MONDAY,' October 6th, 1913

Grey River Argus, 6 October 1913, Page 4

MONDAY,' October 6th, 1913

The Hon. Mr. Massey's Land Bill may ,be regrar-ded as tne most lmpprt"aiff of the session ; it might also 1 be 'said the most important of this Parliament, because" 1 the- question of dealing with the land of, the country ■un"derhe*s all otners of an economic nature, • Tne existence of. tne Government may even be dependent upon the way th<f House will deal with ihe Bill on its second reading. But the most serdousi ordeal it will have to go through wiH be met with in com mittee. 'The impression the Bill made on a" good many is that it is ( an ingenious, .endeavour to keep ,up the appeaarnce that the. Government are really /desirous of providing Jand-fbr ithe landless, while at thesame- time they are obviously more concerned to do (nothing calculated to be injurious to flic interests 'of the Jandholding "class. He laid stress on the'fact that they ,did not part witji the land, but j only the fee sim'ple 1 of-it,\the real ownership still 'resting with the State.This is perfectly correct' theoretically.

inasmuch as the State is always at liberty to tax any land 'within" the sphere of its control; but at the same time the owner of the fee 'simple experiences no embarrassment on account of this theoretical ownership. His right of possession is of such a nature as enables him to deal with it as he may cnoose, and grant leasehold rights to a tenant only on the owner's terms. He has no occasion to anticipate any arbitrary interference on the part of the Government. Mr!" Massey^ voiced a good sentiment when speaking on the second reading of the Bill by saying that "It was the duty of the man wno owned land in this coun--tiv to brmg that land into the highest cultivju-ion. If he did not do that he should be made to part with that land " This sounds very well and would seem to go to the heart of the difficulty. But as the realisation of the idea must depend upon how Mr. Massev proposes to make aaiy offending owner part with his land, the point is one that must be held In suspense hke so much more in the BilJ, that is not made clear. The prac-' ; 'c of the aggregation of land that is. alleged as "being carried on to as great an extent as ever, Mr. Massey sajs has caused him much reflection; but here again , comes in that nice sense ; of ■discriminatoon that : so distinguishes the legislation >of the Government that would affect the landholding class. Mr.. Massey does not propose to interfere with, any sort of aggicgation that did not interfere with the public good, Government, apparently, being thejudge in all such cas-

es. In cases; however, in which the aggregation was against the public interest, it is in the power of the Land Purchase Board, and the Minister to Either could inform the owner that he must either cut up or hand the land over to the Board, otherwise the State would compulsorlly acquire it. \ He added that he thought 4 in nine] cases out of ten the owner .would subdivide the land and make as much as he could _out of it. Beliefs are very good as they served but what the public wants is some-, thing 'that cannot fa'l to produce desired results. It is not good*business tp. leave vital necessities to be at the mercy of a mere / chance of one in a thouand instead of "nine, out' of ten" chances that they would voluntarily cut up their holdings. Sir Joseph Ward, in replying to Mr. Massey, hit the nail fair on the head when he said that the only real agency promote the subdivision of land was the Graduated Tax. All land legislation up to the present has gone to show that nothing else will effect what is really wanted.'. "..All .other methods that have been experimented with in tne hope that they would lead to subdivision ■have been dismal failures. Their leal intention was to keep the holders of land in possession. The great bulk of our land legislation of the past has 'had but one object, and that was not the subdivision of large estates . or afforddng the landless on opportunity to get land. Had' any cf our Parliaments felt moved by a sin cere desire to people the land at any time during the last 40 years nothing in the world would have been easier than to that object. All that was required to bring that about vas merely to put sufficient tax upon land so as to make at unprofitable to hold more than the owner was able to turn to profitable account. What conceivable policy coußd 'be more suicidal for a young country pssessing unbounded resources than to keep it back by allowing such a large area of the best land of the country to be permanently locked up in the hai;ds of the few while thousands eager f^r a bit of land that have been kept landless to this day? Everything else, even to the establishing of the Public Works policy was done to lead to prosperity, but everything that was tried was rendered abortive by . the land monopolists, who, like the dog in the manger had more than,, they knew what to do with, but would allow no one else to use it except on conditions that would only profit themselves. So the proper progress of the country has been kept back to this" day. With - in a very short time this Dominion,

if, the Massey Government remains in ; power, will not have an acre of public land of any kind left. Then a real crisis .will arise. The thousands who will be clamouring for a bit of land to settle on will ask if the people of New Zealand intend to follow the example of Europe by creating a'landed aristocracy, to whom every one in want of a home o,r a small farm must bow jdown anCd worsnip. It will surely dawn upon the community, when such a crisis arises, that the State — the ultimate owner of the land —ought to be able to turn it to better account than'.to -allow a few of a cci"--tain clas&Tto hold so siuch more than ■they can possibly want while so many thousands find it impossible to get as much as a) square, foot of the L-.nd, which tihey .and theirs may have to fight for and will have to live and die in. It ssi about time that the people of all countries threw their land traditions on the scrapheap of the past, where Mr. Massey's Land Bill should also go. -J >

