GORE LITERARY SOCIETY.

Mataura Ensign, 6 July 1914, Page 2

GORE LITERARY SOCIETY.

The weekly mooting of tlio Goro Literary and Dobaiing Sooietv hold' on Thursday evening last in G'ibbs' room waii perhaps the most exciting 'Parliamentary evening held jo far ""this session. There was an exceptionally large attendance and a strenuous debate took place on the Land Act Amendment introduced.a fortnight ago by Mr Driseoll. Prior to the opening of the debate on the -amendment, the Prime Minister (Mr Bowmar) drew the attention-of the Home to a written question he had j received dnrin:'. the week from Mr How-' m;ist (member tor Hay of Plenty).: Thej (.turmoil w.:'.j a.-, follows: How is'it that! the Prime Minister lias announced a freehold policy, while at tile .-wine time he is opposed'to the sale of Crown! iamb? The Prime Minister, in reply, stated that at a-certain period in the history of the Dominion .it was inadvisable to grant the .freehold of Crown lands, but at the present time the deed had been done by the party in power and 1 he was- very much again.st -any chopping and changing in our attitude to Crown tenants. Now that the right of obtaining the freehold had been given by Act of Parliament and by constitutional methods, he thought that any new party coming into power would not be justified in cancelling the rights already given to tenants. He considered therefore that it was now too late in the history of the Dominion to entertain any idea of permanent leasehold and for that reason h':s policy was* freehold. In past days land was opened for settlement without r.ny facilities for getting to markets and at a ridiculously low rental. Thereafter the Government provided the roads and railways, increasing the value of these holdings enormously, and the tenant reaped the benefit and wax a.ble to sell in many cases at a handsome profit, this profit being really earned by" the State. His (the speaker's) policy was to road and provide other facilities before offering the Lands for selection, and to lease them at a fair rental on the cost. From now on, he (stated, he did not think there would ever be a party divided, on the question of freehold' and leasehold. The freehold rights would be permanent and ho would give greater attention tt> Land Tax. The member for Thames (Mr Thos. Taylor) in opening the debate said that he estimated that New Zealand had retrograded two centuries by granting' the freehold of Crown lands'. All over the world, he said, a few pcoplc'lickl all the lands and the greater majority were landless. It had been asserted that 97 ner cent, of the population of New Zealand were landless and that was a> vory wrong state of affairs. We should not allow the minority to got extremes m riches or land. No doubt the.policy of freehold of Crown lands would not !>c again changed in our time, and it now became the duty of those in power to regulate the land for the benefit of the community. Men should be only allowed to hold land that they could successfully occupy and work. * The same ruling should apply to town sections. People were forced outside the towns because wealthy speculators were holding sections vacant, waiting for ai rise in values. The f-'peaiker also referred, to some remarks of the member for Egmont (Rev. T. H. Eccersall) at the previous discussion or this question. Banks were stated to be pushing-for the freehold.so as to have an opportunity of lending out sums of money at good interest on freehold. The speaker stated thait financial dealings on freehold were really no part of a bank's business except in rare cases as an obligeinent to a good client. A bank much preferred lending or advancing against produce to be shipped' and in assisting small traders. Any person making careful inquiries would find that the majority .of the banking .shares were not held by wealthy men. Men. of groat wealth found' other avenues for utilising their capital.

Mi' Rhodes (member for Raglan) spoke in favor of the freehold. When he came to this country (he said) it was with the idea of getting a bit of land that he could put his feet down on and claim as his own. He said that nearly all so-called 1 leaseholders were really freeholders at'"'heart." He thought that w-ith the Government as a landlord, too much political influence was brought to bear, especially at election times., and agitation arose at such times for special treatment. He gave several instances where tenants had taken advantage of the Government by taking all they could out of the land and then giving up their sections. Mr George McKcnzie (member for Marsden) thought that it was a mistake to grant the freehold of Crown lands. All the cry that 'the freeholder would make the best farmer, or the best homo for himself could not Hjo sustained. In regard to good farming or otherwise ho maintained that it was a matter of the individual awl not of freehold or leasehold. He had been some very bad farmers on freehold and some very good ones on leasehold' in this district. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr R. McCreath) congratulated Mr Rhodes on his good fighting speech. In theory fne leasehold was the correct method of dealing with our lands, but in practice it was only human nature to covet the freehold. Continuing he Paid that the freehold should never have been allowed but that the best method now' was to tax the man who did not work and occupy "lis land, and make it unprofit"able to hold it idle. He also advocated heavy death duties. Mr Bowmast (member for =Bay of Plenty) stated that he was a, believer in leasehold as it enabled the man of small capital to take u*t> land and work it oro-fit-.ibly. Mr T. A. Christie (member for Christchurch) said that he would like to explain, away the continual crv that most leasehold advocates were really freeholders at heart. This arose through a misunderstanding, as what leaseholders advocated was that the freehold should not be given of Crown lands. Ho maintained that if it was a good thing that certain valuable sections should be held in the town, of Gore to provide ever increasing revenue for education purposes, then was it not a good thing; also that the State, which was really the people of the Dominion, should also hold lands to grow in value and create more revenue, thus lessening in time the amount required ■ to be raised by other methods and by taxation ? ! -' j The msver of the amendment (Mr Driscoll) was then allowed to reply to criticism, which he did very (much on the lines of his opening address as reported in a previous issue. At this stage closing time had expired and the Speaker of the House (Rev. Geo. Hervey) read the amendment, "That there he no further sale of Crown lands" and on a division being taken, the amendment was carried by a very large majority, only three voting against it. . Pontine business included a, letter from the secretary (Mr J. G. Duncan) resigning that nosition owing to other engagements. The resignation was accepted with regret and it was decided to write to Mr Duncan thanking him for Mr Robert Hay was elected to the vacancy. It was decided to give a donation of £1 Is ty the Competitions Society to be allotted am a prize for an impromptu, speech. The subject for nex'fi freeK Srill'llßa Ws reading of tho 'Journal/ of- .wHich? Messrs R, Hay and I'iuin j.oyi editors.