LAND NATIONALISATION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 605, 7 September 1909, Page 6

LAND NATIONALISATION.

Sir,—Your isiue, of August 23. just .received t from a .friend, and the letters, on "Land Nationalisation,-" etc.,' are • of' great interest to men like myself, who are taking a deep] in-; tcrest in that tends to throw, light on. the cause of unemployment. : Mr. Stevenson's letter is shQrt and clear, and his conoluding-remark that holdere must either u's®. the; land or, pass it on might almost.;be i called an axiom. '/Practical" does not know what the "unearned increment',' .is. The following I. have cut out of an advertisement :of .'a- farm \for , saloi—. • . "The most, important feature' in conn'ec- • tion; with the place is that the railway is- , now being • surveyed from Wailii to ,Tau- . jranga, ana it passes within Tialf' a mile of . the actual farm." • , . ', ~ . • The owiicr of the farm does not suggest that he is goiug to build •the railway, or .contribute" more than-anyone else,! bht :he evidently wants a price for his farm over and above the cost of the land and:improvements, owing: to tho iacfoi'tljatra roijway isslikely.to be .built in the vicinity'. "Practical" 'would, no doubt, call ! it , profit. , So it'is—unearned,,profit—which ,Sir Geo.- Grey,' I . think, was the first to christen "unearned, ' ', . •., i : ■land , Nationalises all, seem to hare over-' looked tho fact that there'is .a practical illustration: .of., their theory at work closo at hand —viz.,,the Friendlyaslands (Tonga). -The land .was nationalised in the '30's under the supervision! of, an official sent from Piji.-'l'niay; remark that the Marquis of. Salisbury was in power, at'/the'time.-' Tho Tongans are generally considered '/the' best off in the South Soa Islands.' ,! ■ Trusting that your columns will always: re--main open for free of important matters.—l am, etc.,' , , - • THE /BEACHCOHBEK. ■ ■ Te Hana, Auckland, '■'?.■ , ; . . ' : August 2?, 1909. v ' ,