"A RETROGRADL STEP"

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24022, 10 August 1943, Page 4

"A RETROGRADL STEP"

VIEW OF FEDERATION “The Press" Special Service, r . DUNEDIN, August 9. .■ Speaking as president of the Farm ers’ Federation, a body representatlyf, of all farming interests and organise tions in the Dominion, Mr James Be«j„ strohgly criticised the Servicemen!' Settlement and Land Sales Bill in an, interview. He called attention to far-reaching implications of thej measure, and suggested that it was anp instalment of the Government’s policy of land nationalisation. “In this bill,” Mr Begg said,- ‘m Government uses returned soldiers at; a screen from behind which it hopes to’ go part of the way to its goal of land; nationalisation. The bill deprives land-i owners of the rights they at present possess, and it should be noted that many landowners are soldier settlers from the last wan It would appear that the soldier of 1917 may be deprived of his farm to make room for the soldiers of 1942. The measure introduces endless complications, and transfers wiU be subject to long delays and much uncertainty.-” Mr Begg said that the terms “ basic value,” “productive value,” and “fair value” were quite nebulous, and however interpreted might have no relation to the value of land. Land value! did not depend on the prices of produce in December, 1942, but on the prices and costs which would be current from 1944 and onwards. ; “The Farmers’ Federation,” he added, “is anxious to help in any way possible to assist in soldier settlement, and has offered its services to the Minister; but it is of opinion that this bill is a retrograde step, and will discourage instead of facilitate land settlement. Returned servicemen would do well to consider, all the implications of the measure, remembering that the intending soldier, settlers of to-day will be the landowners of to-morrow, and may have their legal rights further invaded by bills designed to complete the nationalisation of land, with complete control over the actions of occupiers of land, SECOND READING OF BILL From Our Parliamentary Reporter WELLINGTON. August 9. It is likely that the second reading of the Servicemen's Settlement and Land Sales Bill in the House of Representatives will be taken to-morrow evening but no indication has yet been given by the Government. The Education Amendment Bill’s second reading will probably be con*_ eluded to-morrow afternoon. '/ The Church and Tax Defaulters There had been much talk among the churches about a new Christian order, but perhaps they had been a little in the clouds, remarked Mr D. V. Bryant from the Hamilton Methodist pulpit in making an appeal to every church in New Zealand irrespective of creed, to challenge public conscience on the subject of tax evasion. Here, he said, was something practical for them to take up. The speaker had asked the Minister of Finance (Mr Nash) the position of anyone who had been influenced by the churches and who wanted to make full restitution for what he had deliberately delrauded. The Minister replied that the Department’s general practice was to do everything to encourage tV;e people in the payment of their oPii'.alwas. ana where a taxpayer had been influenced through the churches nr f yin any other quarter to make restitution the stringent penal clauses were not &P plied.