THE LAND QUESTION.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 282, 27 November 1919, Page 6

THE LAND QUESTION.

The mass of figures on land settlement and the size of holdings which the "New Zealand Herald" publishes to-day only confuses the main issue—which of the parties may be expected to do more for the country in preventing aggregation and I taxing the large land-owner? The question is answered by the leaders in their campaign speeches. Mr. Massey carefully avoids saying that he will do anything adequate to compel the large landowners to subdivide, and, as we pointed out the other day, his silence on the subject has drawn some criticism from a Reform organ in the South Island. Sir Joseph Ward, on the other hand, has said emphatically that the graduated land tax must be increased to break up the big estates, and he has gone so far as to propose that all land transactions be referred to a tribunal, the inference being that transfer of title would be refused where a purchase was deemed to be against the public interest. This is the fundamental difference between the leaders on the pivotal policy, and no amount of play -with statistics will hide it. The fact is that land aggregation is going on, and that while one party is afraid to grapple with the problem, the other is not.