THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1919. OCCUPATION OF LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17328, 27 November 1919, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1919. OCCUPATION OF LAND.

An amazing indifference to facts is being shown by those opponents of the Government who are endeavouring to establish the theory that the Reform Party is the instrument of the large landholder and that under its administration the creation of large estates has been permitted and reaggregation encouraged. Proof of these contentions is presented in the form of quotations from the official Year Book, but the statistics are paraphrased with an obvious disregard for their real meaning and with the deliberate purpose of misleading the electors. A typical example of this class of Liberal propaganda appears in a recently-published statement that " since the Massey Government came into office" the number of holdings of from 1001 acres to 50,000 acres has increased by 1730, this number being represented, by a calculation of averages, to involve 6,664,000 acres. This critic ingenuously admits that the period covered in the Year Book return is from 1909 to 1918, which is rather longer than the Massey Government has been in office. Reference to a later table in the Year Book would have saved the calculation of the area thus absorbed in large holdings, since the actual figures are given, showing that between 1909 and 1918, the area held in blocks of from 1001 to 50,000 acres increased not by 6,664,000 acres, but by 5,483,899 acres. Moreover, the official Year Book also gives particulars of the holdings exceeding 50,000 acres, and if these are included, the increase between 1909 and 1918 is shown to be 1707 in number, and only 2,526,542 acres in area. The value of tins particular attack on the Government and the soundness of the conclusions it presents are therefore vitiated by the fact that it deals with a period exceeding by over three years the Government's term of pffice, that it exaggerates the increase in area held in large holdings, and that it disregards an extremely important element, the holdings of over 50.000 acres, apparently because the great reduction in both number and area is in favour of the Government. If criticism of the Government's policy in regard to the occupation of land iB to be of any service, it must be based upon the facts which relate to the actual period of government by the Reform Party. And since the charge that aggregation of land has been permitted is being used in the interests of Sir Joseph Ward's party, a comparison with the results obtained during his administration is both legitimate and instructive. The following table shows the number of holdings above 10 acres in 1906-7, the year in which Sir Joseph Ward succeeded to the leadership of the Liberal Party, and in 1910-11, the latent year of the Liberal Government for which returns are available ; in each case the average area of the holdings is given:— 1906-7. 1910-11. Av-rago Average Acres. No. ar-u. No area 11 to 1(100 .. 47 JB'! 210 50,005 >*4 1001 to 5000 . . 3,882 1.959 4,71 V) 1964 5001 to 10.000 .11.-i 6.800 fi >K 6703 10.001 to 20.000 JIS li _'.V.) ~;, ll'lo9 20.001 to .-,0,000 167 I'.i.U', i3fi 30' 671 Over 50.000 88 100.958 90 !)U,',!ly Totals .. 51.88-'! 71!) 55,801 719 As a result of the extension of settlement, there were, increases in all classes of holdings during Sir Joseph Ward's term of office, except in those of from 20,000 acres to 50,000 res. In the case of holdings exceeding 50,000 acresthe chief test of the effectiveness of legislation designed to burst up" large holdings—the number was reduced ! in 1907-8 to hi, but the return for 1010 11 showed a total of 90. The

following table shows the results of the Reform Party's administration of the land laws :— 1910-11. 1917-18. Aver- AverAcres. No. age. No. age. 11 to 1000 . . 50,005 224 57,686 224 1001 to 5000 .. 4,780 1,964 5,623 1.959 5001 to 10,000 526 6.703 565 6.990 10,001 to 20,000 . 261 14,209 291 14.058 20,001 to 50,000 136 30,571 185 30,959 Over 50,000 . . 90 90,319 61 88,290 Totals . . 55,801 719 64,411 669 A further analysis of the tables shows that during the five-year period under Sir Joseph Ward's Government the number of holdings exceeding 1000 acres increased by 1196, while in the seven years from 1911 to 1918, which includes the last year of the Liberal regime, the in- | crease in large holdings was only 929. Since the Reform Government entered office, the increase in both i the number and the area held in small farms has been far more rapid than in the preceeding five i s»ears, as the following table shows :— Increase ia 1906-11. t 1911-18. holdings No. area. No. Area. Up to 1000 acres 2,722 1,215.350 7,681 1.665,006 Over 1000 acres 1,196 1,584.245 929 1,217.931 These figures demonstrate that only by the suppression of vital facts is it possible to give any substance to the charge that the Government has favoured the large landholders. For instance, Liberal propagandists never refer to those returns in the Year Book which show that whereas during the 11 years from 1901 to 1911, the total number of occupiers of land increased by 8484, during the seven years from 1911 to 1918, the increase has been 8876, and if the figures for the past year were added the increase would be enormously greater. They pretend that the Massey Government would repeal the graduated land tax if it had the courage, but they do not acknowledge the fact that the Massey Government in 1912 increased the graduated tax to a far higher scale than had ever been contemplated by a Liberal Government, and that the result has been the subdivision of 29 estates of ever 50,000 acres, compared with an increase in the number du&ug Sir Joseph Ward's terra. The official returns prove beyond doubt that the legislation with which the Liberals were satisfied when they were in office had become ineffective. The area held in blocks exceeding 50,000 acres was reduced during Sir Joseph Ward's term from 8,884,295 acres te 8,128,742 acres, a difference of only 755,553 acres, or per cent. One of the first acts of the Reform Party was to introduce a new scale of graduated land tax, which Sir James Allen promised would accelerate the subdivision of the large estates. The Liberal Opposition professed to discover in the Bill merely an artifice to relieve the large landowner of taxation, but not one member of the party dared to vote against the measure. What has been the result? According to the latest return, the area held in blocks exceeding 50,000 acres in 1918 was 5,385,717 acres. Thus the result of the Reform Government's legislation and administration has been to reduce the total area of the largest estates by 2,743,025 acres, or 33.7 per cent. Further measures may be necessary to effect the subdivision of the remaining area of 50,000-acre blocks, but credit is due to the Massey Government for its efforts and its success in the extension of settlement in small holdings, and in the breaking up of the largest holdings.