BOOM NOT BURST.

NZ Truth, Issue 352, 23 March 1912, Page 7

BOOM NOT BURST.

It 'is -common 'knowledge — as cbmmon- as the letters -of the alphabet — rthat' the compulsory seizure of estates by the G'overnndent has forced the price of iand up to'- a fictitious value and made, cloSe land, settlement a prohibitive and costly experiment. "When -the increased -graduated landtax begins to- operate, land monopolist's will fall over each other m their efforts to sell, if it. is stiff enoughj am_riand will descend with a rush to its normal value, and give 'people- x^ith a little; coin some chance of making a Jiving out . of it<.; 'The operations of the Government ; have ' increased the alleged value of land- to. an- absurd* extent m South ' Canterbury, where one; could :imagjine I the soil was solid gold. 'A^portion of- 'Holme, station, Paredra,- comprising. 3579 acres, owned .by A:. S. ElwOrthy, was put up to auction at „ Timaru the < other day, but- : m spiteof the violent pairth hunger m that .district and the massed crowd ...of hungering persons on a wet day, the . ridiculous prices asked ' by- way of -reserve frig-htened possible buyers. btl'.T anxi .not a.single sec.tion."y"was. ;dis^.: posed 01. Something of -. this sort •was. anticipated by the auctioneers,., who contradicted a rumor that a high reserve had, been placed oil the properties. If the progressives are true to themselves, to the country, and to their democracy, there will be plenty of reasonably-priced land on the market shortly, then . centres like Christchurch and Timaru will take. a bound forward .and nqver look back.