THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 5, 1907. LAND POLICY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 5588, 5 November 1907, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 5, 1907. LAND POLICY.

- The Government are going through with their Land Bills slowly but sure- - ly, but the policy involved an them jbelongs to the Opposition. There is -Ijiot a shred of the original policy 1 enunciated by the Government in the 1 measures which they have sent 5 through Parliament, but in order to 1 show this it is neressary for us t to remind our readers of Ministerial i antics for the past twelve months, 3 The three Bills now nearly' passed in--1 to law were embraced in one measure " last year, and the Government doclar- - ed their intention to stand or fall by it. This Bill proposed to abolish the WJ years' lease, and substitute a 00 'years' lease in its. stead; also to compel .. everyone owning land over tlio value of' £'50,000 to sell his land until he reduces its value to that amount, and to reserve?, as an ..endowment for education, old age pensions, and charitable aid all unalienated Crown 1 lands, which were supposed to be about 18,000,000 acres.' These were The principal features of the Bill, ex- ■ plaining which Mr McNab spent about six months at a cost of about &'l\. 'per week. The result was so unsatisfactory, and the conduct of Mr McNafei l>iu ridiculous that ' the Government found the whole country laughing at ■'lliem. The idea of the .050,000 limitaition was regarded a$ monstrous, und ; .i\lr Massey said the only effective way lot' cutting up large; estates was yby moans of a graduated tax. The Government seized upon the idea. They decided to throw the limitation proposal overboard, and adopt Mr Massey's suo-gcstion ; and they cut the .('ill up into three Bills. ./These three 'Bills have now all but passed through 'Parliament, anil for the next six months we shall hear much blatherkite as to the work the Government has d<-T»e. The !>:)'.) years' lease; is abolished, and a graduated tax is j assod, hut let it be remrmbcwd that tlii> suggestion lii'sf originated with Mi' Massey, and that he and all his foll owers viV.ed for it. -The Government I heivfoi'e deserve no credit for it. The .fact is thov deserve verv little credit 1 1

for anything, for they have done no- I thing but give effect tci the proposals of tho Opposition. I As for the Endowment Bill, their t conduct on that Bill is a backdown from beginning to end. They started by setting aside acres, next I they came down to 0,000,000, and finally to 7,000,000, at which it now stands. Wo have so often" given cor ', views on this proposal that it is not \ necessary to repeat them, further than to say that it is tho most barefaced sham that people wore ever deceived with. Its whole aim and object is to deceive. The idea 'desired to be. inculcated is that provision has been made for education and old ago pensionsbut really we do not believe that sixpence in the £ of what is required for those services will accrue to them for these endowments. Some people will find it difficult to understand these financial questions, and consequently we . shall try to simplify this one by an illustration which everyone can understand. Supposing a person requires 21 meals a week to give him sufficient food, and has only enough to buy half a meal, can ho live on that ? Of course lie cannot, and the position of education and old, age pensions will be exactly similar under this endowment. They will require a certain amount of money to keep them going, and they will have about sixpence in the £ from these lands. They will have exactly half a meal, and must depend on Parliament for the other twenty and a half meals, and yet wo shall find that during the next six months the Government and their supporters will be asking us to admire them for providing an estate for education and old ugo pensions. It is evident that members ci Parliament do not approve of this, and that they swallowed it only because they were afraid of a dissolution! and an appeal to the country. ' In all our experience we have never seen mcm,b«rs acting so ridiculously as they did /over this Bill. All tho Government supporters voted for the Bill, but a large number of them in'committee moved amendments providing that none of these. lands to bo set aside should bc~ within their own districts. They wero ready to spill their brother's, blood, but not their own. They had no objection to the land being set aside providing it was not in their own districts. Now. could men bo guilty of more ridiculous conduct ? Either it was good to reserve the land or it was not. If it was good it did not matter what district it was in ; if it was not good it aught not to be in any district. Now why did members act in this ridiculous manner ? Just 1 because they know when their constituents come to understand whaiijihas been done, through seeing Crown lands locked up at their own doors therewill be trouble, but then they will 1 read from Hansard to show they did their best to stop it. All this is abominable trickery through which wo trust the electors will sec before next ; election.