The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1913.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3461, 13 October 1913, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1913.

Although a good deal of time was wasted in the A Leasehold “Rally” House on Satin the House. urday over an amend ment which the member for Thames was not ultimately allowed to move it is as plain as a pike staff, it will be agreed, that the object of the “stonewall” that is raging is to try and get the Government to back down in connecion with its proposal to extend the right to acquire the freehold. It will, however, be the general opinion, we think, that this leasehold rally—for this is all it can be called—ought not to be permitted to succeed, and if we are not mistaken it will not be the fault of Mr Massey if it does succeed. That, at any rate, is the only reasonable view that one can come to after one has considered the poor arguments that are being advanced against the grant of the freehold to a further section of the Crown tenants. In this regard it may be mentioned that prominent leaseholders are loudly declaring that the offer of the freehold is merely a bid for votes on the part of the Reform Government- that the Crown tenants themselves do not want the freehold or there would have been far more conversions under the Act of 1912; and further that the present Government have had no mandate from the people to substitute the leasehold principle for the freehold principle. As to the first assertion it is of course utterly ridiculous, for one of the pledges of the Reform party was that when it got into power Crown tenants of all lands excepting National Endowment .lands would be given the opportunity of securing the tenure which we feel sure practically every man who has taken up a Crown section hoped he would be allowed to secure sooner or later. If Mr Massey had not brought down a freehold Bill he would then have most certainly have been breaking his promise to the country. There is also nothing to support the second contention, for as a matter of fact under the Bill of 1912 over 700 leases have it has been shown already been converted, the sums which the Government has so far received aggregating £250,000, and it is further stated to be the position that scores of other applications are at the present time being dealt with. Just at this stage we may point out that the proposal must commend itself to all who believe in seeing the Dominion become as self-reliant as possible, because it means that if the moneys accruing from that source are utilised to purchase other estates for closer settlement it will not he necessary to approach the London market for such large loans in future. Now it seems to us also that the suggestion that the country favors the leasehold rather than the freehold principle also lacks foundation. In this regard all we need point out is that on the occasion of 1 the latest General Election there were returned to the House 36 freeholders out of 38 Reform members—that is to say counting Dr Newman and the Hon Mr Fisher as leaseholders, although the latter has of course supported his colleagues so far as the measure has up till this stage progressed. In addition to these 36 or possibly 37 members, there were returned to the House Messrs Clark, Reed, Coates and Rhodes, who went over to the Reform party chiefly on the freehold issue, and judging by the voting on the second reading division on the Land Bill the other day, at least twelve freeholders on the Liberal side, without counting the Hon. H. Mackenzie, who subsequently as is well-known went Home as High Commissioner. Thus it somes about that it is absurd for the Radicals to declare that the country does not approve the freehold principle seeing that at least 54 out of a total of 80 constituencies returned freeholders to the House at. the last General Election.. If any further proof were needed as to “which way the wind blows” we think it is supplied by the fact that only the other day Sir Joseph Ward himself declared that the land tenure policy of the future would have to he the optional system ? We trust, then, that Mr Massey will use every endeavor to carry out his promises to the country in regard to this important matter.