THE WORLD OF LABOUR

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1736, 6 September 1919, Page 5

THE WORLD OF LABOUR

I A COLUMN FOR WORKERS I jj] Conduced by D. G. Sullivan p]

THE LAND QUESTION.

LABOUR POLICY. Labour writers are at present devoting a good deal of attention to questions that may be summed un in the words, "land policy." The principal object to be attained by the policy adopted at the conference of the New Zealand Labour Party, held! in Wellington.recently, is to put an end once for all to land speculation in New Zealand, so tfiaj: those who go on the land will not have to sacrifice 4he largest part of the products of their labour in paying- interest on inflated unimproved land values. Fortunes have been made in New Zealand, but they have not been ■made by the working farmers, but principally by those -who have bought land at lower prices in years gone by, and disposed of it in Tecent times at prices inflated by the high returns secured for New Zealand produce. As against this, the soldiers and civilians who are going on to the land to-day unless the expected does not happen, and the prices received for the produce of the land in the "European market increase, may be tying millstones around their necks in the shape of swollen unimproved upon which they must find the interest These unimproved land -values are a burden upon the nation, driving to those-who possess them a claim for goods and services without rendering any equivalent in return. . . Communal Values. The Labour Party's ; policy demands a recognition of the fact that these unimproved land values are in •equity the property of the community and not the property of individuals, and it lays it down that the -only title to land shall be occupancy -and use. It demands a State valuation of all privately-owned land, such valuation to remain on record as the measure of the present landliolder's interest in the land. Following this, it is declared that land shall not be sold or transferred except to or from the State, present •owners to have the right to surrender their land at the State valuation.

In a nutshell, these proposals give the State the right of pre-emption at -present values. This would make it -unprofitable to hold land for any other purpose than for practical use. The genuine settler would not have to compete in the market for land mere speculators. The market price of land would be determined I>y its use value. Such a law must /have the effect of increasing production, and increased production is put forward by orthodox noliticians as the most urgent need of the times. Land Nationalisation. Another result of this policy, it must be recognised, would be the development of land nationalisation. It there was no unearned increment coming, it is safe to say that few farmers would be desirous of sinking their capital in land, and would prefer, like sensible people, to lease their land upon a secure tenure from the State, and use their capital for developmental work and for stocking purposes. The Labour Party's policy recognises the tenant's absolute right to all improvements. Another aspect of the matter is, that xuch a measure as preventing the further increase of land values -would stiffen the financial and economic fabric of the nation, and any fall in the prices of New Zealand produce would not have the same catastrophic effect that it would if land values are permitted to go on soaring as they are doing at present. To the average working farmer, the Advantages of the freehold are mythical. His titfe is usually heavily mortgaged, and, after all, he might just as well pay a reasonable rent to the State as an extortionate interest to a mortgagee.

The discussion that took place In ihe House of Representatives a few evenings ago on the Discharged Soldiers SeFJement Loans Bill showed that members of Parliament realised the fact that, under the present land policy, prices have soared to such an extent that soldiers now going on the land are being set an almost impossible task to make a competency for "themselves or even a living. And Ihe determination to spend another £12,500,000 in the purchase of estates for soldier settlement will, under present conditions, only intensify the evil of soaring values. Yet the members of the "two great parties" (?) are prepared to permit this condition of things to continue. The remedy is not to discontinue the settlement of soldiers on the land, but to declare the right of the State to purchase at present-day valuations at any time in the future. This would inflict no injustice on anyone. There woold be no confiscation of, present values which holders may have purchased. Future increments in unimproved value will be created by the community, largely by the expenditure of public " money on railways, bridges, public buildings and community action generally, and it surely cannot be said that there is any injustice in the State declaring that it will not permit these publiclycreated values to be exploited by private individuals. The Only Adequate Policy.

The policy of the Labour Party is the only one adequate to solve the problem created by increasing land values, and the only one that will give soldiers and civilians an opportunity of going on the land under conditions that will give them a chance to make a decent living, especially as another plank in the platform of the party provides that all virgin land shall be prepared for occupation by the State before settlement. This would put an end to the sending of men out on to rough, unbroken country, where they are likely to break their hearts before they succeed in breaking nature to their will. 1 '