LANDLORD AND TENANT.

NZ Truth, Issue 72, 8 December 1906, Page 8

LANDLORD AND TENANT.

The Stoty of a Dishonored Bill. TO THE EDITOB. Sir,—The evils of landlordism, especially m Wellington, have been receiving a good deal of attention from the newspapers of late and I have noticed, a good many scathing articles m your columns on the same subject. Those who have lived m Wellington do riot require to have the meaning of the words "rack-renting" explained to them, for there is no place m New Zealand where the rents are higher and the quality of the houses lower m comfort and convenience than m the Empire City. Houses are jammed up as close together as sardines m a box, without the least regard to sanitary requirements, whole rows and terraces of them bein"- rattled up on a plot of ground where (if the proper sanitary conditions were observed) there is barely room enough for one. Numbers of them haven't enough yardspace to swine- a decent sized cat m, whilst anything m the shape of a garden (excepting of the window-sill variety) is cuite oxit of the question. Now, it has occurred to every thinking man that it would be a good thing if the Government rould deI vise some means by which the rent Pavinp- classes could be protester! I from thp ra.paci.tv of Kreedy landlords ; —some scheme whereby working dro- ' nlo cntilfl He'eomp t<ho owtiptr of Ih°ir <rwn "oHfi.'x'Vß. Tlu'p. i(- »°err»<! +-> iv >?. rnulf? oisi'TT ftf< r\rj\P ",-i'hoHt '"ill m"" m ihr impute <r> ■ ■? ■ -v,v 'i"' "Ti*-' (hon I'iev nrp rioin? now, fov it czn

