FARMERS' ELECTIONEERING PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 October 1918, Page 6

FARMERS' ELECTIONEERING PROBLEM.

••*r.V, To tlle Editor, Sir, —The result of the Wellington Central Election has caused many farmers, myself included, to think ■ very hard about what will be the result of a general election, which cannot now be far off. It is one thing to put out the present crowd of politicians (many of them badly want a spell), but it is a horse of another coior to put their opponents in their place. The Government have worried us from Dan to Beersheba, and deserve to be hauled over the coals, and I have no manner of doubt that they will have a lot to answer for when the electors get a chance to air their grievances. What I resent more than anything else is to bs told that if I criticise any of the Government's actions that I am liable to be put in gaol= The position has become intolerable, and is a case of the tail wagging the dog. For forty years I have been in the habit of freely expressing my political sentiments, and I am afraid I can't hold them in much longer. I must be brief, and there are such a. lot of annoyances that I could expatiate on, such as railway annoyances, six o'clock closing, profiteering. The big merchants are coining money at our expense, and the Government refuses to move in the way of curbing their outrageous profits. But on the other hand, twe might be worse off. The old slogan of "win the war first" is getting state. New Zealand has done her share aud more than her share and can now let the Americans finish the job. The Premier's talk of sending the last mm and spending the last shilling requires the authority of the electors. The members of the House have clung to their seats for two years longer than they were elected for, and its high time they gave an account of their stewardship and quitted telling us that they can't trust us to vote, as we do not understand the position and might vote wrongly.' Now here's the difficulty: If we put them out, who can we put in ? It's either a farmers' representative or a Labor one, and I have no timo for a Labor member. He wants to shorten the workman's hours from eight to six hours. He wants to false his pay from twelve shillings to anything he can get. He wants, to get his bread,, meat, huter, etc., at about half the present prices, and to bring this state of workers' paradise about he proposes that the land tax . should he doubled and the farmer made to work a little longer for his ill-earned gains. I only work from daybreak to dark myself and still remain only— A POOR FARMER. j Tataraimaka, 6th October.