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New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12401, 24 October 1903, Page 5

A' discussion on rating on unimproved values by the iNationui Single Tax League was h»UI at the Toil-crosses' Hall last night. Mr. George Stevenson presided. A visitor from a Southern district where the reform was recently adopted opened the discussion. He said that peoplo mire apt to imagine that y-.-in a new country like thin, with plenty of - -;.;"■]. land and very few people, overcrowding . .< ~ should be unknown, kit tie articles on,'w Auckland elurns which lately appeared in . Herald, showed clearly that whether a ecu. try is youag or o*u the same shocking «v;.., moral and physical, exist and inorea.se. Attempt had won made in England to remedy the evils of the slums by pulling down the old rookeries mad erecting decent dwellings, but the high price of land rendered this process so expensive that the poor could not- pay the rents required to cover the cost, and they drifted into other slums, leaving the- wellpaid artisans and clerks to occupy the new buildings. The attempt to create workmen's , homes at a little distance from the centres was not more .successful, and the only rational way to stimulate building and check land monopoly was to adopt the system of rating on land values only. The speaker quoted letters received from the town clerks of Wellington, Palmerston North, Waimate, Pabiafcua, and Feeding, all showing the beneficial effects which had followed the adoption of the,, reform. An interesting discussion followed, ■_ and the meeting closed with the usual compliments to the visitor and the chairman. Messrs.' Howie and Co., Newton, the wellkuown cycle manufacturing' and imparling - firm, advise the arrival of. a large and varied - stork of ladies' and gsnt.'s machines, from £FJ up, which can be bought on the easiest ~ of deferred payments. Just to -hand, the V latest models of Massey-JAarns and Red Birct / bicycles. Our, country readers should write f them for a list ol their lines. 11/ ' Tucra was a good attendance at the land / ;, salerooms yesterday, when Mr. J-,£™™*/ sold the lease of a property in 0 Connellystreet, for £650. /