The Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1918. ME LAND QUESTION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 27 September 1918, Page 4

The Star.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1918. ME LAND QUESTION.

Delivered every evening by 6 o'clock in Hawera, Maoaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatunn, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, HurleyTille, Patea. Waverley.

The "land question", of course is ever with us, and probably for an indefinite period will continue to vex and baffle public men. In. the old days, when there were still large areaa of Crown land for disposal and the battle ranged in respect of methods of disposal as between sales for cash or on deferred payment or for leasing on i various kinds of tenure, a member of the New Zealand Parliament sighed fop the days when the Crown would have parted with its land and there would be no longer a "land question." This provoked the retort from a man with a much larger view—the present Chief Justice, if memory serves aright that when the public lands were disposed of the "land question" would then begin to be really troublesome. The truth <Sf the retort is now apparent. There are complaints that, despit« all the efforts made by the Legislature from time to time, land aggregation is going on in certain parts of the country owing to holdings becoming amalgamated. The economic pressure is difficult to withstand or defeat. Dear labor, uncertain labor, and the growing cost of supplies and services make matters difficult for the working farmer of small means, so that unless the land is very productive he has his work cut out to make ends meet. The temptation is strong to sell out where the land is not of first quality, and low priced money facilitates sursnangemente under <whioh the better established man can afford to add te his fields, and with or even without an additional o'^reeer will be able to run

#o many ™™ f<*v h stock at practically , £ peiise. 'lius , S oi-t or ~ . . i-ranse the etfor tend* to neupromote email '* *f r^ment to experience r •*****««>. It i» common , I >«&»-economic pressure wall in b ef»° , defeat the most and -^t S>olitical aimsj and that, tax <3£gui'a,te as jou may, it will be imP xJSible to keep men can small holdings $r 'fchejr cannot get an adequate return ■for <their daJbor or are able to work 4heir pro.p&j-ties with, somethiing like Nemcienoy. That is one iaspect <f2 the land question—the difficulty of keeping the holdings (small in country where the land is not of first-class quality. In South Taranaki we have seen that the tendency is for land to he further sub-divided. This is -due to ihe great productiveness of the land, and to the necessity for personal oare and attention if the best results are to fee got from dairying, which is the main, use to which the land can be put if the most is to be got out of it. Another aspect of the question was referred to at a recent meeting of the Wanganuii Chamber of Commerce, when a speaker •referred to the constantly rising price of land. The speaker, Mr L. E. Basset* (chairman of the Chamber) said: " Our present land system, associated with an. increase of £90,000,000 in the unimproved value lin the last ten years, as becoming a matter (requiting very seriious consideration, when viewed from its probable .relation to the Dominion's future, in iso far that not only is the production per acre subject to an increased overhead charge of in cases many times that of years ago, so being likely to prejudice the position of our primary products on a post-war competitive market, as against production from lower-priced outer-world lands, and lands held on a more equitable system;; tout, in addition, the young r farmers of to-anGrr-ow, to whom the Dominion must look, may be faced with mortgages •Qr capital investment out of all proportion to prices obtainable on competitive .world's markets. Benefits likely to -accrue from the application of chemistry to the soil, or from intensive culture,, will be alike advantageous to the outer-world low-prioed competitive lands, and are, therefore, not a compensating factor. The increasing cost of the necessities of life, and the problem of labor calling.for early attention, are very closely lassociated with the land question, as the wages of the worker, the agents oa production, will require to have a correct relationship to the of life on the basis of a reasonable cost of production." Of counsel, the crux of the question j her© will be: .the value of our produce | in the market© olf the world. Good land' will continue to hold in price of the ..prices of produce hold,, but no doubt there is the latent danger that if the price® of produce go on; rising and laboi^ as it necessarily must do, becomes increasingly dear, there may come a time when the cost of production in New Zealand will materially handicap us in competition with other peoples in the markets of the world. The increasing cost of everything of service or necessity to man may be creating an altogether artificial and inflated economic condition, the full ultimate results of which it is difficult oar impossible to forecast. One result immediately threatening the com-

munity is the growing discontent of

a large class in the community, and i£foat is not ;ia matter to be lightly set aside. During war time patience may be fairly and justly counselled, but the whole question presents a. great poat,war problem which, cannot be given too much attention by our rulers and thinkers: