Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1907. BALLOT V. TENDER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 5540, 23 July 1907, Page 2

Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1907. BALLOT V. TENDER.

Ja a letter received l,y bom u nieinln'r of PaiYamci.t lh • ui'dersays [\\iyl ill ■ IL' »'“* i,,,"i-1. dto the ••Itaeine i. old ri lie. and d'soitalilii 'd tor im'i.nstsMil nM.'ii'i'ng, • v el'reversal of form.’’ Me M mte agree wlull iiim as regards meuiisistit running. hid there has been no r- versa! of 1 oriii. They show as good a fotm er for accumulating and aPl'to“U,,.,f.ng the ideas of olh-rs. with as li'tle sense of shame as tl'iieed the (.hecks of the illuslrio.us Mr Fagan or the mitorion.-; Artful Dodger. In the scries of articles |ml.dtshrd recently m this paper we pointed sad End the Government BiK 'did not provide “land for Lho landless,” that although that hud been the basic principle of land

legislation for many yenrs, it was so f 11- forgotten by them, that they ut'vn* usi-d llic words “land for t'Uo landless,” and that our object was to bring the Government back to a sense of their responsibilities. 11msc articles were specially printed tvml sent. I<> cverv member of Parliament, asid now ,ve "li-nd that Mr McNab haw, according to the Lyttelton Times, a special .section of his ncw r Bill headed “land for the landless,” MTmt an artful I lodger '. Lie travelled this oolony for ..lx months at a Cost of about £2l a

week, speaking everywhere, ami he never uttered these Words until we remindid him of his deltnqm aev. But .Mr MeKab was not aide to store ii|> in his mental cavity more than the mere words “land for the lan Bess,’ 'I liiu’e was no room for the ideas with which we surrounded these al,hough judging him by the_sr/.e of his I,end,' and the poverty of his thoughts one would be led to believe that there were rooms to let in his upper slot. Mr McXab’s way of providing ■•‘land for (ho landless” is this . Land for s'dUemenl will 'in future- be let by

tender for a term <>i and the highest tender "'ill get ’ l ; ' ''ere js to be no more ballot ; it is to be oj ve!:i to the highest lender, provided it is over o per crnl on the capital value. Of all the proposals liithcrlo made this is the worst. In the lirsl place, who can allord to put in Hie

highest tendin’ ? Is it the poor man. ? Certainly not V It is the mh man aho can tender highest, and the poor man will ’not have th ■ sh'ejhtesl ch'am'e against him. The rich man will be aide to buy a plant, and break ,up the laud at once, or slock it, and make it reproductive from Ihe moment he

lakes possession of it. The* poor man is not always able to <lo that. lie lakes up the land, lets a part of _il for ■gra’-d’ng, cultivates a part of it. feeds whatever little slock he can get together, and thus struggles to pay the rout. In the course of time he improves his position, and is aide to stock and cultivate (he laud cii his . own account. Ifdhe.reut is raised on him by the, system of lender, as it must inevitably be. he never enu im■u’nve ir's position, but must ultimately join the nobic. army of bankrupts. If (h; very demon himself came o,n diis earth'fully bent on creating woe

and misery and ruin an I desolation,.h 1 he would nil desire and could have a better weapon for carrying out his devilish intentions then the tinder system as Mr McNab proposes to apply it to these kinds. There were nearly 1000 applicants for one section of laird the other day, -and ail of them were trying to get it. Supposing ul'. ihese were tendering, what would happen ? Simply that they would outbid each other in their elTorts to secure (■I,! hind, and the successful tenderer would be n man burdened with an impossible rent. Fveryoiie is not a good judge of land, amt someone who i n-w mil what b' was doing would oiler by tender a rent which neither h" nor anyone else could pay. He would gel endit for a Hum, his rent -would fall in arrears, and he would become bankrupt, 'The Slide would lose its rent, the storekeeper, the blacksmith, the tailor, (lie merchants would be nil lot •in, awl the poor .unfortunate -man himself after his years of toil would lose all. and be. thrown a pena.il-ss derelict- on life’s ocean, broken- tlo’.Vn in spiiit, and without energy or hope. We ure writing this with the full knowledge ilml. Ihe majority of our readers are farmers who understand the subject far belter than we do, but we venture Lo say that there is not cii • of them who wi’l urease us of being wrong. The rage for land is too great; the price, of it is getting above its productive value, and for this reiis 'i'i men -are -not to he (rusted to exercise a wise discretion in tm;l 'ring for land. For this reason we must condemn Mr MeMT.b’s proposal without reservation, ’and trust l.’arliaimnt will not h -ar of it. There is no living fairer than the ballot, if proper precautions are taken against abuse. The abuse comes in, where people get land for speculative purposes. They do not want it for th,'in.selves, and they dispose of it at an enormous profit to some unfortunate person who henceforth must curry on his back a crushing burden. Stop this and the ballot system will be all right. Pass a law rendering Crown lease-holds unsaleable except lo the Government. Let th - condition of the lease he that if the tenant desires to dispose of his holding, he can only do so by surrendering it to the Governmi lit on payment of eompensatiqu for improvements. If this is done speculation in leases will lie stopped, and the chances of the bona Tide settler will be greatly improved. The speculator will no longer be. there lo compete with him, and he can get any holding’s which fall into the Govi rnment’s hands at the original va’ue, ’ plus the improvements. Wc do not mean, of . course, this to be applied to the 1)1)1) >rais’ hose.-; nbvady granted, although we are of opinion it Would be a groat blessing to the leaseholders, i’.ikl the colony if it were applied lo them. What is happening -now ?' Simply that there is scarcely a land for settlement 1.-nsiholder who is not ready to sell at a price, and that there are those who are ready to give

prices for lit -se leases out of all proportion to their value. This was never intended, The settlers ■who got till .leases were ex peeled t, , settle on

them, but they are not. 'doing so. They are Ira Hick jug in them just, exactly as freeholders are in their 'holdings, with the ri'Siilt Dial Dm price of land i.v gelling far beyond Hs productive value. This is very bad for Dm country, for it is bound to keep o nr landowners always poor. For the sake of the leaseholders themselves some change ought to be elVeeted, for if they look 'around them (bey will see that “u rolling stone gathers r.'o moss,”

and that the men who have made comfortable homes for themselves are those who set tied down contentedly in olio place,