"LAND AGGREGATION"

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 71, 17 December 1919, Page 8

"LAND AGGREGATION"

OPPOSITION LEADER'S STATEMENT REFUTED. By Telegraph.—Spocial Correspondent. Hastings, December 111. "This is the sort of thing the electors of this country are expected to swallow at election time," remarked the Prime Minister at Hastings to-night in refuting last night's statement of Sir Joseph Ward that during Reform's tenure of office land aggregation had increased. The Liberal leader, stated Mr. Alassey, was reported to have said that the Reform Government had never tried to stop aggregation, and that he (Sir Joseph Ward) toolc stows to stop it before Reform camt into office. "I was," commented Mr. Mftssey, "Minister of Lands once myself, and was fullv in touch with the pos.tioh. and I can shy that there never wns an attempt made to stop aggregation if private lands until tho Reform Party came into power. I was tho first_ Minister to ask Parliament to agree to it, and it :s to be found in tho last section ol' the Land Act, 1913." Mr. Massev went on to read the tigures quoted by Sir Joseph Ward indicating that the number of large estates had increased during tho last seven years. ".One would think on tending these that this was evidence of aggregation," added Mr. Massey. The ox•:,•iiiatioli was the simplest, thing in tn? irld. During tho last two or three ,'cars, several licenses mid leases of hugo inns in Canterbury and Ota go hud fallen in. The' Government cut thes-s runs up into smaller runs of from_ 5009 to -IW acres, much of the land being mountain tops. In addition, a large area of un. occupied Crown land in the North Island, of poor quality, was cut up inlo big blocks. It followed that if the Government broke up a number of runs of large size it meant increasing the number of .smaller runs. His friend evidently thought thnt this was proof of aggregation. On the contrary, tho figures quoted from the Year Book were not proof_ of aggregation—they were proof of sub-divi-sion