LAND POLICY.

Northern Advocate, 6 October 1913, Page 4

LAND POLICY.

"The policy of the country has been changed to one of freehold and I accept the position," says the Leader of the Opposition. No one would like to quarrel with Sir Joseph Ward for this naive confession of readiness to bolt from a previous position nor will many electors be surprised to find him hopping thus quickly over the rail. This latest observation from our former Prime Minister has, however, an interest apart from its indication of easy conversion. What will the policy of the Opposition be next? For twenty years Sir Joseph Ward and his friends identified themselves with the leasehold principle in respect to Crown lands. This principle, if it can be called one, has now been disowned as not worth fighting for. For many years also they carired on a policy of land purchase and borrowed enormous sums for the purpose. This is now admitted to be ruinous and therefore impossible of continuation. Thus the two principal planks of the old Lib-

eral land policy go by the board and instead we have a tacit admission of their uselessness. Sir Joseph Ward was never a very illuminating counsellor when he applied himself to the land question. In fact he will be best remembered as the Prime Minister who introdulced five separate Land Bills and abandoned each and every one of them. Yet if he is going to lead a political party he will require to have some sort of land policy, for a New Zealand party without a clearly understood land policy would be an object of ridicule.