THE LAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14432, 24 July 1907, Page 7

THE LAND.

TO THE E9ITOX. Sir,— Many of your readers h&Y© doubtless often enjoyed the letters of Mr Barty, and ho does eometimes hit various nails very decided whacks, but it seems to me that his last letter was very weak in as far as it touched on the land question. Mr Barty Gays if a man has money enough he can buy the produce of the producers' labours. Very good, but may I remind friend Barty that the landowners have not to buy the land; they have it already. Yes, worse luck, with the exception of about 5,000,000 acres, about 115,000 landowners own, this colony, and if the money question were settled, that would not restore the land to the people. The vast majority would still have to pay rent or go. Again, friend Barty says the man with his plot of ground must. either toil or starve. Hum I Ha I Mr Barty. If I owned a nice little plot about Cathedral Square, would I workP Clhristohuroh is a. flat city, and there are lota of flats in it. I would let them work.' Eh ! "Who .said " unearned increment?" ' What would it matter to me if the rent were paid in private bank notes or genuine National Bank notes, or even in goods? A man without land is a slave who can only live on suffranee, and. _ when the workers wak" tp and realise what impudent robbery landlordism is, I hope they will stand together and) demand, that all the land shall belong to all the people, and the medium of exchange, whatever it may be, as well. But few all that, T cannot agree with friend Barty thai the money question, although I admit its great importance, is as vile and disgusting aa private land ownership. " White parasols and elephants mad with" pride are the flowers of a grant of land."—l am, etc., CHARLES S. SMITH.

TO THE EDITOK. Sir, —If ought to waken the petrol© up to distrust the present administration it Is the jubilant way in which the leader of the Opposition hailed their land policy proposals. I am afraid the Premier is not the man to conserve the interest of the masses, as he is bound by knighthood ties and other baubles to the classes at Home and in New Zealand. The land question is the only solution of all other questions, and once the" people part with the land all the hideous train of evils such as pauperism, class rule, snobbery and premature decay will inevitably follow. Let the masses beware. Let there be no humbug, but barrack for land nationalisation till they get it.—l am, etc., RADICAL.