OWNERSHIP OF LAND

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 78, 29 September 1938, Page 25

OWNERSHIP OF LAND

MEANING OF LABOUR POLICY

Mr. R. A. Wright, candidate for Wellington West, addressed a wellattended meeting, at Makara last night. Mr. H. J. Monaghan presided.

After referring to the serious nature of the election end the far-reaching effect which would be made.on New Zealand if the present Government were returned to power, the speaker said that the Socialistic policy of the Government had only begun. It was in its infancy comparable to what would be done if a further term of office were granted to the Government. ' The Prime Minister had said that his party would carry out the Labour policy in its entirety. "Upward and onward; the sky is the limit." These were Mr. Savage's own words.

The chief plank in the Goevrnment policy was the socialisation of the land of the country, Mr. Wright said. This meant that all land should bej long to the Government. How would this change be effected? The Government had not so far answered the question, but Socialist writers of eminence had said that the" land was not to be purchased from the owners. It was to be expropriated by heavy taxation or else simply confiscated. To the owner of any land, even a man with a section on which his house was erected, it was immaterial how the transfer would take place. it meant he would lose his property and become a State tenant. Mr. Wright said he knew this statement would be emphatically denied, but the fact remained nevertheless. The present Socialist Party when in opposition in 1925 had a plan on its platform called the "usehold policy." The explanation of this policy was simply that a valuation would be made of all property and when the owner wished to sell he.could do so only to the Government at the valuation fixed, pro-j bably twenty years earlier. This wrs ( the thin end of the wedge of the so-| cialisation of the land. j At the conclusion of the address, after' a number of questions were answered a vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. S. J. Luxton, seconded by Mr. J* Bowen, and carried.