UNEARNED INCREMENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 10

UNEARNED INCREMENT.

wad your ' leading article on. the above subject with very great pleasure. The you used, and the quotations, from ! jVlul, only .prove that the theory built, upon purely .^arbitraryand imaginary'■: principles: is ; uttprly. : misleadiiig• iyet now.many people, endorse "thoso: fallacies and look upon them as being irrefutable. Not' only ,has Mill's dictum been falsified with reference to rent '?» ' an d rising in proportion- to. the national; income (as you nave" plainly shown) ; but Cicorge s equally confident assertion-that-in-crease of population would necessarily ; in.creaso land values''to the'-fufthes't: extent of, been, .dispi'oved boyond quee--

- Fropi their individual points of-'view, at the time of writing,v'|thero^inay : '-have been some justification,for. that,.presumption, but. cloarly tuero have arisen circumstances which neither oomd have foreseen,. especially the, formefc^• •; Wjth:• regard /to I 'Henry /!deorge, thero was not' the ;.i>xciise whicli. might '. bo. offered, in Mill's ; case. .1' Ho .wrote; at, the timo-.the fall of land values was very pronounced,,yet lie-ignored ' the -fact,- and prt>cMikdiivith the.promulgation-of his theories as it these were not there, nor ever would .8' cy'idencti-to the contrary 'During mV rerollectjoii -'the population of Great Britain hasMnereased over fifteen millions; and the: value, alio the rent) of land is onlv half what" fras.jt tho beginning of that period: It is strange" one never hears any claim upon this unearned) increment outside the towns. Tho reason,probably is this: tho deluded claim-ants-havo 1 acccpted a teachiiig us being true which ill reality is falso; not only so; outf it' is evident that those peoplo would readily endoi'so a principlo by which thoy had every thing to_ gain and nothing to. lose. - Unearned,", indeedl Yes, it is unearned by' those who would like to revel in, its subdivision. : Not only is it unearned by any townspeople whatevor, but exactly tlVe reverse is tho case. Any .unearned 'increment' which may exist in the towns is, in factj' indirectly caused by "tho' extension of settlement and the consequent expansion of .busi-' hess necessary to meet the varied demands of the increased number of 'settlers.

With your permission I wiU endeavour to movo twa'. I soil talM.Uw'.Eß*.

piro city as a caso in point on tho ono hand, [ P"d tho largo area of country which has , immediato dealings with it on tho other. , I'irst, then, Wellington may justly bo tc- . gardod as a' largo distributing ocntro. Most . of tho requirements of tho Wellington pro- , vincial district, togother with those of Ncl- ( son and Marlborough (cspccialiy tho latter), are imported'via Wellington; tho handling of thoso increasing quantities affords increased employment lor wharf labourers, for I storcmcn, carters, clerks; increased business ! for.morchants, nnd subsequently retailers of every description of goods used by country peoplo. This, however, is only half of tho story. Tako'tho exportation of tho millions worth ,of natural products, wool, frozen meat, buttor, cheese,. grain, skills, tallow, etc., which actually amount to a greater value than tho imports. Evcrj increase in any of thoso products requires moro men to handles it, tho shipping, to which point all exports converge, has .to bo increased, to meet tho demand, during which timo also tho railways must have been moro; extensively patronised, and all speak eloquently of tho increased industry of. tho country settlers, who havo spont thoir monoy, their energy, their lives, in ono oontihual round of diligent use of their powors.of mind and body, nieanwhile, in numberless instances, exercising an coonomy quite unknown to tho city dweller. And what liayo tho townspeople done in tho matter of this natural trade and development? livery duly or service performed in'connection . therewith has .been paid ..'for, .©very legitimalp profit paidi When I have tho leisurely step and Government or union stroke, of the discontented, and, compared them with the vigorous : efforts of the country settlor, cs: pecially tho young man bont.on hewing out his homo ~ from ' uninviting surroundings, stripped to tho singlet, often without a hat, I have riover had any doubts about who was entitled, to.'tho increment. So far as labour is 'conccrned,' the case is against the claimants.' That they use some of those products I tho-others produce does not add ono iota'to tho value of tho Burplns, but there are many instances whoro not one particle is so used, frozen meat for instance. Tar bo it from mo to allege that , all townspeople, make audi claim; it is corjfined.,to the Tom Mann typo of deluded humanity, whose very existence m towns is made possible by the work and energy of the peoplo whom they, would so gladly exploit— I am, etc., - AGIIICOLA. . ■ Marlborough, July. 8, 1909.' . Sir,—My attention has been directed to -your leading aiticlo, under this -heading in TnE 'Dominion; of Thursday.. last. I navo read 'tho' articlo - with the interest the subject 1 -always commands' for me; and shall trespass later on your' courtesy to publish some comments 'thereon;'.' 'Before, doing so, however j I would osteomita favour if you would brst Estate from '. which of Henry Groorge's books you_' quote the ' following :— "In every ■ progressive .society :tho rent, of land not only absolutely, /but increases relativelyj/to entire'national income,' thus 'tending' to.: absorb, 'as fast as they come into being, every addition to the earnings of labour' and of capital alike." Homy Goorge wroto. a number of ■ books with all of which I am fairly familiar, but I am at a loss to locate "the referenco for tho words quoted,' and you will " oblige me by giving it.—l am,'etc., ; ■ P. J; O'REGAN. : July 5. », [Mr., should' read our 'article again. . He will .see that | the quotation was not given by us as a definite quotation from George, but as Mr.' W. H. Mallock's sumJB a ry_.of the exact ."proposition" of which the bingle-toxers must establish : the/ truth ■ beforo- they- ean -olaim--that - -tlieir •• doctrine liaa-a practical justification. It is quite poshave stated iffßP 0 ? I *!??.'W' the exact words in which •^ : ! loo k has summarised'a host of state- •«, 'IV .to tho same ; offect. That statement of tho cardinal oori» itention pf &eprgo':is quite just- -will bo clear ! numerous ..passages in "Progress aiid Poverty."]- : V. •' ' -'T*