THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1891.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8583, 3 June 1891, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1891.

It might be expected, as the clay for the meeting of Parliament draws near, that the speeches, of Ministers would become more and more clear and distinct. [ They have had what they declared was necessary for them. They have had < all the ; time ; they sought; they have had opportunity, each one of them, to go through his department;■ i they have been able to visit all parts of the colony; they have effected all the changes they considered ; expedient; they have met in counsel together in Wellington to consult upon the policy they were about to propose. And now we have the speech of the Minister of Lands, and we presume we shall have nothing ; more of an authoritative character till the assembling of Parliament. In some respects Mr McKenzie's speech is disappointing. Perhaps the keenest interest is felt in the measures that the Ministry are about to propose for a change in the incidence of taxation.: All that he says on that; subject is compressed into a few lines, and these are : occupied by the well-worn bub nonsensical statement that the , burden of taxation . is ; to be so readjusted that the bona fide settler will be■ relieved, and that the burden will be placed on shoulders well able to bear it — if in New Zealand at the present time, there was a large class of , people who ; were just next ,to escaping taxation altogether, as if every class were not carrying as much as could safely be put upon them. Mr. McKenzie does not say one word on what is to bo the amount of the property tax or the land tax, so that we have no means of knowing whether the reports which have become current, apparently on ; Ministerial authority, are correct. One matter in regard to which Mr. Me-} Kenzie errs is in his constant references to how " the Conservative press" of• the colony have attacked him. He labour-; to ' make it appear as if all the V position to his ideas came from the*%ferans '■■-: of some selfish and Mr. McKenzie has so little art -lllfcse composition of his speech that he peroration in the shape of an Otago, Daily Times. As a matter^^eourse,■ the proper thing for; him to ha^^orie j would have been to have to raise the tone of his hearers, by% showing that ha and his fellow-Minis-ters were trying to reach the solution; of the colony's difficulties by > means which were, right and -'fate .to all, and that they were working the good of the State, and not for a party. >* His , peroration in denunciation of the Daily) Times is in bad taste, and it is bad policy, v Mr. McKenzie never made such o, great mistake as when he succeeded in. evoking three groans for our Dunedin contemporary. The greater part of Mr. McKenzie's speech is occupied with a statement respecting his own department, showing what he had done during the time he has been in office, and what : he proposes to do by means of new legislation. The main principles , of his action we highly approve. • Mr. McKenzie has, we believe, been a shepherd in New \ Zealand, and has large experience in the real work of settlement as distinguished from: the mere speculating in sheep runs, which has been the chief work of some settlers. And we may say that we consider that at the present time Mr. McKenzie has charge of the most important department in the Administration. If any reasonable man, j with a mind free from irrational "fads,"; were to be asked the great danger of these colonies he would say that it lay in the balance of political power having passed into the hands of men who feel no responsibility for their actions.! In all these colonies it is the' same. We have I unnatural acrgre-' gations of people in the „ cities, who have no permanent interest in thecountry, and who clamour that the State should borrow money to be spent: in wages, or should endeavour to main- \ tain them in occupations which are unprofitable to the community by means of protective tariffs. We hold .that every man who' takes part in the government of a country should have I a permanent interest in that country, i arid thati there great danger when J the mass'of,, the voters are simply in the position ojcVnds of passage. What { is the remedy for she evil? It is obvious ; that there, is no going back. -Not; an i atom of the political; power given can ! bo taken away again. The cure is obviously to give as many as possible a vital interest in the permanent wellbeing of tho country by settling them on the land. That is the end which all true Conservatives should aim at. That is the only refuge for us now. There is simply no possibility whatever of the community being divided into a wealthy class of large landholders, and a large population employed on wages as farm labourers or town workers. Mr. McKenzie is a practically-minded man, and like a sensible fellow, he does not profess to look forward to a millennium when the State shall be the sole landholder, and. a condition of Socialism shall bo inaugurated. If .a man wants to buy land out and out he can have it. If lie wants to occupy, wit h : thn right of obtaining a freehold when ho has fulfilled certain conditions, he can do that. If he wants perpetual leasehold, lie can have land on that ..tenure. But Mr. McKenzie is determined that if the State makes certain conditions as to cultivation and settlement, these shall be fulfilled. Wo quite agree with all this, and if Mr. McKenzio goes no further, we shall give him what aid we can, although we suppose he counts us amongst " the Conservative press." But he will doubtless see that wo. in the North are in a somewhat different position from people in Otago and Canterbury, as we have no largo squatters . or runholders. It is , only possible hero to hold moderate and

manageable areas of land. With regard to* 'the ' Land Department, it does not seem that any very great change is,required in the present law. Some provisions are apparently neees 1 sary to meet dunimyism, and by all means let these be enacted. Sir. MoKenzie proposes to bring in a measure to euable him to re-purchase land for settlement, This is a very delicate and dangerous operation, although we would not be understood as committing ourselves to an opposition to all proposals. In the first place, it will require, a considerable amount of ready cash to do anything effective in that

way. audit will always be a problem 1 whether the colony will make a profit--1 able transaction of- buying' the estates of large landholders and cutting them | up. The Parliament must not do injustice. That surely would not be sanctioned, whatever theories men have got in their minds. The House could not pass a measure to take possession of land against the will' of the owner, and to pay him less than its market value. And we might take it for granted, that in case of any negotiation or arbitration between an individual and the Government, the latter would get the worst of it. There is also a great danger of favouritism—so great that we do not I think there ever has been a Ministry j in New Zealand,' or that there ever will be, fit to be entrusted with such a power. A Ministry would be tempted to buy up the land of its friends if the buying were, of advantage to them, or it would compel its foes to sell under the law, if such were a punishment to them. It must be remembered that in this colony wo have no lav; of primogeniture or entail, or any oth'ef artificial props to large estates continuing from generation to generation. The breaking down of the largo estates should be a gradual process. We cannot afford agrarian v.- revolutions. " Bursting up" policies are too risky for us. It ;might be permissible <to assist the process of splitting the large 1 estates by , a graduated land tax 011 the larger areas, or by regulating succession, but to start any Ministry 011 a career of land-purchasing would certainly end in disaster.' | Wi'sh the exception of the 1 blemishes we have mentioned above Mr. McKenzie's speech is that of an earnest, practical man, anxious for the advancement, of the colony, and for the greatest good of tlio greatest number. The majority ,of the electors will, -we -are convinced, be prepared to give him a fair hearing for all his proposals.