MR DUNCAN AT PALMERSTON.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14358, 30 October 1908, Page 4

MR DUNCAN AT PALMERSTON.

It will not be pretended anywhere that Mr Duncan is an inspiring speaker, and if he had had to rely for his election upon such .support as he might capture by bis platform utterances we arc afraid that he would never have gained a seat in Parliament. But the electors in the Oamari" constituency as formerly constituted discovered in Mr Duncan | tho existence of solid and valuable qualities that have ensured him of their support for a long period of years, and wo have no doubt that a fair proportion of tho electors in the district which has now been incorporated in the Oamaru electorate will have been impressed with a sense of his trustworthiness as a man and of his honesty as a politician. The re-distribution of j electoral boundaries has been productive of some- curious results, but of none imore harsh than that which Mr Duncan justly deplored at Palmerston whereby a large stretch of country will be automatically brought under tho operation of a no-liconso law that may or may nob be acceptable to the electors affected. Mr Duncan says it was never intended that publicans' licenses should bo abolished in any district which had no opportunity of expressing its wishes concerning the subject, and it is not imaginable that Parliament would ever sanction the enactment of any legislation which would arbitrarily produce the result that is the outcome, of the decision of the .Representation Commissioners with regard to the adjustment of electoral boundaries. The anomaly is probably to be viewed as one of tho absurdities that aro unfortunately incidental to the maintenance of a local option system such as obtains in New Zealand. Upon tho laud question Mr Duncan speaks with the authority of a practical farmer, an exMinister of Lands, and a shrewd observer. We aro unable to share with him. the admiration he expresses for the lease in perpetuity which Sir John M'Keuzie was . responsible for introducing, but oar difference with him on tils subject seems to be one of point of view. He describes it a.s better than the freehold, as, from the standpoint of the holder of the lease, it may really be said in some particulars to be. But from the standpoint of the public—and that is the standpoint from, which we ha.ro always considered the subjectit was a great mistake on the part of the Crow.n to grant "eternal" leases. It is distinctly more in the interests of the State that it should part with the. freehold of the land in limited areas than that it should allow it to be alienated on leases of such a. tremendous duration. While, on the one hand, the owner of freehold land, feeling securein the tenure ho has obtained, may he expected, in the vast majority of cases, to cultivate his property to better advantage than the leaseholder will do, the Crown, on the other hand, through its power of taxation, preserves the right to obtain an adequate return from tite freeholder for the benefits he enjoys. Mr Duncan frankly expresses his dislike for short leases of land. As frankly be acknowledges that bis opinion on the subject is unlikely to be popular anions; the residents of the towns who have no inclination themselves to try the experience of farming under a short lease subject to periodical revaluation. An appreciation of the objections to a lease of tliirty-thrcfi years dees not, however, necessitate the acceptance of the view that a lease of 999' years is desirable, and Mr Duncan's loyalty to bis old friend, the author of the lease in perpetuity, has apparently dimmed his perception of what is entirely reasonable. His references to the other .subjects upon which ho touched at Palmerston were neither very instructive nor very stimulating, but the 'electors of Oamaru are not exacting people, and if they return him as their representative it will be in recognition of bis general usefulness a.s an industrious and conscientious, if. not a showy, member of Parliament.