THE LAND BALLOT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12409, 23 October 1903, Page 4

THE LAND BALLOT.

The existing ballot system enjoys the peculiar distinction of being considered unsatisfactory by all the Crown Lands Commissioners in the colony. Unfortunately, the Parliamentary tension of feeling upon the land tenure question renders it extremely unlikely that any early steps will be taken to remedy even the most flagrant abuses officially complained of. The theory that the ballot would give everybody an equal" chance has not been justified by practice. On the contrary, the sysiem. has most unhappily given birth to a gigantic land gamble, in which the bona-fide settler has to take his chances with the casual adventurer and the habitual speculator and in which the man without friends or family has correspondingly small hope of success. It must not be for-

I gotten, however, that the difficulty I has been greatly increased -by the I bona-fide demand for suitable and | accessible land being everywhere I greater than the available supply. j Tfie great evil in the system, from j the national standpoint, is that it compels genuine land-seekers to wait j .bout for months for an uncertain J opportunity, and thus inflicts such I hardship and disappointment upon a I most deserving class as was ceri tainly never anticipated.