LICENSING LAND AGENTS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 133, 28 February 1908, Page 4

LICENSING LAND AGENTS.

Sir,—For somo'.time pastia'movement has been on foot'] with o'ccrtain cliquo to license land agents just as auctioneers aro. .licensed.; ;Jl'ost of-tho established .agents 'aro. in favour of it, bccauso it will givo them .a monopoly; and keep tho poor.man from starting. Ou tho face of it, such a-, law'would, bp very hard to. enforce; becausoi commissions .could;bo given on tho quiet without any- re-: .'ceipts.', man : possessed -with' "an 'atom;-of morality/or'senso ,of justice' could blame, individuals .for. disregarding, such' a . restriction if, it ever became law, It is, one of those,'mis-i ohievous.' interferences with common liberty, which, would,' if carried out 'in "all callings; lead to;'a state 'of intolerable slavery, and end in riot and revolution. -Wo are told that tho Government aro'not revolutionary Socialists; bub .'if such measures as this aro enacted they aro not helping'tho peaco spirit. Is it hot 'true' that a' country should bo so governed so,as it woyld bo hard to do wrong and .'.easy to' do right? Yet .bogus Liborals are willing to take away, a poor man's honest living by,;restrictions which are.being clamoured for by a few interested ones whilo tho mass of the people let tho thing slide. \Vo are alrpady over-governed;' . ,AVe iiow have t'OO'man.v. laws; yet' politicians, seem' to'.think it their chief duty to go every year and.-niako' more laws whether they are needed or not, and it is such' laws as the proposed licensing of land agents which make' the '.Dominion more'like' Russia'every day.—l am, etc., ' ■v' v \ V \ ; ; e. stevenso.v ; Hastings, February 23, 1908. •

AMERICA, JAPAN, AND THE PEACE ' OF THE WORLD. Sir,—Permit me to .congratulato you on your able,,; temperato, and ! " well-reasoned leader in this, morning's issue of The"Dominion oil : the American Presidency 1 ; and further, 1 should, like, .with your' 'usual courtesy, to make; a few comments oil 1 tho Aus- 1 tralian invitation to the-American fleet, aiid the,remarks of the Australian Press thereon as well as the possibilities, or' probabilities; of a. great : and disastrous, war arising .from tho advciit of the fleet to the Eastern Pacific. "

At present .the. Press of Australasia, as, 1 indeed,; that of the whole world, seems' to bo taking a keen' interest in the movements of that great Armada, as well it might,"'for a force .of such magnitude must - have great potentialities for tho future pcacc .or otherwise 'of this' uncertain world. And soiiio sections of-the Press,'.whether intentionally or not,' seem, to be .prophets of evil, or overpessimistic, to say .the -least, as to .the result. % my .'part' I am- not too sanguine one way or the other.. At all events thereis 110 just cause for alar.ni, Tho Americans

know well what they are. about. And no nation has had a better or greater opportunity of knowing the strength and power of the great Hepublie than Japan. Many of her leading men, and many of 'her youths, have lived tfor some years under the Stars and Stripes, have attended the. s.chools, colleges, and universities; h:n'o 'studied the laws and institutions of. that,great country; have acted as servants to generals'ikn'd ;\'dinirals; and have worked, ill other aiid various capacities; have studied the customs and methods of the people with a . view of adapting them to their own; as. more congenial and suitable t-o the! progress of their-own rising anil" eminently-progressive young nation..' They must;.* therefore, - : have;. a',- large' idea 1 of- the 1 power, ' 1 wealth, and: unlimited resources' or America, and .0f,.-tho.-number, of; men and ships she • could bring ..into'; the 1 lighting line, if. occasion arose; and that a conflict witlv such', a Power would exhaust her own comparatively limited resources, would, m the end, > be disastrous' : t6.;lierself. ,: They know full well that, though America has but a comparatively:: small standing;; army on a peace, footing, she; could, ifpungency arose, with the /wonderful -resources- and material at.lijj'r disposal, within a 'veiy.'shorb time,- put. two or three - hiillioiig"'- of' ablebodied, men in tho field,' ■ well-armed' and equipped—a force that - might clef j' any combination that could Ik; -brought against her. ' Rest assured the wily Jap.' will"thin. ktwice . before lie encounters the herculean American' whatever.; tho false. prophets may think' to tho: contrary* notwithstanding.:/;■ But.people sometimes liold ; 1 tile opinion that i Japan ..would be a': match' for in her own waters. Tliat does not affect -the question. America -.is not senseless. enough to be caught In 'Japaneso -water's. 'Aiid,; as. a consequence, - ifJapan ; wants*'. 1 figlit, she | will have to face; America. ,in ; inidrbcean,: where licr fleet ,woul(l: b,o',annihil ; itoi3 : .'v- Anr, again, the question "is foolishly'a'skedi'iwhat. ? °.' 1 ; England' be doing' while "lier'.'slli* was■; being, worsted? " The aijswer, land would have to remain neutral! She dare not .-.join the yellow., man!' in': a ,wart with u-i- i ll -V " la jpspecianyj,;consideiing ,tlio. -attitude or.her Colonial Empire, towards the. coloured man.; Aiiierica'.is the frietid 'of ■ the white man; ..is fighting" the .battles ;i of the. white, man,-, especially 'those.';-of./Werioa'-arid' Australasia, nutl.. tbey.";sh"ould'"■bo.• lor. it, as I. have' ho doulrt they-., ar.e.'; And! tho invitation by Mr." Deakiiic to Admiral i v ?. s ver y courteous a -i-'. niivo. no. doubt .be' .duly npi)i'Ggal- - ; f 11 *"* 1 !. circumstances' i permit.. I till ill; we: inay safely.-; conclude .^tiiai'under the circumstances, the. dogfc "of war willnot be let loose this time.'-^l'am, etc.,'.. - -iv r : :' 'LXTE(iRo. ' . Wellington, February •,-25: v . •