LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1224, 5 September 1911, Page 4

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

PENSION FARMS AND N.Z. NEEDS,

Sir,—Pension farms are a very good idea if given 1o those of.out people who have hncl tad luck' farming.•: To give.pension farms gratis; .to ■. emigrants from other lands brands tho person who proposed it as one who'should travel round and learn bcforo he makes another such proposition. In the North Island the demand for land exceeds tho capability ot this Government to get sections ready for applicants. Oift imports exceed our exports; immense areas are idle, oir J. Ward, Bart., iiight Hon./etc, has been . written to and asked repealedly to get better land laws made- to give the Natives the same laws" as us and their Crown grants. Ho is evidently too • m-1 forested with Great Britain , to attend to the wants:of-Now Zealand, '100 full of Dreadnoughts, , empty titles, and s>;ch like affairs. Our imports are greater than our exports. Tliis is caused by ovec-bor-roWing, interfering with land tenure, not settling; waste lands, 'l'ho present Government did some good at nrst, now it must go and make room for a hotter. Ita term of usefulness has gone.- When the settlement of land and land laws clo not -receive- that attention necessary "> their being kept up to our requirements, we say: Get out, you are obsolete; we must havo new energetic men to run i\ew Zealand. . • , ~ i The present Government is suneiteu with its imaginary success. Tho poor out-back settlers-poor little children with their poor little naked feet run. about in the mud. Often they and. their parents almost starve. This morning, there is only broad and tea for breaktast. SUll we slaves of this rich, badly-managed dominion toil on. -.Wcare never united at election time. Wβ• calculate the:.Govern■menf don't settle the land because they are a Labour Government-labourers keep them in power. This has got to end. We mnst'have a farmers' Government or go where, there is one. The Labour Unions want to rule; let them do so, as when wo etrike Australia and Canada will join. This will be an object lesson to those who, by a labour vote, dominate us., When a man is battling agajnst big odds he is a good man; wh«n surfeited he is a very common useless man. His work goes back, his battling days are over and he does not bother. Take R. Burns, tho ooet. When ho was a ploughman he was up to date, and wrote good stuff. When he was surfeited by the flash ladies of ■Scotland his poetry was of the' trashiestkind. ■ Our' Government ia like all groat menit wants a total test. We want a labourers' and farmers' Government. combined.-. Ono section can't run a Dominion.. Tho labourer can strike, so can the agrjSulturist, and 'ground parrot (cockatoo). If the'"cookies" strike the labour unions would A civil war would result. The fanners would win in the end. All this •'shows the impossibility of a lopsided Government, running a country-. But are we to be ruined by their ignorance of our wants? Sir Joseph Ward is a labour Premier. Labour' can only get its share—soon as it asks more there is no use for it: We Empire-builders of the ' back-blocks get nd redress. Wo are hara- . pered'by tho foolish land laws (Native) passed;by a Labour Government that has no sympathy with our wants. We should etriko- for one r scason and put all our •population dependent, on our labour for their,"food on tinned meat from Chicago. The'present Gvernment - is a party Government. A.party Government robs the ' people by wasting the time of the House, by refusing to take steps to settle waste .unproductive lands, Some people ■ nre afraid- that-, when the time comes that they .would Hko. to got a piece of arable land it. will be all absorbed. Legislation 'to take away the optional tenure .was passed on this account. Such ignorance of N,ew Zealand and such blocking of her onward-successful progress can,only prove ; the litter inability of :the /-present'. Government ',to help'-the people',who keep all viz., the fanners, Jf the Jaboutr.lunions are-,to , 'bo' a 'success the back ■country must.;first- be. successful. There is to-day more;-,rarest among my class,than is and go:elsewhere. Why.?' .Conditions and laws don't suit. We 'don't say. much; only ; quit. .'We cannot get-all our money. We sell on..credit with a small deposit.■! Ii we all; sell out and go,to Australia,.. New . Zealand's new lot of farmers'will havt no spare cash to spend. First labour employers, '.then business men, then r tho labourers will want to follow us. Sir Joseph ■ Ward's, {Bart., etc.) house of. cards, will bo blown away. Our purchasers may no( bo abhvto pay up. We may havo to come back to New Zealand, when we can rebuild, not a house of< cards, but a house ■ of stone set on foundations of legislation : to euit all classes from the beggar to th( baronet. If cur electors, farmers, ami all who live by eating what we grow wil" : return, members who can be trusted t< ' givo us all fair play, we shall bo mon solidly.prosperons. Prosperity got on bor rowed.cash is a sham. That is our. posi tion. 'Are we to continue going 'on as/a' present? A coat of whitewash will bi the result. Settle all unproductive land increase our exports to largely exceed oni imports.. We have the land and people to ■work it. Government being a Laboin Government is afraid to settlo New Zea iand.—l am, etc., ..-■'• BACK-BLOCK COCKATOO,