The Daily Telegraph. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3222, 27 October 1881, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1881.

What is the meaning of the term a " liberal land measure ?" It is one that we constantly hear, and, at an approaching election candidates are never weary ot recapitulating the assertion that they are "in favor of liberal land laws." What a liberal land law may be is exactly what we have never heard explained. We have heard the old land regulations of the province of Hawke's Bay soundly abused because they permitted a comparatively few individuals to monopolise the whole of the country. The regulations that are thus condemned were the handiwork of Sir George Grey, and they were ostensibly framed for the purpose of making land so cheap that any one should be able to acquire a freehold. Under those regulations the first comer got first served, and he would buy hill country at 5s an acre, and flat land at 10s an acre. If there had been some provision limiting the right of buyers to a certain area, it would have been, of course, very much better for the colony. But there

■was no such provision, and, naturally enough, people took advantage of the liberty fo buy as much as ever they could. On separation from Wellington, in the days of Mr FitzGerald's superintendency of this province, Mr Ormond endeavored to get the land laws altered. In the interests of the sheepfai'aiera who held their runs under a mere annual license to graze, he desired to obtain for them leases for a period of fourteen years, by which the land would have been locked up for that space of time. An alteration of that kind would have been extremely advantageous to the rtinholders as it would have saved them the expense of securing their country by the objectionable system known as "gridiro_icLjf." Their pecuniary circumstances were not so favorable as to permit them to turn tho whole of their runs into freehold, and, iv order to lieep as much as they could, they were compelled to buy up the frontages and the "eyes of the country." To do tbis they had to resort to the money market, and, struggling with debts, exorbit?nt rates of interest, absence of roads, and high charges for carriage, it was as detrimental to their prosperity as it was to the progress of the colony. Mr Ormond foresaw the consequences under the land system that then existed, and he tried hard to avert them. The lockirg up of the land, as he advocated, for a period of fourteen years would have secured the country to the runholders, thereby have saved them from the money-lender ; and, when the land was really needed for settlement, it could have been thrown open for pale as demands required supply. But Mr Ormond's proposals were cconted as selfish and illiberal. It was said that the grasping runbolders wanted to lock up all the country so that the working man should not secure an acre for himself, and the outcry was such that the land regulations remained unaltered with the result as stated above, and with that which we see at the present day. And what we see in this provincial district has been the effect of cheap land. In Canterbury the upset price of waste land was four times as high as it was here, so that none but a capitalist could purchase a large sized farm, and the effect of that system has been to put the land into the hands of the many. Now, we should like to know which was the most liberal of these two systems, and to which of the two is reference made when candidates and electors alike allude to a liberal land law P To our mind the most liberal land law that any country could possibly adopt would be that which prohibited the Crown from selling the land. This subject is now agitating the colony of Queensland, in the Parliament of which a proposal was lately made for a vote of half-a-million to repurchase lands sold by the State. A Queensland contemporary expresses the opinion that " the land should remain, so far as possible, the property of the State ; and had this principle been adopted at the first, and had the various Governments clung to it as the rock upon which to erect the edifice of prosperity, the revenue arising from the rental would have enabled us to pay the working expenses of the State, and to have made us infinitely more clear than we are, from the capitalists of Europe." But do the advocates of "liberal land laws" mean anything like the policy above advocated? We think not. What is going on in Queensland is precisely what is to be seen in New Zealand. The first comers purchased there, as they have purchased here, good land at from 5s to 20s per acre ; and the people have been taxed for the purpose of making railways frequently near to, and through their properties, and now the original buyers are demanding and getting from £5 to £20 an acre from the agriculturist. This is the natural result of the State selling the Crown lands and how any other result can be brought about by a " liberal" land law it is impossible to conceive.

The late frosty weather has been very hard upon the potato crop, and all the more delicate vegetables have suffered severely. There was a large attendance of buyers at Messrs Monteith and Oo.'s sale of timber this morning. The whole of the large lot of timber was cleared at satisfactory prices. The lists of hospital subscription papers issued about the commencement of this month have produced one subscriber—a Chinaman, the market gardener at Taradale, who has forwarded his guinea to the secretary. His subscription is hereby acknowledged with thanks. It will be seen by advertisement that the Hawke's Bay County Council elections are close at hand. Nominations must be made on the 4th November, and the polling, if necessary, will take place on the 16th of that month. There is not likely to be any material change in the personnel of the present Council. Mr Tanner's intention to visit England may prevent him offering himself for re-eleotion, but with that single exception we think the ratepayers could not possibly do better than to return the whole of the present councillors. The administration of County affairs in Hawke's Bay has been singula: ly capable, reflecting the highest credit upon the Council and its chairman. At a meeting of the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club held yesterday, it was resolved to hold the autumn meeting on Thursday and Friday the 16th and 17th of March, and the following programme was arrranged : —Firbt day : Maiden Plate, 60 soys, lj miles; Corinthian Cup, 50 soys, 2 miles, welter weight for age, gentlemen riders, professionals 7 lb penalty ; Napier Handicap, 500 soys, If miles; Nursery Plate, 100 soys, for 2-year-olds, 5 furlongs; Hack Race, 20 soys ; Railway Stakes Handicap, 125 soys, f-mile. Second day: Provincial Produce Stakes, 60 soys, 1 mile ; Handicap Hurdle Race, 150 soys, 2£ miles ; Hack Hurdle Race, 20 soys, 1 \ miles ; Tradesman's Handicap, 200 soys, \\ miles; Hawke's Bay Plate, 100 soys, .2 miles ; Consolation, 50 soys, 1 mile. Total added money, £1435. The North Otago Times, in a recent editorial, says:—" Almost every candidate who has given any indication of his views sbows his views to be personal and parochial. The construction of some local railway, the endowment of some tinpot harbor, the annihilation of the Legislative Council, the abolition of the honorarium, the election of tbe Governor, the grafting on of Bible reading to the present system of education;—these and such things as these, that have no more essential relationship to the good and successful government of the country than Tenderden Steeple has to Goodwin Sands, constitute the stock-in-trade of the bulk of the persons who are at present before the country as candidates for election to the next Parliament."

Good Templar soriee and concert at Trinity Church school-room to-night at 6.30. Drawing of prizes in the Convent art union at the Marest Brothers school-room this evening at 6.30. Annual meeting H.B. District, A.0.F., at Havelock to-night at 7.30. Tenders for forming portion of road near Korokipo must be sent in by to-morrow at noon. Mr M. R. Miller will sell to-morrow, at tho woolshed, Moteo, a choice draft of the Korokipo and Moteo Lincoln sheep, at noon. It is notified that the nominations, for the County elections for Hawke's Bay will take place on the 4th of November, and the elections, where necessary, on the 16th. of November. Mr W. Cato has removed his sample room to Emerson-street. District orders for the Napier Volunteers are published.

Messrs H. Monteith and Co. sell fat cattle and store steers at the Shamrock yards on November 2nd. Mr Seymour inserts a personal notice. Tenders are required for removing and repairing a cottage. A number of new advertisements will be found in our " Wanted " column.