CORRESPONDENCE

Taranaki Daily News, 19 October 1927, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE

RURAL DEPOPULATION.

U. (To the Editor.) : •'MSir,—ln reply to your footnote to my 1 contribution re the above, permit me to •quote from one of England’s greatest''-, poets (Robert Browning), who left US » these words: — "The common problem, yours, mine’s, everyone’s, Is not to fancy what were fair in life Provided it could be, but finding first What may be, then find how to makq it fairUp to our means; a very different thing.” These words are singularly appropri* ate to my purpose. We are here "not to fancy what were fair in life provided it could be,” bnt to behave more pracs tically, and finding first what may bo, “then’find how to- make l -it iairt up to our means.” ; ’) The purpose of my contribution' was to point the way ( which 1 .1 .(Ihalktige* any person to refute) to social regeneration that would enable us: to.,Jay;.m fdbndation for our social structure, which would be a pleasure and profit to our* selves, and of an enduring ebaraeter. The duty of a physician is hot tiply -prescriptions, but to find out tbo disease and apply ' the:- remedy. Tho disease in New Zealanrl is t)iat3<3W:il|g to land being treated as a commodity that can be bought and sold, the people Who desired to have access to their mother, the earth, did not have ' the hjfhiis to procure a suitable area to give them a margin to live on, were driven Iraefc-'Snto I the hilly country, such as thei back* blocks of Taranaki, where the land w.-lB I responsive to flush of feed after tha bush had been felled and burned. It is obvious to any person who has practical farming that sue]; a system of farming could not endure in a eopntry of the. topographical features that are found in Taranaki, because it tends by falling the bush to give the so,ij:.pvery encouragement to slip, and at?te;ri tbo settler has spent the best pa,;:tl i flji bi» , life trying to make a farm :;)li (bat he has left is the morlgage as a: miH’etono hanging to his neck. Sir, the system that permits thosO who-make private property of . the gift of God (land) are guilty for :thg ptgtF that exists in waste land or baekblocks of Taranaki. I can honestly claim to have) ■ explored the hilly country. from Piq A’i'o to the upper reaches of the Wanganui River, back into the Mokati River, mora than the average person, and 1 ,»ay without fear of confutation that lias not been unkind to Taranaki, because hidden in these hills are -.utltold wealth, which in the negr filtur# will bo tapped as present-day needs ar;<j drawing that Way, and under Acts that govern their disposal the Government has made provision similar to the system I advocate, i.e., they take 5 per cent, of the selling value of all products sold. This decline is not singular to this country alone, the elder Pliny, at the beginning of tire decline of. the Roman Empire, wrote thus: “The manner of using the’ land was considered of the first importance by bur aneestoi-c, for their judgment was not to sow. ‘more,, but to cultivate better,” wliieh opinion : was also shared by Vergil. In truth, the large estates have been the ruin if Italy (Latifundia perdidere), and ’are noiv undoing the provim-cs as well (Natural History—lB, vii., 3). Arthur Young, in his travels jn France, written on the eve of the French Revolution, was no less emphatic. He wrote thus: “Whenever you stumble on a Grand Seigneur, even one that is worthmillions, you are sure to 'find his property desert. All signs I have seen of. his greatness are wastes, landeij deserts, fern, ling. Go to their residence, wherever it may be, and yon would probably find them in the midst of a forest, well peopled with deer, wild hoars and wolves. Ah! If I were a legislator of France for a day J would make such lords skip again. (“Travels in l-'i'ance, : * August 29, 1787). Sir, when a similar question was asked Lord Strathclyde, Chief Justice of Scotland, while he was Lord’ Advocate, he replied: "What are the special characteristics of land as distinguished from other commodities? First,: it comes from the band of the Creator, and-does not owe its existence to manf second, it is limited in quantity; you can no more add an acre to the area of a country than you can add a cubit to your stature. Third, it is necessary to us when we wish to exchange our products with oue another. Fourth, the value of land is independent of the value of any buildings or other improvements upon it. Fifth, laud owes its value entirely to the presence and activity and demand of the community. Sixth, land cannot be carried' away and cannot be concealed. I can tell you. ladies and gentlemen, these arc valuable qualities in the eyes of the tax-gatherer. Do you know, docs any man know, of any other ’ commodity which possesses all thesd characteristics? If he docs, let him name it now, ami I will mention it to the Chancellor of the Exchequer! I will leave the waste land, as the margin of cultivation, which will be cultivated by the workless when they can earn more cultivating it than working for other people.” (Rt. Hon. Alexander Ure, in the land clauses of the Budget, lune 28, 1909, London). When this js adopted in New Zealand the bnekblockers of Taranaki will, be treated likewise. —I am, etc., A CULTIVATOR. Tangarakan, Oet. 14.