THE SILENT VOICE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6176, 6 April 1907, Page 8

THE SILENT VOICE.

(To the Editor “N.Z. Times.”) Sir,—lt its astonishing that in a matter of such vai?t importance as the reform of our unjust land system—a system in every way utterly antagonistic to the welfare of (hb matf«et?—there should be the greatest apathy and unconcern displayed by the landless people who are. of course. a huge majority of the inhabitants of thus colony. The voice of those who have been allowed to Appropriate a« their own private property the pick of the land, and to confiscate Iho hard comings of the hindleg by pocketing the unimproved land value (amounting to several millions sterling per annum), and the voice of the wouldbe freeholders are unitedly barking incur loudest against tho Land Bill. Ihis mere handful of would-bo blue-blooded lauded aristocrats, not content with having stolen the birthright of so many thousands of human beings, now actually have tho audacity to fight desperately for the remaining small remnant of Crown lands. All tho while the landless masse.?, plundered bv the landholders every day, ar 0 client. ‘lt its. indeed, astounding. S ur dy they cannot know to what extent they are robbed. They view tho situation, if they view it at all, with perfect equauimifv’aud complacency over a mug of beer and a pipe of ’bacca, preferring to discuss the latest football or betting news or some other subject of relatively no importance. What care they for high rents, high prices of commodities, loss of freedom and mother glaring evils bom of landlordism I The fact is that nothing short of absolute starvation will open their eyes and make them begin to think. If they made a reasonable use of their faculties they would perceive the wily game t\hat is being played by Mr Massey and his supporters. The "country party” and its followers want the freehold. Let them have it. But don’t lot them pocket the unimproved value, which is a communitycreated value, and should, therefore, be appropriated by taxation to benefit the whole community by defraying tho cost of national and local government. If this were done, tho landless need not care whether tljo general system of land t mure were freehold or leasehold, for the landlords’ power to rob would be at an end. The land sharks pretend that they want tho freehold in order to obtain ” security of tenure,” which is downright humbug. The truth is that they want tho freehold for no other purpose than that they may fleece the landless of their earnings. ' The intelligent landless workers ask tho Government to insert a clause in the Land Bill providing for very substantial taxation of urban land values. In its present form tho Bill leaves the irreat urban land question absolutely untouched, and as the enormous value given to land by the people is almost wholly confined to our populous centres, it is obviously the duty of the Government to impose a heavy tax on urban land values, and increase it yearly until the whole of that value is taxed out for tho common good. I admit that the intelligent landless mental and manual workers are comparatively few, but is their most reasonable and righteous claim to be unheeded by the Government because the rest of the landless people have no more knowledge of economic justice than sheep? Is this wholesale and daily robbery of 1 landless men, women, and children to go on until tho newspaper press and the fat and comfortable Parliamentarians demand that the wrong bo ended? If so, it will go on untouched during the lifetime of the present generation. Tho landless people are robbed directly and indirectly of not less than eight, perhaps ten, millions sterling per year by our land and fiscal systems. It is the duty of Government to lessen this robbery us much as possible. By allowing it to remain untouched, they tacitly support it. Let them denounce it and educate the people. It is easy for Government to educate the people on, this vital matter. Why not begin this educational work —the most important work to which they can put their hand? —I am, etc., EDWARD CAMPBELL EVANS. Willis street, Wellington, . 3rd April, 1907.