WHO IS THE HUMBUG?

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 40, 17 February 1911, Page 3

WHO IS THE HUMBUG?

TWO PARTIES AND THE LAND QUESTION.

STATEMENT BY SIR JOSEPH WAPxD. [ET XELBGEAPH — SPKCIAI, TO THE TOST.] ASHBTJRTON, This Day. Referring to the land question last evening the Prime Minister said that the total area of unoccupied Crown land still in tile hands of the State was 10,000,000 acres, but of this amount 3,802,039 acres were barren and worthless for oettiement purposes, and 2,159,753 acres were represented by roads, rivers, and lakes. This left an area of 4,282,284 acres, of which 2,168,631 acres were now under survey, and would soon be open for application. Therefore, after that portion had been disposed or only 1,600,000 acres of Crown land would be still available for settlement. People who talked of settling the land more rapidly than ever did not realise what the corollaries of such a policy must be. The people who went upon the laud wanted money, and if it were possible, by some means, not yet devised, to open for settlement within the twelve months all the land remaining suitable for settlement, more than hali the new settlers would be strangled by financial stringency before they had got established upon the soil. People could not go upon the land without money, and money could not be secured in unlimited quantities by the Government or anyone else. The poor man would be the first one to go down iif a sudden sweeping scheme of land settlement were brought into operation, because there would be a financial crisis of a kind never yet experienced in the country. The policy of" the Opposition, as stated by a member, of that party, was one of honesty, while the policy of the Government was one of humbug. The people could look at the facts for themselves and judge where the humbug was to be found. The figures he had quoted in regard to the area of land still open for settlement pointed to the fact that the country would have to look in the not distant future to closer settlement and smaller areas as a means of providing land for the people. THE QUESTION OF TENURE. In regard to the question of tenure a great diversity of opinion existed in the House of Representatives. He had no hesitation in saying that the present House could not hope to reach a decision on the question of tenure, which could not be settled without an agreement between the two great parties, freehold and leasehold. Yet the question of tenure was used by men who knew the facts as a stalking horse, and the result was not in the interests of the people. The facts he had placed before the meeting showed that the Government was assisting the producers and adding year by year to their number. He was proud to say that it had placed hundreds and thousands of people on the land.