THURSDAY JUNE 11, 1925. LABOUR’S LAND POLICY

Northland Age, Volume 25, Issue 7, 11 June 1925, Page 4

THURSDAY JUNE 11, 1925. LABOUR’S LAND POLICY

Despite all the “glossing,” the Labour Party should find it dfficult to explain its land policy to the satisfaction of genuine farmers at the coming election. To our mind the Party’s “policy” is nothing better than a quack remedy. Although kept discreetly in the background, the proposal is to fix tiie value of all land in the Dominion at a valuation to be made at the earliest date after Labour reaches the Treasury benches, and that whatever increase in value may take place after that (as a result of the farmer’s efforts or otherwise) the farmer shall have no share in it. Labour’s land policy also provides that the farmer shall be deprived ot the right to dispose of his land in the open market or otherwise to anyone but the State, and the State can take it at its OWN valuation. These are facts, and they are facts to be considered by those who do not wish to sacrifice theirrightstotheirland in order to enable the Labour Party to create their ideal of a Socialist State. The Freehold Tenure should be good enough for all who do not want to see the day when the country will be a large State farm, badly managed by men who know little about the land and who are, for the most part, merely professional talkers.