POLITICAL POSEURS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6995, 8 December 1909, Page 6

POLITICAL POSEURS

Wo can quito understand that Mi Hemes would like to go to the country upon a proposal that land in the ricin-i ity of boroughs might bo acquired com-i pulsorily by the Crown for tho purposd of .establishing workers' holdings. It! would give the representative of an aU most entirely pastoral electorate a find alarmist catch-cry with which to hid*) tho absence of constructiro policy from! his proiMgauda. Given an unimagiua-' tivo candidate and a sufficiency of boJ nighted electors it is easy to see thq offoctivo uso to wliich sudi a clause could bo put. Wo would hear tho weli kin ring vriiii expostulation against the honest farmer being reduced to a posiJ tion of precarious dependence upon a Ministry whoso policy was dictated by street-corner socialists. Disquieting verbal pictures would be drawn of the hazard which threatened tho indusl trious agriculturist. The position would bo mado to appear very terribld indeed by Mr Herries, but when w<3 find Mr Hogg talking in tho same trumpery tono a new phase of tJni matter comes into view. No one would expect a Masseyite to refraiii from rolling the old familiar thundea! about such a subject, but there anq surely not a few who" would have ex* pocted something better from Mr HogjJ than blantant Tionsenso about "four or five hundred square miles of country round every large town being liable to seizure." Mr Hogg can see great virtue in the State compulsorily resuming a sheep-run of 10,000 acres and dividing it into farms for a score o$ settlers. He can see "danger - ' in dividing a 500-acro holding into allotments for a hundred artisans and lab-; ourers. People do not look for 4 Bluvish adherence to consistency froni politicians, and have grown accustomed .to living from hand to mouth so far aa principle is concerned,, but at least a considerable number will find it dim-' cult to reconcile this attitude with 'the obligations of public service. Why should it be right for the State to compulsorily resume farms for farmers and dangerous for it to have authority to take land at valuation fer workers holdings? We would like to know, because we are convinced that an en-

Tightened system of subdivision in the vicinity of the towns would do much to check the grosser evils of unemployment and to improvo the social condition of tho working classes. Land can now bo taken for railway purposes! and for many of the undertakings of kioal bodies, and we axo not awaro that this knowledge has a prejudicial effect upon rural industry. Any objection to it would bo scouted as ludicrous, and as tho prosecution of closo settlement is a necessary Stato undertaking some very good argument would bo necessary to show that vested interests shouW be permitted to stand -in tho way and impose on a large section of tho community a perpetuation of high rents or tho alternative to tho slum of the tenement dwelling. Mr McLaren had Rome valuable suggestions to make on this subject, but wc cannot agree with liim that solution of tho question should go along tho lines of "oompellin« tho use of lands held for speculative purpos<>«." This would involve groat- difficulty and allegations of unfair differentiation. The land wanted is tho land most suitablo for tho purposes to which it is to bo applied. Unless a scheme, of housing and settlement can proceed from that basis it is doomed to. embarrassment from the commencement.