VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

Taranaki Daily News, 22 July 1935, Page 7

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

VIEWS ON CURRENT TOPICS REREKINO ROAD PROPOSAL, ADVOCACY BY SETTLER. (To the Editor.) Sir,—l notice in your report of the last Clifton County Council meeting .that a choice between the Uruti-Marco and Okau-Ohura routes was made the main issue. We, the settlers and others, do not regard it as such. As is shown in our representations, we have several important objects besides reaching. Ohura, such as the railway, saleyards and direct communication with nearby communities. To the Okau-Ohura chorus it would be a pity to add a discordant note. May I say that with a little knowledge of the country that road serves at each end, and its .position on the map, I personally see no reason to doubt its usefulness. But it will not give the direct communication we seek, or the other objects.

There Is also the question of rates collected from Rerekino settlers. This was stated by’ the council’s engineer as £42. On thesb figures the first section with access only by Rerekino Road must have been omitted. There is also one section ,on this, road in the Whangamomona county. Still further, it should be remembered that for a period from 1912 to 1927 the Clifton county drew rates from these sections while the road was still in the hands of the Public Works Department, which bore the cost of maintenance for that time. This much will serve to show that there is another side to the question. The council also received help by way of subsidy, after, taking. over. H .The fine work put into the construction of Rerekino Road, together with a quantity of unused material in the shape of cement pipes and timber, compel us to the. belief that the engineer had. in view still more than an outlet for its settlers." With settlers still on tracks and others de- ' sirous of access to a nearby railway, with fine stretches of forest with their natural beauty unspoiled by the axe, with a, fairly populous tract of country embracing three small townships, whose

people are bursting to fraternise with such others along the coast and to shorten the distance to'Waitara and New Plymouth; the work of connection does not seem so big, and the money spent previously will bb of greater use.—l am, etc., A. WILTON. Rerekino, July 16. LAND VALUE QUESTION. , (To the Editor.) Sir,—The readers of your paper who believe that the “nationalisation of economic rent” is the solution to the problem will be considerably heartened when they read the report of the debate at the meeting of the Anglican Synod held recently in Wellington. By the tone of that discussion some ■ of the clergy present are alive to their responsibilities, and I submit if they examine , into Henry George’s solution with an open mind they will discover that it is the natural one, restoring to the people' the land that was given by the Creator to all mankind. ~ 7 The proposal does not mean parcelling • out the land in areas by the State. Taking the annual value of the land, viz.,, economic rent, a value that is created by the community, and using it for local and Govemmerit purposes, restores the land to the people, and legislative enactment to carry this proposal would mean that the value created by the pressure of every individual would become theirs through the State. This proposal would prevent speculation in land, mortgaging and trading with it, fulfil the claims and demands of justice, create an automatic healthy subdivision, and enable the State to relieve the heavy burden of taxation that is being imposed to carry on schemes to relieve unemployment which under the. present system has become chronic. . It does ■ not require /a: very vivid imagination to picture what the results would be. A large decrease in taxation which falls heavily ,oh labour and capital and a decrease in land values down to its true productive value would immediately give larger returns to these two: factors, with the natural result that the returns to labour and capital would increase. Capital, Instead of being locked up as at present, would immediately find channels for its use. Labour would be in demand, and the application of these two factors applied to land that has only a productive value (not a speculative or monopolistic value) would at once create national activity. ... > We who believe in these proposals are of the opinion that it is the natural and obvious system of raising the nations revenue.' This being so, it should ■ have the Church’s sanction if by examination the proposal stands examination.—l am, elC ’’ DAVID L. A. ASTBURY Mangatoki, July 7.