RURAL CRUSADE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 161, 28 September 1927, Page 13

RURAL CRUSADE

FARMER-MISSIONER MR. C. A. MAGNER’S CAMPAIGN ADDRESS AT NGARUAWAHIA (THE SUN’S Special Representative) NGARUAWAHIA, To-day. “A FORTNIGHT ago he had no idea of entering the arena, so he has not had much time to prepare for this campaign,” said Mr. R. D. Duxfield, introducing Mr. C. A. Magner, whom he described as a young and enterprising New Zealander, to an excellent audience at Ngaruawahia last night. As Country candidate for the Raglan electorate, Mr. Magner had, said the chairman, been practically ignored by the Press, particularly by one paper. “I am leading a mission, a crusade, that ultimately will discredit the present Government in the eyes of the rural community,” the candidate declared. The name “Country Party” was not meant to imply that the party’s platform was to raise barriers between townspeople and country people. On the contrary, the party aimed to serve all interests. “It Is idle to bring forward fanciful land settlement schemes until the land now in occupation is made a business proposition,” said the candidate, after touching on Imperial matters, in which the farmers had done their part without flag-flapping or lip service. He challenged the Minister of Lands to show that his land settlement policy was consistent. LYING ADVERTISEMENTS “Unprepared and deluded people have been gulled by lying advertisements in London papers.” In these terms the candidate condemned what he termed the criminal monthly quota system of immigration, which had had disastrous results in New Zealand. Mr. Magner advocated that the principle “the user pays” should be applied to road maintenance. He favoured the introduction of an agricultural bank, and said the Reform Government had not listened, as patriotic men should have done, to the representations of the farmers’ unions. The Country Party favoured preferential voting at Parliamentary elections. Its attitude toward taxation was a cardinal principle of its platform. The existing system of taxation was lop-sided and aggressive toward the farmer. Protective tariffs should gradually be abolished, and if industries were to be aided the necessary help should be given by subsidies. Protection was unfair and unjust to the farming community. Everyone except the farmer could pass on the extra cost. ABHORRED WAR The Country Party supported a reasonable measure for defence, and favoured the retention of the territorial forces as a disciplinary measure, backed by physical training for youths. He himself held that a properly directed system of education would eliminate war, which he abhorred. Properly equipped and staffed hospitals and maternity homes should be established for the benefit of the people. Other principles adyocated by the Country Party were representation for the primary producer in any system of arbitration, and a general reduction in Government expenditure. Mr. Magner was warmly applauded at the conclusion of his address, and the audience intimated that it would like a further opportunity of hearing him.