LAND BOARD MEMBERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15646, 27 June 1914, Page 8

LAND BOARD MEMBERS.

The principle upon which Mr. Massey has appointed members to tho Land Boards must be clear to all intelligent men and acceptable to all except politicians with leasehold leanings. Since the Reform Government's freehold Acts were passed the administrative duties of the Land Boards have been radically altered. While tho law recognises the right of every working farmer to the freehold of his land thero '.Ti V no roou on the La ml Boards for men w'jo deny this right, and whoso attitude would be hostile to the farmers who sought to exercise it. Mr. 'ii selecting and rejrjting Land Board memoers has made it evident that sympathy with the freehold policy which the Board has to administer is an essential qualification. It is being represented by the Opposition that only Government supporters can secure such appointments. In answer to this Mr. Maßsey is able to state that half the men he haa appointed to the Land Boards are known as supporters of Sir Joseph Ward- It

has bcon stated that this is not so in Marlborough every farmer who follows the proceedings of our Land Board knows that it is so in Auckland. Nor is this to bo wondered at when wo know that the Continuous Government when in office made a virtue of reserving such appointments for its own followers, and that great numbers of its supporters —especially those who had spent their lives on the land— always out of sympathy with the leasehold policy, which Sir Joseph Ward weakly accepted from a noisy minority in the party.