THE FARMERS’ DEMONSTRATION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19719, 9 December 1926, Page 6

THE FARMERS’ DEMONSTRATION

Farmers throughout the Wanganui district will scarcely require to be reminded to-day that a meeting which will perhaps affect their interests very materially is to be held, in the city to-night. It has been organised by the Farmers’ Union, not for Wanganui alone but for the whole of the North Island, and the speakers will represent all the provinces of the Island and every important farming district. The meeting has been called because the Farmers’ Union recognises that farming to-day is being carried on in the Dominion under very severe handicaps—so severe, indeed, as to threaten the stability of the agricultural and pastoral industry, and therefore of the whole country. It is felt that the difficulties which the farmers are facing should be explained so that everyone may understand them and that suggested means of remedying the troubles of the times should be put forward for public discussion.

Two Ministers of the Crown will attend the meeting tonight in order to hear what the representative speakers have to say. It is essential that the Government should be well informed concerning the condition of the farming industry and should ascertain the ideas of those who know the industry from the inside as to what is needed to bring about a better condition. By wise legislation and prudent administration the Government perhaps will be able to find means of meeting the needs of the industry, of course with the co-operation of those who are engaged in it. Those who are leading the farmers’ movement would not think for a moment of simply unloading their troubles on the Government and leaving it at that. They understand quite clearly that if better conditions are to be brought about the Government, the farmers and all the people who are generally called the business community must pull together. Put in the fewest possible words, the problem to be solved is the reduction of the cost of farming to a point at which it will be possible for the farmers to make a profit on their produce. Unless they can do so the farming industry will be unable to carry on; at any rate farmers who do not possess large capital resources will have to go to the wall. New Zealand simply cannot afford to let the farming industry drift into bankruptcy, for that would mean national bankruptcy. The business of this country depends entirely upon the success of primary industry so that the business people are as much concerned with the prosperity of the farmers as they are themselves. Business people should form a substantial part of the gathering in His Majesty’s Theatre to-night. Their livelihood as well as that of the farmers will be the subject of discussion.