Freehold v. Leasehold.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8085, 7 September 1905, Page 3

Freehold v. Leasehold.

(To the Editor)

Sir, —In. your issue of the 2nd inst., I read a letter signed 0. P. W. Longdill. I should say-by the tone of the letter that he is a keen supporter of the Seddon Government and has allowed' his partiality to bias his sense of fairplay and to arrogate to himself and party all the^ knowledge in the universe on land tenure. Person who differ from him are classed as agitators and ignorant idiots, but, Sir, there are Crown land tenants and freeholders who are able to give Mr Longdill a good many points in knowledge on land' tenure and beat him bad. He says Mr Seddon hit the nail on the head when he asked the pertinent question where Crown tenants were going to get the money to pay for their holdings. I say that Mr Seddon missed the nail badly and burked the real.question at issue. The gist of the question is: That Grown land tenants shall have the privilege of acquiring the freehold at any time they choose, and to change their present tenure to any existing tenure by paying for it. The unrest and dissatisfaction expressed by the Crown tenants has not been caused by paid agitators, backed up by money lenders. It is simply rot to say so. The moneylenders are not so liberal as all that. The great majority of them love the shekels too well. The unrest has been caused by the agitation'of labour councils and unions, backed up by the ultraSocialistic members of the New Liberal Party, demanding that an Act shall be passed, to enable the Government to enforce a periodical valuation of existing Crown land holdings. Mr L. draws a very doleful picture of the dairy industry, and according to his showing the poor, patient cow-spanker.is fast hastening to blue ruin. Some people, Mr Editor, draw upon their imagination just a little. That last season was a bad one for dairy farmers, I know by experience. But when we come to those bad failures as cited by «ur mutual friend it is just as well to look for the cause, and you will 6nd it all right. Often men go into the dairy business before they have counted the cost, and a number of failures youjwill find are caused by inexperience. I can cite instances of men buying land in the Palmerston district at j£3o to £40 per acre—not inexperienced greenhorns, but leyel-headed, practical men, who are making a living, making1 interest on purchase money, and saving money as well. In conclusion, Sir, I hope that in the future Mr Longdill will stick to facts, and be governed by a spirit of liberality and fair play.—l am, etc., " A. B. C. Shorxdill." Hiwinui, Sept. 4th, 1905.