THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: Farmers deserve 'a fair crack of the whip', says Ulster PM

From the News Letter, July 15, 1930
The Ulster Premier Lord Craigavon, first from the left, with the Minister of Agriculture, Sir Basil Brooke, second from left, watch tractor ploughing students gain some valuable tips in November 1939. PICTURE: News Letter ArchivesThe Ulster Premier Lord Craigavon, first from the left, with the Minister of Agriculture, Sir Basil Brooke, second from left, watch tractor ploughing students gain some valuable tips in November 1939. PICTURE: News Letter Archives
The Ulster Premier Lord Craigavon, first from the left, with the Minister of Agriculture, Sir Basil Brooke, second from left, watch tractor ploughing students gain some valuable tips in November 1939. PICTURE: News Letter Archives

Pessimism regarding the agricultural outlook in Ulster for 1930, rather than optimism, was the keynote of at least one of speeches at the opening of Cushendall Agricultural Association's Show at Cushendall the previous day reported the News Letter on this day in 1930.

Councillor Joseph Maguire, the chairman of the association, who presided, said that hopes of a better year had not been realised, and everything pointed to a season of even worse returns than in 1929.

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The Northern Ireland Prime Minister, Viscount Craigavon, who performed the opening ceremony, received enthusiastic welcome in Cushendall.

He said that he and his colleagues in the Ulster government were hopeful that within a reasonable time it might be possible, by some form of protection, to give the Ulster farmer “a fair crack of the whip”.

The Prime Minister, after reference to the beautiful surroundings, said farming in Ulster was a “very acute problem”. He said that Sir Edward Archdale, the farming minister, was a “ray of sunshine” for the farmers throughout the province. He said: “I now of no man who has devoted himself more wholeheartedly to the welfare of the agricultural community than the Minister of Agriculture.

Addressing the concerns of farmers in Northern Ireland Viscount Craigavon said: “The government is unable to do very much. It is the self-reliance of the people themselves that will bring back prosperity. But I am hopeful, and my colleagues are hopeful, that within a reasonable time, it may be possible by some form of protection – and I have always been madly keen in favour of keeping out foreign stuff - to give the farmer in Ulster a fair crack of the whip.

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“I see no other policy on the horizon at the moment that will do good, both to agriculture and to industry, than some duty upon foreign manufactured articles, in order that all our industries may have a chance of competing the markets of the world.

“Nothing else, in my opinion, will do any good. The rest is only really fiddling at the question.

“Therefore it is up to everybody to do what they can do to bring pressure upon the British government to give us a chance, so that the farmer out, at any rate, earn an honest living and not be dependent upon doles or any other artificial assistance from the government.”