Mr. A. Hajrdie. storekepets ,of Ikamatua, and A. Saraty, Waiuta, have been appoinited agents in their respective districts for- the renowned hairrestorer "Hairaid." The Trawler will have a splendid lot of fresh fish arriving\by the Arahura to-day. Order by telephone No 280 it will be delivered at\your door. Railage Avill be paid oa all countryorders! The annual meeting of .the United >- Tennis Club will be held in the Pavilion this evening at 7.30., Business : To receive report and „ balance-sheet and election of officers. All membersand intending members are requested to attend. Three boys named Lee, Betts and Fawkner were boating i^ a." river at Launceston and were beinjv carried seqward, .when they attempted to Swim ashore. All 'were -drowned. 'The Admiralty has decided t 0 ievert to 'the custom of . naming ships after naval celebrities. All destroyers past present, " and/future, *are being officially grouped into classes, each having the class letter painted on »the foremost funnel. The names of -thirteen destroyers on the 19 r3 programme aie innounced and include those of ten famous naval officers. A tragedy occuired at'Ballina. New South Wales. John Rankin, on returning home from a meeting, discovered Ibs house locked. Forcing an entrance, he found his wife in bed and her .thirteen momhs old child on ; thp floor with their throats cut. Anothei dead child was also found, ,Ins head having apparently been struck with a hammer lying near by. ' The skeletons of two men, with o revolver /and a 'rifle alongside, each skull being pierced with a bullet hole, nrre found in the Gascoyne district, Western Australia. They had apparently beeh dead for a 1 year. They arc supposed to be the remains of "prospectors who got bushed and ended their fruitless struggle by placing the weapon into their mouth and discharging it. The Free Lance says that Mr Pa\ nc is almost refreshing when he declares that he will vote against a proposal. That Mi. Payne should m any circumstances be refreshing ithat is a great joy. And so enough; "We have hundreds of unemployed here i!pnight," says Mr. Payne. This seems to be an exaggeration. . It plainly shakes the Speaker right up. Mr. Pcune makes one record. He always empties the Press Gallery. Immigrant officers have detained the acuess, Mare Lloyd, aboard the steamer Olympic, m company with Bernaid Dillon, a jockey. The pair claimed that they were married, but the immigration' officials declare that they need proofs. . Both have removed to Ellis Island pending a sitting of the Board of Inquiry. Amazement prevails 111 London at the action of the New Yoik authorities in denort'ig as undesirable Marie Lloyd because she is cohabiting with -Bernard Dillon. a lockev. The Daily Teieg-icTh states that the New York^ ins'teciois acted 031 the strength of a London cable produced by a reporter. The Pali Mall Ga7ette states that the operation of ithe White Slave Act. illustrates the sensitive nature of nubhc opinion * in the United States. Other Governments leave such matters to individual judgment. * Mr. Wm. McKenxie met with a very painful accident while on his way to woik on the Christchurch road on Monda\ last. lie was leisurely smoking

his pipe on his bicycle when he Was ace dentally .thrown from his machine, the stem of the pipe broke, and a piece entered his cheek. He returned lo Kumaia foi surgical treatment, and is now in the hospital, doing- well.

''The farmer when a confessed Liberal is not hard to turn into a. Conservative. As soon as he gets a little puise-pioud, gets the river bridged, and has all he requires, he often turns round and becomes a hardened Conbeivativc/' This statement was made by Mi. A. W. Hogg-, at Petonc last^ week.

A good btory of aetribute justice is fold by an Invercargill doctor at

his own expense. Recently he was returning fipm a profesisonal visit to North Invercargill ,and was waylaid by some individual with a poor sense of discrimination. Two fists followed one another in quick successin. and the doctor jumped on his bicycle and lode off. At 2 o'clock next morning, when snugly tucked between the sheets a call came to him from North Invercarffill to attend someone who had been hur. in a row r^ and he had in alldecency to pack his ,bag and hasten forth in the chilly morning air to make good the damage he had done.

Colonel H. O. Knox/ Quaitermas-ter-General of the Defence Forces, will return to England in February of next year. He was, appointed in Ma\, 1911, on loan from the Imperial Army Service Corps, -And his term of leave will expire in April. 19 14. He -intends to retire from ittie Service upon leaching Home. It is probabre that hii, successor in the post of'Quartcr-masier-Gcneral will be Colonel A. W. Robin, who, after a term as New Zealand representative at thcWaV Office. is returning to -New Zealand, and is expected in the dominion before Christmas.