LAND AGGREGATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 126, 28 May 1914, Page 4

LAND AGGREGATION.

On,. ~i the in.'.-: serious .'.liarges _gain_t th.' "llefonn'' party is that their laiul police tcnils to the aggregation of holdings. The good worl< of Liberal timcmnients in breaking up large estates is being rapidly destroyed b.v the methods of their successors. The expenditure ~t |~au moneys on the purchase of improved areas for subdivision, is a f'ltilc proceeding if tlio selectors arc to be given every encouragement and opportunity to pa.-s their holdings on at a rtrotit to the big man. The Reform bid for the support of tbe Crown tenant can only be regarded as an unprincipled squandering of tlic national heritage- The position is so thoroughly understood now throughout the Dominion, that there is no object in la.bouriiig thi- point. .Nime fresh evidence of the ,eriou__. position that is rapidly developing in the country districts under the "Massey administration, Ls afforded by a letter sent by a King Country farmer oi standing—a Mr. McKean—to the 'Taumarunui Press." ]jest the .ritici.m may be made that the writer i= a Liberal, anxious to provide shot to lire into the llefonn camp, we preface our quotations from his letter, by a statement, that he is a supporter of the. (-Irty at present in power. Mr. McKean puts lhe ca.-c strongly, lie writes: - "I have just, returned from .-pendiieg a holiday in the lUingiwahia District, nt the Kiwitea County, and 1 have lioen so impressed with the extent of the injury inflicted upon the. district hy the actions of farmers in buying I heir ncigltbours out. that 1 feel convinced the most drastic legislation is urgently required to maiie tiie. continuance uf this poltxiy impassible. Throughout ihc district referred to, and the whole of the Kiwitea County generally, the .country i__ stTewu with abandoned homestead*. I louses-winch bave cost hundreds of pounds, fine woolsheds, stable-,, cowsheds, and other outbuildings are abandoned and going to ruin, and line orchards are being left to the mercy of cattle and i-he.ep; and. all thus in one of the most rich and fertile countries in Xe.iv Zealand." The- writer sroee. on to paint a picture of the disastrous effect of aggregation —the reduced school attendance, the restriction on the dairy output, the forlorn appearance of the once-thriving townships -that- „_fm_l these, districts, the practical disappearance of a pleasant social intercourse"." Mr. McKean has no <loubts in hia mind a_i to the effect of -what he. ha«.Jloted. "Something must he done to stop; this thing from going on any longer,"' he writes. "Air. Massey must grapple with the question, or he will surely be supplanted by the liberals, who in their turn must give pWe to> t.he. La.bour party if they fail in their duty."' There is no question about -the. trnth.-of this. Fn-forti_n__-ely_or ; the -Slavey -Crf..crament.]■

it is a Government of the landed classes, and its methods will contimte to hasten the unwholesome tendency to aggregation, which in any event is difficult to check. The much-vaunted land .policy of "Iteform'' is its most tragic blunder. The electors, both iv town ' and country, outside tbe landed aristocracy, will be unable to overlook its unfortunate consequences.