of land to consider the seriousness of the position.”