TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1927, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

! Being starved of level land that can be applied to racing, athletic, or playground purposes, Wellington, as well as Greater Wellington, should be watching very closely the conversion into building sections of the last big block of virgin grass in the delta part of the Hutt Valley. There may be more land farther away, but it ia leas accessible and less suitable, and the private owners will probably require a much higher price than was fixed under the options taken up 'by the Government. In such circumstances, even a community not ' so afflicted with a level land famine as Wellington would be watching very closely the liquidation of the publicly- j owned assets; yet no one in particular j seems to be acting as the watchdog of sporting and athletic interests, and .it remains for Mr. W. T. Strand to again bring before the public his scheme to secure Gear Island from the Hutt River Board by exchanging that area for the Hutt Park. At a time when the final disposition of hundreds of acres of grass flat is at stake, sport and athletics should not delay in pegging out their claim. The opportunity will not recur. Mr. Strand's proposal aims to give them about 160 acres at no expense to themselves. At the very least, sports bodies should investigate the position closely, and not let the motion lapse for want of a seconder. And the local bodies concerned should approach it in tho very broadest spirit.

In one respect at least the second fanners' rally, held at Dannevirke, was better staged tha^ the first. No member of the audience embarrassed the promoters by going one better than they proposed with an amendment that the Arbitration system should be abolished. Tho Arbitration resolution was limited to a demand for tho withdrawal of preference when thero has been a breach of award. This ia certainly a demand which can be supported by argument. In other respects, however, the meeting was little better than, the one which preceded it.

There was the same tendency to broad general statements, and the same inclination to deal with matters of opinion as if they were matter of fact. For example, two speakers indicated that the farmer's trouble was not high land values, but high production costs. This is aot a statement which can be accepted without evidence. Such official inquiries as have been made tend rather to support an opposite view that over-valuea, over-mortgaged land is one of the main causes of rural depression. We do not suggest that interest rates, land taxes. Customs tariffs, and wages are of no moment, but a j solution of the primary producer's problem will not be reached by emphasising these factors and ignoring the weight of land values. The farmer who pays an extra hundred pounds for his land and covers it with a mortgage at, say, 6 per rent, has, when sinking fund is also considered, aaaea at least- £8 to his annual charges—sufficient to meet an interest increase of 1 per cent, on an £800 mortgage, or an increase of almost 15 per cent, in the land-tax on a mortgage-free farm of £10,000 unimproved value. Such facts, as these must not be left out of the calculation. They must be met, and repeated asser-* tion that production costs and not land values decide the issue will not serve in place of proof.

Five-roomed homes, fully equipped outside and in, on roomy sections served by railway and road and town-planned streets, constitute such a booj. in a congested city, especially when one can become owner % of such a home by paying 21s 9d a week, that it was a foregone conclusion that the demand must exceed the supply. Therefore, in conjunction with the workers' homes at Lower Hutt, a system of selection was set up, and it has operated quietly, with a view to helping large families that had been thrust, through no fault of their own, into squalid surroundings. The results of some analyses of the position, examined at various stages of the migration of the new owners to the workers' settlement, show that preference has been given to those deserving people whose only home was a condemned building or a sub-tenaacy of two or three rooms. Their gains are remarkable. Formerly, theywere "housed" at nearly two to a room; now they are accommodated'in garden homes at the rate of little more than one to a room. Their old rent as tenants was on the average 7s a week higher than their present instalnientpayment as owners; which is equal to an increase in wage of Is a day, minus perhaps in some cases tEe railway fare, or minus the excess (if any) of railway over tram fare. Their room-rent is less than half what it was. That is because, for the lesser weekly payment, they get more rooms. Apart from this, the improvement in their environment is enormons, and the moral factor attaching thereto is incalculable.

In political matters the Rev. J. K. Archer, Labour Mayor of Christchurch' has somewhat of a "firebrand" reputation—and probably he is proud of it. None at least can accuse him of mildness and excessive moderation. His advice, therefore, that unemployment should not be mixed with politics may ba accepted by those most concerned without suspicion. We trust it will be so accepted, and that all sections of the community will unite to discover an effective cure for the present ills. Political charges and denials can do no good. We have had. examples beSore now of how the real interests of the unemployed have almost'been forgotten in the desire to make or to meet a political point. If the present difficulty is to be met before winter comes party politics must be eliminated from the consideration. We are still of opinion that the best remedy yet proposed is the establishment of afforestation camps in close proximity to the cities, as proposed by Mr. W. Scott and approved by forestry, authorities. This would help married men, and for single men much can be done by improved organisation to assure funds for necessary works ana bring the man and the -job together. ,