The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 1912. JUSTICE ALL ROUND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8191, 5 August 1912, Page 6

The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 1912. JUSTICE ALL ROUND.

Before the North Trunk line went through, the land about Te Kuiti was probably not worth per acre a few shillings a year in rent. Owing to the advent of the railway and the growth of the township it has risen to hundreds of pounds per acre, and in course of time will no doubt go higher still. On any principle of Liberalism this land should have been acquired for the State.

It is always a pleasant thing to welcome a convert, particularly in the case of a newspaper’s attitude upon the land question. Our contemporary the Napier “Herald” has apparently seen the error of its ways, and appears to contemplate coming into lino witn Radical principles on this matter. Ai any rate, we find it preaching the doctrine of national rights in a way which, even if limited, must be exceedingly welcome to land reformers in Hawke’s Bay. The “ Herald" finds that the Ward Ministry showed a great dereliction of duty when it failed to acquire all the native-owned lands along the route of the Main Trunk line, particularly around To Kuiti. It agrees with the mem her. for Napier that native land on the route of projected railways should be acquired, thus “saving what increase in value may result ” to the State. This is most excellent theory, and we hope our contemporary will Uve up to it, not merely in regard to native-owned land but to all lands. The sophistries of the president of the Farmers’ Union and the Prime Minister with reference to values are obviously not taken at all seriously by the “ Herald,” for it says that “owing to the advent of the railway and the growth of the township” land around Te Kuiti “has risen to hundreds of pounds per acre, and in course of time will no doubt go higher still. On any Erinciple of Liberalism this land should ave been acquired by the State.” The meaning of this, of course, is that the increment due to the expenditure of public money and the presence of the community should have gone to the State. How the “ Herald ” can give expression to sentiments of this character and at the same time support any part of the queer land policy expounded by its friend Mr Massey and the rest of the “ Reformers ” must be left to that journal itself to explain. Mr Massey would have acquired this land and disposed of the fee simple to pakehas, with -the result that the State’s share of the increment would have been nil, just as it has been under a Liberal dispensation. The only difference would bo that the increase of values would go to men wit. white skins instead of to Maoris.

To us it is a matter of complete indifference whether the individuals who are given' the privilege of filching com-munity-created values from the people are black, white, or piebald. In either case the result is the same—robbery. I The “Herald” very properly objects to the Maoris at Te Kuiti having their pockets lined by the labor of their pakeha brethren and by the enterprise of the State in the construction ol roads and railways. So do we—but not in this isolated case alone. To Kuiti is not the only place on the map where public money is spent, where people make their homes, and where commerce seeks an outlet. It may be very convenient to seize upon tint township as a -shocking example in order to throw a brickbat at Sir James Carroll, but on what principle is the “Herald” going to apply its arguments? Is the increment- in land values which it insists should be “saved to the State ” only to be so saved in the case of Maori-owned land? Surely not. It cannot, for instance, bo seriously argued even in Napier that “ the. construction of a railway and the

growth of a township ” hare added greatly to the value of land at Te Kuiti, but have not had the saute effect in other places—Hawke’s Bay, for example. Yet the ‘'Herald' would go into a paroxysm of fury if it wore suggested that the State should now proceed to " save ’' the money it failed to look after properly in tho past and which through that failure went to private individuals, and has led to the necessity for quite unjustifiable taxation upon the rest of th community.

The history of land values around Te Kuiti is merely a repetition of what has taken place all over the Dominion, and tho greatest reproach to the statesmanship of our country is that a just share of this increment lias not been appropriated by the State for purposes of government, instead of levying upon the earnings of labor am commerce. We are not going to attempt the impossible task of defending tho Liberal party fdr its shortsightedness in this direction, nor to justify the empiricism by which it attempted to atone for.neglect of principle. The point of immediate interest is to discover where we stand at in. moment, and the unhappy truth is that if the Liberals did little or nothing the “ -Reformers" who now have th© direction of public policy will do a great deal less. To them the land question is a mere mechanical problem of buying and selling, and the idea o; tho State being entitled to a share of the increment in the nation’s land is looked upon as a dangerous form of lunacy. Nothing is to be hoped for from these people that will assist in applying to land values tho very salutary principle Sir James Carroll is being abused for not applying exclusively to Maoris, nor anything to relieve the wage-earning citizen from the inequitable double burden ho now has to carry. Yet this question of land values and taxation of earnings, whether those of the laborer, the artisan, or th© professional man, is the beginning, middle and end of the land problem, and is the greatest factor in every one o: those social questions which press sc heavily upon the community. Ordinary common-sense tells us that what tin Napier “ Herald ” says about Te Kuiti is perfectly right, and founded upon the soundest economic principle. But tho mind revolts against the limitation of the doctrine to isolated districts and to th© suggestion that race should determine its application.