THE UNEARNED INCREMENT.

North Otago Times, Issue 778, 22 July 1890, Page 4

THE UNEARNED INCREMENT.

r «""-'-•"' to •THK'BfilTOßr', ',""" « Sir,— on : 7 -Vf ; • tby^ 'lsolated position in-tbe-ooupiry ih l ; rob on occanionar number", of your esteomed paper, I bav.e not, notified that any of the many intelligent farmers ftbqu' Oatnatttbavci hcieb 1 oorouientiflg' 6a o matter of whioh boibe^ of our political | lights; ara , aaA&Jng jnjoh "Capitol— that ii the nnwarnod inofcemont Bf*icl to bo in land. Are we to accept this silence on Wt part of farcoord aa quiescent vritb the one-aided manner in which Sir Itobert Stout laid thiti matter bofon> the Oamaruvians on the occasion oi hto firflt political harangue, or ia it on th» other hand too ridiculous to call for oonBidoiefioD. Xf Su- Robert Stout thinks he has scored a point with the intolligence of Oamnru by the manner in which he has presentod this, h » favorite theme, we aro left to think that the capaoity of his vanity can only be gauged by the credulity of his admirers, It appeared] a very unpolitio movo in a party leader to bo haranguing corarnuuitioa in the centres of population in a one-Bided and misleading manner on his particular viow of the land and other popular que&bions, especially at a time when one half of the world is oursod with agitation. There aro so many people who do not look into the bottom of the great mat" tor, but are simply made believe that ii they have » piece of land thoy have Paradise Regairod. But tho farmei with limited means knows nothing ol an eight or oven a ten hour movement in his effort lo keop possession of a home, as every intelligent observer well knows. These matters, however, like many other questions of the day, ! ought to be commented upon with moderation and fairness, because si> j long as the mothers and daughters oi the land rush to and fro after faßh'iODß, interminable changes and innovations, there will naturally be a measure of thr florae spirit in the male 'liao of the human family. For instance, the latoSt development of fashion in that order is the threatened strike with the beat paid men (as a rule) in the world, even tho New Xealaod Railway employees. It would appear that tht spirit of unions and strikes ia contagious, liko other undesirable thiogH This endless chaogoablonesain the lives and aims of tho human family uppoar an much a law of our nature as gravitation is of tho universe ; aoif designed to multiply the innumerable avenues ol industry, and make the sevoral order? of tho human family a necessity to encb ! other. The freedom of the will is the condition of its ouccessful working, There io no mechanical groove for the spirit of man. It is at tbia point tho privileges and advantagoo of the good Editor comes in m a separator of ohaO from whoaf, and to counterbalance as it were the exorcise of the enormities within tho acopo of human nature. In tho exercise of his (tbo Editoi'«) privilege, and in proportion as he striven to leaven public opinion with true and practical nirmi, so ho brcomes a pronounced blessing to m/oioty in general and to nil around Mm in particular, and a feilow-helper in the highest sense with the Christian Minialor — a living mace of genuine manhood, and carves out a oervico that has to do with what is deepest, most inward, and legal in maw, with the forces that feed the Spiritual life, with themes that fill time and run into eternity. We understand Sir Robert Stout to have told the Oamaruviacs in his latest address that bo was no fool. No one flaid that ho was. Yet although all he stated against thoso politically opposed to hitf party, both individually and collectively, was correct, wo fail to see the j wisdom of his being surprised at a pol--tician changing his views on any of tho important questions of tho day. Nothing ismore easy than reoritnma'iuo andnothingso common from the nursery Upwards to the full flodged Senator in Parliament, and from tho Queo& i of Aahdod to the learned citizen that in honored with a handle to his name. In tbo interminable embroglio of making and repealing laws where is the w bo one but can see on all human legislation ,the Wars of the Prophet in red ink imploring the Divine law giver to break down, break duwn, till He comes to reign that haa » riijht to reign. Now, as to tbe charming discovery of tho unearned increment \u land. If there? wa» a Blue Book published with an account of tho fortunes that have been' expended on profitless landn in New Zealand, it would bo found tbut the unearned increment partakes somewhat of tbe exceptional in land as in othor indti'striesi Whatever good ia in land recjuirflfj money and labor to got a return, aa ia every other industry— tbe Eden fiat covers all. There is aa unearned increment in a bul'ooVa hide, for whioh the producer gets four, or five shillings, but afrer it passes through the tanner'a handf, thence, to the. saddler and ohoemakoi's *oom, its price h brought up to two or throe pounds. In like manner with a abeep'i flkin, There is also an unearned increment in the material* the Editor of a paper has to dress up for his readora, and perhaps there ia no fiold of induotry that has a greator aupply of raw material. There ia an unearned increment in, tbe mute forces of creation around us, and man's superiority over another ia in tbe measure' of sucoeaa in manipulating those forceo ai hnnaan agencies. Blundering will always be a national vice, flo -we must humbly excuse Sir Koberfc Stout in his failure so far, and when he comes "again before us to agitate the £and Question we reapeotfully aak/him to make a business-like stand by firafc writing to hia friend Sir Julius Yogol somewhat in the following strain ;•>'(<, " Doar ii — ~, You know my views of old touching Land Nationalisation, Some popular stroke must ba made, and a» tho wont intelligent order of tho community aro oppoaod to a policy of indirect confiscation, would you kindly take the earliest opportunity of interviewing the London bond-boldera aa to thoir views, if we have left unpawnod of the whole assessed money vuluo of New Zoalund a Bum aufHoiont

to bag o&«tCjf the-p^tft^g^dclcjq^Blrom the Lan^frawpany, eoiWfcjtpy pja&i>j Lund Man»gotnpD,t B^d /NafcionftllHutioti might be pi'ftotlc&tt/illfcfWfttod on safe iin^s.^yqursjpopttfcieiiliiyf"; v/M'-i •. '" There is a atdng of uaeolved problems mixed up withvthe Lftnd Quention, now maclo the Btulklng ,hor»o, ,and wo fail to Bee"'tli < 6'l9aibBb'dk > w'iWbm of leading public ",»poaker«> oxoitidg the popnlar roind to oxpoot irapossibilitioa. "■ ; ' '■ James Qariiow.