THE BIRKENHEAD POLL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 38, 14 February 1910, Page 6

THE BIRKENHEAD POLL.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —The result of the poll for rating on unimproved values has been given in numbers by E. H. Buckingham, but there is a for deeper result than the mere figures. Has Mr. Buckingham considered the moral effect upon this and the surrounding districts of Auckland? Every land speculator and holder of vacant' sections has taken a firmer |*rip of the land, and by so doing will prevent the building of houses, and therefor© the employment of men. It is as if the local ! bodies in the vicinity of Auckland had given notice that anybody erecting a building of any description, either in the shape of shop, factory, or house, will be treated a. an enemy of the people, and compelled to pay a tax on the value of that building, and that the giving of employment to carpenters, plumbers, and bricklayers will cause the persou so doing, or the occupier thereof, to be a«•essed on the value of that employment, and fined accordingly. Furthermore, it will allow the landowners to keep land idle or only partially used, and to extract, thousands of pounds in the shape of unearned increment from the people. Does Mr. Buckingham consider that this great principle which underlies the question of rating on unimproved values is of far less importance than the fact that the Sugar Company will pay £100 loss, and that the fruitgrowers will pay £25 more? He knows that although the 50 fruitgrowers would pay £25 of the £10C, and that tho land speculators would pay the other £75; yet to hoodwink the people he misreads my letter, and contorts the definite statement made by mo from the platform.—l am, etc, F. M. ICING