Mt. Ida Chronicle NASEBY, SATURDAY, FEB. 6, 1904. THE FREEHOLD TENURE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume 35, Issue 9405, 6 February 1904, Page 2

Mt. Ida Chronicle NASEBY, SATURDAY, FEB. 6, 1904. THE FREEHOLD TENURE.

The everlasting question of the guarded "" *y "freehold rights to settlers who - are at present tenants-of the Crown has-' JA, taken a fresh hold of late upon popular t V interest. Tbe present Opposition party, : r supported by a iiot inconsiderable I^ section rofiwasasTs the followers of .the Ministry,;has : for the free choice; and it .was generally understood during ..the recent session of i'j Parliament that if members had been left to ;iSsS| vote according to their convictions'a xnotionsji&s??! in favour of Crown tenants to ac- '4r-U- | quire the'freehold of their hoi king's if they so* - ;? desired would have easily passed both Houses, -"=| provided, of course, that, efficient safeguards against the acquisition ".of large estates had formed part of the measure;-"-There is : " no doubt that the growing-desires of a large number of leasees are forcing _this question •. more and moye to the front j niid the more . j prosperous the country is. and the greater ' the savings of those engaged in the rural industries, the more insistent becomes" the - '--3: ambition of many settlers to be able to call - "v! their homes their own. and; to bequeath I to their families when rkey die with the " t certainty that wines-, s • >r children will not fr ultimately be turneti.- out on account of-in- * •••%■ ability to pay the half-yearly rent it is '£ increasingly evident that a laTge - f number of perpetual lessees, who were anility * 4 7 ' satisfied with their position as tenants when | they took up their holdings as comparatively 4young men. are beginning to realise, as age f creeps on and their families increase, that the ownership of the family home is an " f ambition dear to tbe soul of man. It is one I thing, when illness or danger;threatens the * _.t head of the family, to feel that, come what i may, there will be a roof over the head of -3, the wife and bairns ; it is quite another to have to be satisfied . with the vague proviso - S subject to the official regulations and to the '-3; regular payment of the Government rent." This is a case m which the theories of poli- J ticians sooner or later bump up against * human nature—and human nature &--'its~f«s>-» most unselfish and attractive aspect, not, as / % some would have it-j in only its moods r selfish acquisitiveness and unholy gieeu. | On the other hand the politicians whether I the majority of them or nofcis. as we have~ - tp | already said, doubtful, but - certainly the - politicians now in the ascendant—consider " I I it to be honestly their duty to squelch these „ ',£-J i >yerJ natural aspirations by an Tincomprowis- -SsssiS ing veto, on the ground that .parting with f-U'U the freehold means the ultimate encourage* • ment of land-grabbing on the part of capital-, "S ists. This seems .to. be in tho nature of a - ; 1 double confession of incapacity. It avows 1 that the problem of .devising sufficient safe- *""« J guards against the evil in question is one ' -. beyond the abilities of New "Zealand statesmen to solve ; and it admits that the prin-" - ciple of compulsory acquisition "under theLand, for Settlements scheme does not, after ''r all possess in reality all < the ,;"- v claimed for it by its authors.. for if it why fear the" piling "up~of estates by individuals who could never' hope.under such ' circumstances to be> allowed - togkeep them 1 : WeT have" not the slightest'doubt that the anti-freehold ,party is absolutely honest in its belief; but the arguments/'.'they- adduce hardly appear ■ that ~ increasing section of small settlers who, without the slightest desire ToTimit in any 1 «• ay t he : al 1 ocation. of Jeases-in - per petui tv to , all who.prefer them., neverthc less'feel thatinY.--'.;sMß!ws| their own" cases no'possible* principle of public policy can really be- vitiated by £ > allowing them their dearest wish—to become -• 'r-stv' at last the owners.of their owiPhomes. They :lZl_ look across the fields, or across the road, at ----S-------the homesteads of men no better than them- *} '• selves who call their cottages their own, and, r " while fervently grateful for the help the <"-*=} lease system has afforded them in their ' "Y struggling days, and .determined that so great a boon shall* al ways remain open to others similarly starting m life, they wonder * how the country'" c'ouli really be wronged by giving at last* to*themselves what their ' neighbours have -_so Jong and- so happily"' <"f enjoj'ed. - . . ' > It seems to us that heTe is a legitimate -JSf field the application of; the principle of' local option, : In the domain of temperance - '■J l "

*'\ve have to sec the valim of that principle ijroved: it has resulted doubtless on the' i 'whole improperly, but in detail it ha* - >"landed the country in a SHrie«,of irmnatrnnq 'anomalfcs. injustices and That -would hardly be. the case, were the principle *iied iu its application to the free choree plan of settlement on the land. We do not think that anyone would refuse a strong ■preference to the lease system for at any rate the first few years of a new settlement. It isof incalculable aid to the farmer ot small 'capital, though for the very reason it docs 'sometimes delude wholly unsuitable men into taking farming pursuits. Bnt it the , -Crown 'lessees in any district-earnestly desire that after a certain number of years- ot probation as such, the option shall be-given them of owning their homes, we hold that their legitimate'desire, duly expressed at the polls, should prevail in that particular ■district, though l At need not necessarily siffect any other. We do not know that the ■suggestion has ever.been made before; it • may have been What we do know is that "to any find every suggestion that a Lrown ■leasee should .ever be able to say •place is mine, and lam leaving it t y • wife and children the politicians, up to now Imve inveterately answered '_No- And., ■what we nevertheless bplieve is, that the time is coming when they must say " yes.