LAND TENURE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3220, 6 September 1879, Page 2

LAND TENURE.

TO TUB EDITOR. Sir, — Tho awkward feature about lUoh a discussion as the present is, that t is apt to grow too long for a newspaper, and it is certainly kind of you ;6 open your columns to the extent to which you do. Publio discussion of important {matters, if conducted in a gentlemanly spirit, does much good ; but, unfortunately, the desire to get the better of an adversary, and be hailed as a conqueror, too ofton takes the plaoe of a dignified and honest en. cloavonr to arrive at truth by means of discussion. Hence, personalities creep in, and the subject in hand is lost sight of amidst inuendoes and statements which are intended to lower the] op* ponent in the eyes of the publio. '* New Zealaud " asks " Why did I leave the country blessed by the glorious struggle of my sturdy an. cestors, the cherished freehold after whioh I yearned so much." Sir, I have not presumption, enough to think Tarauaki cares twopence why I left that country, whether it were for my health, or a whim wise or foolish. Fnrth«r on he states I either write purposely to provoke disoussion, or else that I must be "an exceedingly obtuse, impracticable man." I must confess that I do not mind provoking disoussion, that is. gontlemanly, oour* teous discussion. I regard it as a moans to an end, the discovery of facts or truth. I have no statistics before me, bat England probably contains about as many families m it does acres, and it Beems to mo that if the land tenure s)Btern advocated by " New Zealand " existed there,it would not relievo the "homeless poor" he speaks of. Al« though he abuses me, he seems a kindhearted man, aud espouses the cause of tho poor and destitute in the old country. I agroe with him, there is poverty and destitution, frightful, horrible to contemplate, but land tenure has little or nothing to do with it. It is the result of over-population, over, crowding, the oppression of the poor by the rich, tbo want of honesty, in both rich and poor, the want of energy oftentimes in the poor aud oppressed, the horrible despair that seizes upon them and reconciles thorn to starvation and loathsome dons, and makes them laugh at emigration. Enormous sums of money expended in profligacy, vice, and dishonesty in 1 all its : forms arid phrases, these, sir, are the causes of misery at home, as they may be some day here, not the want of one shilling an acre leases. — I am, &o. ' Tk'os.' Drake. ; ,m;:,, ii — »_