Page 3 Advertisements Column 2

Colonist, Volume XLIX, Issue 11969, 24 June 1907, Page 3

the^Hon.;.W.; Ilall-Jones,£than whom ho tiadjnever a better friend. In Mr Hall-Jones, too, his supporters had a good friend, and he was sure they all earnestly boyed that he would soon bo restored. to health. He then spoke of the navy Ministers, remarking that ilr Millar was a sterling man of good sound judgmont. Mr MuNab, boo. was an able man, but somo of them might think he was on the faddy side. Mr Fowlds was a gentleman ho esteemed personally, --'but be was a Single Taxer anil Land Nationalist. Dr. Findlay was also a very able man. THE LABOR LAWS. f The Arbitration Act had now existed ten or twelve years, and it was intended to regulate the conditions between employer and employee. It wag right that labor should receive its due proportion of the! joint proceeds of labor and capital, and that was its object. It was ia the administration that failure carno in.; Unions were good things, but they~could be abused, and there were some persons who did not like .york themselves, and who made it their buisness to create dissensions where none need exist." Man}' workmen were happy and contented, but something happened, and they had to do an act because it was the order of their Union. were agitators, who, if there was no causo for misunderstanding would make one, and that was a reason why the Act '.vas not so beneficial as it should have been. Then, again, on a rise of wages taking place, perhaps justly, in the beginning- the employers put the extra co9t on their commodities, and j the people, including labor, had to pay, but the rise not only covered the three or four shililngs a week | extra that the employer had to pay, i but also a pron't thereon, the extra charge was perhaps Cs. Then the workers found they were no better off, because the cost of living had increased, and they sought a further rise in wages. And so the cost of living rose. What was wanted was to find a basis of equality, so that the workers should get a fair share of the joint production. If they could Eind some scheme by which wages would rise or fall aa business rose or fell, that would be perfection, but they could scarcelygexpect that. The Arbitration Act had been in operation during prosperous times, and the consequences had not been seriDusly felt, because all had been on a high 'level of prosperity. They aught, as their Chairman had indicated, to see that they did not ride to death the horse that had carried them so well. If dull times came, ihe Courts would have to reduce wages, because otherwise buisness ?ould not be carried on. They wanted to consider and conciliate 30th sides. He referred to a firm which treated its employees as ;hougb they were of the family, find said the best form of Arbitration and Conciliation was where employers md workpeople did their level best 0 agree and respect each other, and le urged that the present law should iot be forced till it broke. In that listict there were many who wore )oth employers and employees, and mder those circumstances they .ould have to consider on which ide they were most interested. He appreciated that the Act, though >eneficial in towns, was not so well .dapted to farmers and dairymen, yhose work could not be crowded nto the ordinary working hours. In dasterton they were trying to get an xpression from the farmers and tairymen,and he suggested that they hould communicate with a- view to oncerted action, and he thought hat would be brought about if their iews were placed fully before Pariament, jAND SETTLEMENT AND THE LAND BLIL. The proposals of tho Government yould quite alter the system of dealnp with the lands of the Colony, but >efore speaking of those proposals he srould say a few words about the .resent system, so that they might uaUe comparison. At. present land ould be purchased for cash. obtained m lease'in perpetuitj, or on occupaion with right of purchase. There vereSalso some minor systems. Last •ear 11,122 acres were sold for cash ,o 219 selectors. 79,428 acres were icquired by 293 on lease in perpetuty and 157,432 acres were secured by !88 persons on occupation with right if purchase. Twice as much land vas taken up by the poorer people vho had not the money to purchase tt once, but who would try to buy heir holdings' and they wanted a lystem by which, they could tatse up and without having to find the noney. The total acreage under oc:upation with, right of purchase was ,312,188 acres, in addition to which >4,421 acres had, been made freehold. Che people wanted the option, but he figures showed that not a large aroportion succeeded in mak'ng it ■heir own. There was anjinnate delire on the part of Britishers that f they expended their labor and ;neir children's labor on the land ;hat the land should become theirs n- their childrens. The fact that not 1 large portion was made freehold vas an argument in favor of continling the present system. The total irea of "lands occupied on 31st darch last year was 17,754,813 acres md there, were 23,323 tenants; the reenolds totalled 14,930,140 acres of vhich 63 persons hald 1,800,363 acres. »r nearly one-eighth of the whole. Chose were the people they wanted o dress gdown. The nnimproved of their holdings ranged from 350,000 to £276,000. Fancy £276,000 worth of land at unimproved value, vhile men wanted to get on the land. Che land was wanted by the people x>r settlement and the question was iow were they to get it? The total »rea of land in the colony was 6o nillions of acres, but when this was jompared with America, Canada, and \ustralia it waß small and those jountnes were giving attractions to settlers and that made it necessary ;hat they should make their land laws attractive. He proceeded to say :hat the 65 millions of acres in New Zealand were allocated as follows:— Drown lands, including Cheviot and resumed estates 17 millions of acres ; land sold nearly 15 millions, reserves md endowments 12J4 millions of acres. There were seven millions of worthless lands,BJ4 millions of acros Df native lands and 2 millions of native lands had been sold to Europeons. That left 3,500,000 acres available of which about \y z million were pastoral lands leaving under 2 millions of acres still available for settlement. It was this the Government proposed to set apart for endowments for education and charitable aid and old age pensions. The value was about £1,000,000 and they would see how much that would do. He was sure Mr Seddon would _nol have brought down such an important measure without consulting his supporters that it might be feelj discussed, and then he would have made known its fundamental piinci pies and let the people know. Bui what did the present Government do? They had never called a meeting of their supporters and never con suited them. This measure affectec the people more than any brougb.l down for a long time. It prohibited the sale of Crown Lands and occu pation with, right of purchase am substituted a system of leasenol< on conditions that were a fraud, am to make it alluring they were tol( the revenue was to be devoted t< Education, Charitable Aid and Ol< Age Pensions. They would see hoy far it would go for those purposes The Minister of Lands was so cocl sure he had attained the acme o neifeotion that he declared the Gov eminent would stand by their guns and if necessary go down with them But they did not pass the Bill. Afte being introduced it was referred t the Lands Committee and after com ing back its main features were th abolition of sales, and pastoral runs small grazing runs, miscellaneou leases, agricultural leases, rninin district occupation leases were adde to the two million acres of endow ments. The total would be about 3 million acres and the possibl revenue £184,000 a year, -while froi

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