MR LAWRY'S ADDRESS.

Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 246, 16 October 1889, Page 2

MR LAWRY'S ADDRESS.

(To MrF. Lawry, M.H.R., per favour of the Auckland Evening Star.)

Sir, —In your address to your constituents on Thursday last yon are reported as having said, "Land monopoly is now virtually killed, because the present Government made ib easy for poor men to obtain land under the perpetual lease system, and themoountry .is being rapidly,,.settled.'.', This, if you made it, and if it is correct, is a most important statement, for there are very many who believe that land monopoly has been the main cause of bringing this grand country to grief, and if ib is now virtually killed, wo may confidently look forward to a time of greab prosperity. I wish to ask you if you are aware that out of the eighteen million acres of land alienated from the Crown in this colony no less bhan seventeen millions are held in large estates averaging over 10,000 acrea each ? Is this the monopoly which you assert is killed 1 If so, how has its death blow been dealt? You must be aware that the holders of this enormous area virtually own New Zealand, they monopolise all the beat and all the most accessible land in the colony. The poor men of whom you speak, and who are now, thanks to the noble conduct, as you infer, of the present Government, able to obtain land under perpetual lease, exist, my dear sir, entirely in your own lively imagination. Ib is true a few have done so in the provincial district of Auckland, where a little land not absolutely inaccessible land is still available, but in the other provinces of New Zealand he cannob do so unless the "poor man." chooses to make his selection on mountain ranges faraway from civilisation,and the haunts of men, and with soil of such a character and so situated that the land monopoliser has hitherto nob considered it worbhy of grabbing. Do you think your " poor man " would get much encouragement to take up land on perpetual lease in Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, or Otago? I trow not, and I would ask you to reflect again on your statemenb that this colony is by this means being rapidly settled, and I would suggest that instead of "rapidly settled" should you not use the term "rapidly thinned," which would be much nearer the mark '!

I am very pleased with your remarks on the "expected surplus," which for certain reasons you say is a matter for congratulation. But you truly point out that this surplus will be gained " through grinding taxation." As to whether grinding the faces of the poor(for inthiscountry the rich escape taxation) can ever under any circumstances be a subject for congratulation, is a matter I will not now argue. No doubt you are in the right ; at all events, you are in good company, for I notice our dear old granny in Wyndhara-street, who knows so much and has had such a lengthy political experience, in the course of an article on this surplus, takes the same view as yourself. She says: "The revenue has been productive beyond the most sanguine expectations, and proves clearly the power of the colony to respond to the call made upon its people to meet the deficit which existed ;" and again in the same article : " As a sign of the resources of the colony and the energetic manner in which they are developed, the increased revenue is the most assuring result;" and then she kindly adds, " All that is now necessary is a continuance of the [jrudent policy whish has prevailed for the last two years." As you remark, all this is accomplished through grinding taxation, or, if I might be allowed to put the matter in plainer words, by downright robbery of the workers and the industrial class generally. Congratulations upon the successful result of this robbery, to my mind, could only be paralleled by a party of thieves torturing some unfortunate wretch until he revealed his wealth, and then for them to congratulate their victim and say, " The result was productive beyond their most sanguine expectations " and " it proved clearly the power of the tortured individual to respond to the call made upon him." I presume you do not suppose, neither does the " Herald" suppose, that the people are so patriotic that they like grinding taxation, and instead of congratulations upon the result of the robbery, would it not be better for M.H.R.'s and the press to rouse tho people from their fearful apathy, poinb out to them how they are being robbed, and how they can escape it, nob by tolling them land monopoly is killed and settle-

ment going on apace, which is neither true nor possible under existing circumsbances,' bub by taking bhe bull by bhe horns and making those holders of seventeen million acres of land pay their fair share of the baxation of bhe counbry, and thus relieve tho masses of grinding taxation and cause good and accessible land to be opened up for settlement. JUKIUS.