ACQUISITION OF LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19149, 15 October 1925, Page 13

ACQUISITION OF LAND.

■LABOUR PARTY'S PROPOSALS. | THF. MARGIN OF VALUE. | CANDIDATE DEFINES ATTITUDE. i "I will oppose any interference with | estates under the value of £20,000. ex- ; cept Crown lands, but I favour the • policy that portions of estates which bring the value above £20,000 should be ; divided up for closer settlement, said i Mr. YV. J. Jordan, Labour candidate for 'jSlanukau, at Matigere Central Hall last "veiling. | .\tr. Jordan devoted the first part of his speech to finance and other questions. . but was frequently reminded about his I land policy. \\ hen he said ho would ! tackle the land he was greeted with loud j applause. ; .1 he land policy, he said, could not be ! dissociated from the immigration policy. | Thousands of immigrants were landing :n I New Zealand every month and a land | policy was needed to absorb them, 'the | people of New Zealand were craving for j a land policy. (Loud applause.) The ! need of a land policy was shown by the I fact that the. immigration policy of the country was going on in such a way that the country was being flooded and poverty was increasing, j The" Year Book for 1925 showed that | in January last there were 80,599 fewer (acres occupied in the Dominion than in ! January. 1924. There were also 2681 i less persons on the land, j Mr. Jordan quoted cases of immigrant | families who were living in the towns m |an altogether impoverished state. AH j through the country the same thing was |to be found. When the immigrants were I brought here something should he found | for them to do. Room could be found | for them on the land. The Labour j Party's land policy was the only kind j policy put forward. In expounding the policy that all porj tions of estates in excess of £20.000 j should Ik> divided up. Mr. Jordan said I they could be taken over at a valuation agreed upon. The scheme had worked in the case of soldier settlement. At the present time there were 1080 landholders in New Zealand who had estates valued at more than £20.000. The purchasers of the farms could get them at a reasonable ' price, and they could stay on them so j long as they wished. If they wanted to ; leave they would be paid for all improvej merits they had made. j "The present land policy or want of | policy is crippling the farmers, and they I are walking off their holdings," declared | Mr. Jordan. "When we wake up to the I necessity for a good land policy, together ! with a good immigration policy, I submit Iwe will go ahead. Then we will have thousands of happy homes in the coun- , t r . v -" i As far as he was concerned he would |go ahead with the land policy he had I outlined. "If 1 can see that the time has ; come to change this policy I will come here to submit myself to you again." (Loud applause.) Mr. Jordan asked if those present thought the land pokey expounded by ! him was all right. A Voice: No. "What will happen to estates under the lvalue of £20,000?" was a question | asked. ! "I will not cast a vote that will inter- | fere with the ownership of land under the 'value of £20.000," retorted Mr. Jordan, i "I will stand for that and that only." At the conclusion a vote of"'thanks and i confidence was carried without dissent. " DISGRACEFUL " ATTACK. i I REFERENCES TO MINISTER. ' CANDIDATE TAKES EXCEPTION. ! Strong exception to the personal references to Sir James Parr, made by a Labour candidate at a recent meeting, was taken by Mr. James Stewart, Government candidate for Auckland Last, in his opening speech at St. Andrew's Hall last evening. Many statements, he said, had been I made during the campaign, mainly con- : cerning Sir James Parr, which were most ; disparaging and disgraceful. Statements |of a similar kind were checked on the floor of the House and the member who made them was told not to repeat them. If statements of that kind were not fitto repeat in the House of Representatives the speaker contended they were not fit to repeat to the electors. Mr. Stewart continued: To refer to any gentleman having the educational attainments of Sir James Parr in the way he has been referred to is, in my mind, 1 only an indication of what w-e can expect iif Labour ever reaches .the Treasury benches of this Dominion. A Voice: Lot ! The Candidate : Very well, if it is not palatable to yon, old chap, there is a reason. (Applause). " I absolutely refuse," Mr. Stewari added, "to sink to personalities in this election, and there is no lady or gentleman on my committee who is guilty or will be guilty of indulging in personalities in this campaign." The statement was received with loud applause.