THE FARMER IN REVOLT.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 188, 4 July 1916, Page 4

THE FARMER IN REVOLT.

[Contributed.] Do my eyes deceive me? Is this some delusion, the resultant of a disordered stomach? No, it cannot be that, my pulse is normal and my digestion sound. Who is the "farmet" anyway? And who is be that be should dare to raise his diminished head and tootle a complaint on bis half-penny whistle? Has not the farmer been tamed for centuries aid taught to run nn a leash? Is be not the lawful prey of any Dick. Tom or Barry who may Bet up in business as merchant, trader, auctioneer, commission agent, etc., and to be "Dictated," "Tomfoolel" and "Harried" by them' Wherefore, then, this insubordination. Is he taking the bit in bis teeth and going, as Jack London would say, "Back to the Wilds?" Ab, no, my masters all, don't De alarmed, you wan't worry about it, will you? He is only playing cup and ball with himself.

Are there not Harbour Boards whose charges come along to him in the end without bis being duly represented? City Councils to spend money polishing the National Front Doors, regardless of the unkempt appearance' of the back ones? Chambers of Comro , 1 mean Dicks, Toms or Harrys, to sit in conclave and devise new methods of disposing of his produce (over bis head)? Shipping Companies to raise their ratea on the slightest pretext? Trade agreements or combines to hedge him in and make bim pay unduly? Agents lor the vendor who will charge bim any commission they like? Politicians ot a class that have never seen a farm or farm life txcept through the large end of a telCEcope? Acclimatisation Societies who dare not trespass themselves but depute their furred and feathered dupes to do it for them? Will not all these see to it that the cup and ball is in working order, and that he will, after reaching the end of his tether, come dutifully back to his place? But predatory habits have a way of coming home to rcost, as the Kaiser is finding. Ttther ropes have a knack of giving way under an unusual strain. If our Farmers realise that the tide of their emancipation has set in, and that they are now coming into their own as did the old lady in allegory, when with the User in the "reverse," the farmer began to feed the cow, the cow began to give the milk, the cat began to kill the rat, the rat bsgan to gnaw the rope, the rope began to hang

the nutcher, the batcher began to kill the ox, the ox began to Ciink the water, the water began to quench the tire, the iite began to bum the stick, the stick began to beat the dog, the dog begun to bite the pig, and the dear eld girl gut along where Bhe wanted after all.

The writer of that allegory saw clsarly through the array of unwilling, selfish helpers, that to get anything done you must go right back to the Farmer. Humph! The Farmer is revolting, is he; straining at the leash? No, baldly; let me see. Yes! Yes! so he is. He dares to talk to Parliament (confound it! one strand gone). He is freezing ana shipping produce personally (gee whiz!' there goes the secjnd strand). Ye Coda!!! He dares to import direct fjr his own use and is free. Verily, the parasitic occupations ate in sackcloth ai.d asms and bemoaning the retribution which has slowly and surtly overtaken them.

Ihen will you hoist the white flag, upon whicb the legend is written "lo Let," by which I presume you mean that having strained the tethtr from your end also, you now depart with jour undue profits and oecide "To Let" the Farmer have the primary place in the country's affairs, to which he is justly entitled as the primary producer: *

„ And now, Dear Farmer, do not change the size ot your headgear, neither lose the head it contains. Be not like the frail sheep dig that joins the dingoes and runs amuk, but run sturdily and with purpose on the off side the pack, round them into the corral, and having given the wasters'their conge, train the remainder to legitimate purposes. Then shall we be able to sjy with a nearer approach to the truth, "this is Coo's own country, somewhat the worse for mistakes made in the past."