THE LAND BILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14473, 13 September 1910, Page 6

THE LAND BILL.

CONDEMNED BY MR. MASSEY. [BY TELEGRAPH.OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Palmebstom North, Monday. The recently-formed Political Reform League held the first of a series of socials to-night. There was a large attendance, representative of both town and country. Addresses were delivered by Messrs. Massey, Herries, Herdman, Malcolm, and Buick, M.P.'s.

Mr, Massey, in referring to the Land Bill, said that he considered that some of the proposals were oven more objectionable than those contained in the notorious Bill of 1906. In the present Bill there was a bait for freeholders, and a bait for leaseholders, but ho- doubted whether the fisherman (Hon. Dr. Findlay) would be able to land either freeholders or leaseholders with the Government hook. Judging from what was contained in the Bill, he was of the opinion that those who were responsible for it were either utterly ignorant of the principles of political economy, or utterly ignorant or regardless of the principles of political rectitude. He was also of the opinion that those who were responsible for the Bill were ignorant of what the country required in the way of land settlement. The country wanted idle and unoccupied land made available for settlers. It wanted security of tenure for settlers. It wanted something to restore confidence and encourage enterprise and energy. The present Bill did not go in those directions, but exactly the reverse, and he thought that if they could not do better in the way of a Land Bill, the members of the present Government had better be relegated to the obscurity which many of the people of the country thought they deserved.

Mr. Hemes said that the success of the gathering augured well for the success of next year's fight. People thought that the Opposition supported the " fat man," but there was no greater calumny than that. As a matter of fact, they were more in touch, with the working man than the Government. What the Opposition wanted was to have the country populated by industrious yeomanry of small holdings. They wanted to put a party in power that would clean out the Native Department. They wanted to have the Upper House an elective House. These were three things on which the Government had no policy and on winch the Opposition had a definite one.