THE LAND QUESTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17263, 12 September 1919, Page 9

THE LAND QUESTION.

Sir.—A correspondent recent!v referred to "extreme labour" wishing to enforce the "leasehold yoke" upon the farmers. Unfortunately, many farmers cannot sen how admirably the present so-cylied 'irehold'' land tenure lends itself u, unj-.L-t taxation and many forms of system*:.: exploitation. Note" the signim a nee of the ; following official statement made recently : —That the amount of stamp duty paid in regard lo the transfer of property had been more than double that received f■: the corresponding quarter of last year, and as there was a boom in land transactions it was expected that the amount of reveI nue received from this source would reach j £1.000.000 for the year. These figures | indicate something of'the "yuke" thai th« 'so-called freehold is imposing ujx.:i Unpeople. One million pounds in stamp duty 'at 1 per cent, represents the transferrin'' |of £100,000.000 of properly (including I mortgages thereon). £2.500.000" in commission, and, say, another £2.000.000 in legal land transfer fees, procuration fees, vain j ations, etc. It also means a probable in I crease in mortgages registered en the land 'by another actO.OOO.OOO, making a total | of £25,000.000 as one year's toll to be ; paid for in cash or interest out of the | meagre earnings of the producer* and ionj sumers of the Dominion. And. further. J it indicates clearly that the food supplies ! of the future will" need to be still further . 'ncreased in price to the consumer to save • the farmers as a body from working a'I a heavy loss. In short, if the mortgage : system is allowed to so on increasing the ! liabilities on the land and the people it J will soon take more than *-he whole value | of our exports to pay the interest account ; alone on our national and private indebtedness. I do not wish to infer that theie lis any crime in the legitimate transferrin,' |of property from one to another. In the I majority of cases farmers sell in order to | adjust their finances, mortgages, etc.. and | others owing to the lack of necessary <v..«h I required for improvements and developI ment. What I -wish to impress is the. j tremendous loss, expense, and inconvem- ; ence sustained by the whole community— j especially the producerthrough a system of occupation which not only inflates' land values, but encourages ail sorts of unjust I taxation, exploitation, usury, and corrup I tion, and unless a determined eriort is I made to control the situation the country 'will end up financially bankrupt, followed probably by plundering, Bolshevism, bloodshed, and famine. It is strange that while the Government and other powers are eni deavouring to nationalise, and thereby ! control, many secondary industries and commercial concerns they leave this allimportant land question severely alone. llf national control is -worth anything, | surely this is the point to begin. You j cannot expect to reduce the cost of living jby nationalising tramcars and postage ! stamps any more than you could hops to : effectively guide a horse by holding his I tail It is from the land that all our food I supplies and 90 to 95 per cent, of our , export wealth is derived. So why not endeavour to adjust our economic disorj ganisations from this centra? | T. H. Ttdd.