22nd August, 1894. THE LAND QUESTION. TO THE EDITOR.

Evening Post, Volume XLVIII, Issue 55, 3 September 1894, Page 4

22nd August, 189 4. THE LAND QUESTION. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir—That tbo profitable occupation or settlement of the wasto landa of New Zealand ia a desideratum devoutly to bo wished few people in New Zealand will be prepared to deny, nor will it bo denied that out of the claptrap cry of " tho land for tho people and tho pooplo for the land," a vast amount of political capital iv times past has been made, and oven now is boing made, by our present Government. It is undoubtedly a question on which a variety of opinions are held, as instance tho old provincial days, when every province had two or three sets of land laws, each difforing in their kinds in the various provinces. Ono would have thought that our present Minister of Lands—who, by the Way, nrrojcatea to himßelf the collective wisdom of the universe on this momentous ■ question —would, out of the multitude of land laws aforesaid, have formulated a Bill at once simple, equitable, and acceptable, instead of the abortions of bis eratwhilo bantlings. It would, indeod, have shown much more wisdom and better taste on his part had ho then takon tho House into his confidence, and asked their assistance to whip into shape his otherwise crude Bill. But, no, he muat pasa hia Bill, "tho whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill." Was it becauso it was the emanation of bis own brain, or was it that he wished to fchow tho now members the hold he had upon them, owing_ to the reckless' manner in which hie chief had stumped t)>e conntry at the country's expense and gulled tho various electorates? Hia (the Miniater of Lands') conduct in thiß reapeot i 8 on all fours with hia laudable (f) desire to gag the presa of Now Zealand. Why did he leave his flocks and herds to become a politician ? Echo answers, " Ne sutor vltra crepidam." Surely his count-yman, Burns, must have had a M'Kenzie in his minds-eye when he wrote tho following lines : — " Wad the powers the giftie ffie us To see oorsels ns itliers see us." With your permission, I'll give him the opinion of another of his oountryraeu, with whom I was discussing some of the measures of this model statesman, and facetiously made reference to the broadness of his views. My friend failed to see my covortaarcasm, and broke in, '* Don't speak to mo of broadness of viewß. I oannot describe tho breadth of that man's mind without ÜBing an American idiom, viz , his mind is about the size of the little end of nothing whittled down." Pray oxenso divergence, and allow mo to say that Mr. M'Konzie's land laws do not make provision for settling the indnstrioua bnt poor working man on tho bush lands of the colony, for he must be aware that nine-tonths of those he professes to have settled—and who, by tho way, had some capital to start with, besides their labour—aro hopelessly ruined for the want of means to oloar his bush land, fence, grass, and stock it. And what do these Liberal laws for tho capitalist? Simply allows him 610 acres as the maximum of first-olass land. That means that a fair percentage of capitalists won't settle in New Zealand; consequently there is nowhere for the lahouring man to apply for work, and, except tho small Earns expended by the local bodies, there are no other moneys to be aeen in the district or distriots. No one bolter than the labouring man knows how necessary the capitalist is to him, and if tho powers that bo would only cast dummyism to the dogs, bring in a really liberal Land Bill, and giro tho capitalists a fair show, and as to the non-capitalist, make him a Crown tenant by felling, fencing, grassing 1, roadinp, and, whoro necessary, stock the land and let ib, say, at 5 per cent, on the cost of the whole, say in about 500 acre blocks, we should find our country iv a fow years settled by a happy and contented peoplo. lam, Ac, Vebitab.