The Dominion. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1911. LAND SETTLEMENT AND WEALTH PRODUCTION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1299, 30 November 1911, Page 6

The Dominion. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1911. LAND SETTLEMENT AND WEALTH PRODUCTION.

: * It. is sometimes difficult to .form anything like an -accurate estimate of the impression created on tne public mind as to the importance of a political issue. But there can be little doubt as to the view the people of New Zealand take respecting the attitude of the "Ward Government on the land question. For years now , I the Beform party in Parliament I have been fighting for a more active land settlement policy. They have striven to show how immensely important it is not only to those who desire to go on the land, but to the whole country, that the waste lands of the Dominion should be made available to settlement as speedily as possible and .on the best terms possible. They have brought'every pressure that could be brought to bear on the Government to force Ministers to the vital nature of the responsibility resting on them in this matter of turning our idle Crown and Native lands to profitable account. Indeed, the Reform party have at times been attacked for giving too much attention to the land question. No doubt their efforts have had some effect in forcing the hands of Ministers, but the public generally know fairly well how little lms been clone— how slow real 'settlement has progressed in recent years, and how settlers have been discouraged through the neglect of the Government to carry out needed works to provide proper access to holdings and to ameliorate the conditions of life in the back-blocks. Do the public, however, really appreciate to the full how much it would mean to them to replace the present spineless Administration, with its weathercock land' policy and taihoa methods, with an active and progressive Government, possessed of definite views and with the courage to carry them out? In a great many parts of New Zealand, and especially in those parts where large areas of waste lands lie idle, a standing monument to the neglect of the Waed-Carroll party, the people are fully alive to the "evil influence on the country of a Government without a land policy and without the energy or the inclination to push on land settlement, and meet the requirements of the settlers on the land. In these parts of the country there can be no doubt that the settlers will vote in solid battalions to bring about that change in the Administration which they know is so badly needed; and there is abundant evidence even where the interest in land settlement is less keen that the widespread distrust of the Government will ensure a very heavy turnover of votes as compared with the last general election. No one, looking back on the past three years, can fail to recognise the callous and farcical nature of the Ward Administration's attitude and professions in regard to matters affecting land-settlement. It is hot necessary to dwell on the ludicrous figure the Ministry has cut on the question of tenure. How it has backed and rilled; nailed its colours to the mast and torn them • down again at tho first sign of the enemy. Lveryonc is fully aware of tiic.se things, and it is surprising that anybody at all can be found t.o support a Government so flagrantly unprincipled and so cowardly. The position is quite as bad, however, on trie administrative side. How nianv people know that Sin Joseph Wakd is Minister for Lands/ Yet he lias held for thro; years this portfolio—in many respects the most important Ministerial ofiicc in a young and undeveloped country such as New Zealand—and he li;ir busied himself with everything but the vitally important duties of Minister lor Lands. We have had a policy of drift Crer since

ho took over the portfolio or Lands. Can nnj'onc picture a more depressing state of things in a country like our own, where the clamour on all fiides is for a vigorous opening up of I lands for settlement, than that which we, havo drifted jnto unc-ov the Ward Administration / On tho one hand, a Minister for Lands, overloaded with portfolios ana neglecting tho most important of them all; and on the other, a Native Minister dawdling idly along, blocking the May to the rapid settlement of idle Native lands. A recent distinguished visitor, Dr. Kuan, on the eve of hia departure from the Dominion, remarked on tho heavy taxation imposed on land in New Zealand, and suggested that; it might be advisable tp consider whether these taxes should be reduced. "A new coun|)'.y, he said, "cannot afford to nut heavy taxes on the land, for population on the land is the b.-jckhonc of jL new T country." This is very true. Ine Ward Government collects more m taxation all round than any other Ciovernmerit has ever done. Ifc has greatly increased the cost of living in this way.. But important as the taxation side of the question is, it is really of less moment to the country at tho moment than the question o'f increasing the productiveness of tho Dominion by placing settlers on the idle lands. Every section of the community would benefit by the increased wealth thus produced and set in circulation, and the outlook for all would be greatly improved. The .Itefonh party have made the land question, one of the strongest planks of their platform. Given the opportunity, they could be relied on t< press forward with a settled land policy.that would give a stimulus to tlie whole Dominion and mark a new era of progress in tho country'), affair?. J