not be denied that the rents ruling at the present time would more than pay current rates of interest on the capital invested and still leave a substantial margin to go towards reducing the principal. But I have no doubt if a scheme of this kind were even seriously discussed it would be received with a great howl of indignation by the rack-renting fraternity as an unwarrantable interference with "private enterprise." To my way of thinking there shouldj be no such thing as private enterprise, and when a man looks about him and sees the glaring inequalities that exist as the result of allowing the protected few to exploit the unprotected many, he is justified m praying for the time to come when all the sources of wealth shall be nationalised and become, as they ought to be, the property of the whole people. Under present social conditions life is an unseemly scramble, a brutal struggle m which men who will not take an unfair advantage of their fellows ar< fi.si-.cd to the w a^Vand the weak are trampled under foot ; and m the struggle for existence no hand lies heavier on the necks of the toiling' masses than the landlord's. This follows as a natural result of allowing the few to mononolise that on which all equally depend for a living State ownership of all the sources of wealth, and especially of the land, from whence all wealth springs, would make , towards universal honesty. It would curb the rapacity of the individual by removing; the incentive for being dishonest. It is the element of private interest which works all the mischief. This is particularly noticeable m regard to the liriuor traffic, although the evil is iust as active, if its effects are less baneful, m other fields of enterprise. Under present circumstances the nrivate landlord may sail as close to the wind as he likes (and many do) and does many things whifli could not . b^ any possibility be done by the State, m any properly organised condition of society As an illustra- j timr of this, if you will allow me, T will tell you a little story .— A good many years ago there lived, m the vicinity of Adelaide-road, Wellington, a -entleman whose name maT be sufficiently indicated by tin letter B, who owned some sections of -land m the neighborhood of Newtown, which he was selling on the deferred payment plan. He was m the wav of a contractor m 1hon? days, and was also m a small way of business m the timber line. To prospective buyers, who wished to build, he offered the necessary build m r-- materials on the same terms as the land— namely, so much down and so much a month, an arrangement which enabled him, with greater facility, to work the little move which T am about to describe. At that time I was a youi-. man m a fairly good billet, and like most young men before they have rufobed shoulders with the world a bit, I was of a somewhat simple and unsuspecting disposition— a fact which Mr B. was not slow to perceive and take advantage of. Having decided to settle down m Wellington I was ambitious to have a home of my own instead of paying extortionate rents to grasping and greedy -landlords, so I bought one of these sections and also the necessary buildinp- material from Mr 8., paying, the stipulated deposit on both. Then I proceeded to build, employing two of'Mr'B.'s own brothers ; oil the job, for which I paid them £45 cash m. wages. In addition to this I spent another £15 m painting, scrimmin°". bricklaying, etc., which, with the deposits already mentioned, and a few more instalments to. Mr 8., brought my expenditure up to something over £100. Shortly after I had gone to live on the property he sent me word that he wanted to see me, and when I called on him he spun me a great yarn about having a contract m hand which he was imable to complete for want of funds and asked^ me' if I would be good enough to back a bill for him for £100, assuring me that I oou'ld do so without the least fear, as he would have .ample funds *to meet it when due. Notwithstanding this assurance, however, his bill was dishonored and the bank looked to me for payment. Them 1 Mr B. suggested that I should raise the amount required to meat it by mortgaging my interest m the property which I was foolish enough to do instead of proceeding against him. as I ought to have done, for the amount of his dishonored bill— which shows how simple I was and how little, I knew of the ways by which the unwary and unsuspecting are entrapped and victimised. Under any circumstances it would have been difficult if not impossible for me to release this mortsra/ge (a contingency which I have no doubt Mr B. took fully into. Ms calculations) but it so happened that before it fell due I had the misfortune to have much domestic affliction, having had three deaths m my family ' inside of three weeks, and m addition to this I was unfortunate enough to fall out of work' through the suspension of the business with which I was connected. Yet all through this trying time, although I had practically beggared myself m doing him what I believed to be a service, he made no effort whatever to help me, as any man of honor wouM have done, but allowed foreclosure to take place. . . Well, the rest is soon told.. Findift~ myself out of work and ' - nroipertv irretrievably gone, I left WellI iiwrton m search of employment, but !no sooner was my back turned than Mr B. squared the matter with the mortgagee and took possession of my propertv — thus appropriating to himself, without the least compensation to me, all the improvements I had made and all the money I had snent on it. This made 1 it quite obvious that the whole affair was a carefully prearranged plot- to deprive me of m-" interest m the nropertv and make ,it revert, to him. It will he seen that all he had to do (and what I have no doubt he did do) v/as to slip the hundred pounds he received on m Tr endorsement into his pocket and when the proper time came hand it over to the mortgagee pnd.st p » into unTlisputpd possession of house, land • and evervt'Hn"-. It may lv psked wli- T did not sup lu'm at, the time ; for th° a.moii'Tit. of his riiahmiorefl bill, to mia^le mo In tplpp»p Wp r>invt<vo<ro when it foil <h\r ? Clmtlv + hn +. X yhnt T shouH hnv-" rfnnp v n + . *h" ■friif.h i<3 T V7fi<? flpnrf>^~T' ?:> spirit, hv Mi« fl^ri-lv of ■ r-.v "hi'rii '■•:•. <lirit v r 'r"'' 't 1 Jin !"''o,*v,?> ■"' 'y.'.ti-' \r; V o nvY-V.- V -Uh 1, : , ... n))r,-.v ■'■}'.::■■ ' :■■ ho"1 "i^fprs -.ii'i'-h ; n i-hf> f'Vf of

my great trouble seemed both sordid and trivial. Besides, he was too cunning^.to show his hand until after I had "-gone, and I knew nothing about the" game he played until I returned to Wellington some years afterwards, by which time he had been absolved from all legal responsibility by the "Statute of Limitations"— a law which seems to have been passed by a Government composed of none too honest men to enable rogues and sharpers to evade payment of their just debts. Of course the moral responsibility still remained, but althourfi I have written to him times innumerable, and asked him to make me some reasonable compensation for I/he loss I sustained at his hands, I mi'Eiht just as well have addressed my letters to a stone wall for all the notice he has taken of them.— Yours etc., A LANDLORD'S VICTIM,