LAND TENURE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12337, 20 August 1903, Page 3

LAN D TEN U RE.

To tho Editor.

j Sir, — Your issue of the Ist inst., ; contained a letter from Mir •' nrne« Bpr. ! p-oss, in response to which I b e £ **° 'allowed a word, f have perused many of liTm lot tors on the same- sitfbjoct in "The P-uflgol," wiliic-h i* always "H** 1 !to fair dismission, however hurr/ble wo ! persons. Mr Bm rf.jp" r would make^ it 1 r^pear tliat m,y remarks cftticerniiicr ; Oic lri<-h Inndlowlf! are riot fair, fait they are true. il'<' KflyK also that 'nuy utt«ra.ncp.s on the land question jwfll hove little weight with thought-

ful men. Thoughtful men are beginning to see that the freehold tenure ena'blos certain men to ica,p great benefits from the prcsance and iixlustry of the people as a wholo without sharing the burdens. In the next breath Mr Burgees complains at hiaving to pay 25/ per ton to g-et his sn'pplies froni and wrochipe to a i-ail\vay or port. Ts the freehold not responsible for this state of afVairs ? Does it not enable riqh men to huy up all tie la^id in and abaut convenient and ponulcfli^ .centres, thereby forcing' bona lido s<>ttlcrs to go, further afield into romioto o«d inaceessable places in oiicler to get decently good land at any moderate price ? These settlers are deprived of Retools, stores, churches, railways, and roads, otc. Not that there is a natural, but an artificial .scarcity of land limught about by monopoly and speculative values. This sybtem alst> can^pels the poor in towns to live in th© most miserable amd insanitary hovels and' sur.ro,«jirUngß, while thore are plenty of good sites in more healthy localities held idle, ripening for bxulding pjui^K>sefi, or in other v or'ds to keep daun the wages and raise reats. The leadm^ lights of the Farm ere' Union -would If Ice us to believe that the people who live in the towns should ha*ve no say in the land question. This talk ataor.t the Idve of freehold being too m'herent in Britone to be easily c|irom<<hecl i^ only an »pi>eal to prcjjwlice. trairHtk«n, and custom. The average Hriton has veiy little freehold c-r fitedom ; the ojily freedom he has is the light to choose hi 1 * own master wihen ho can find hiiru. Rut there is not much consolation in tihjat. when the la,t?l owners can rodiuco h'ia wages dawn to ?ero l>y miaking the supply of labour outd*unis the demand. The Fanners" Unic^ is 'bow singing aboiut the scarcity of vjorkers in the market, and asking the Government to import labour from Europe. lUiese are tJic men tjiat u£ed to tell the w.orkers to go to £Tr Soddo-ii for vrork No doubt the Liberal legislation of the present (Jqvemtn,ont has given every energetic tnian a chance to become his own erryplc^er. It is no wonder that the farmers wx>ul<l L'aiid it hai<d to get hands. To sell the land and make roa,d's aAid bridges would be to kill tlho goose that lays the g-oklen ogg. The remndies put forth by the Farmers' Tnion are somewhat lame and shiuffling. and entirely fail to remove the impression that they are a bokly of men bartcled together to ]>rotect every, capitalistic nrtvilege ai^d shelter i every abuse, to cle'ny justice, and de- i lay reform. Let me tell your o?rrospotixlent, Sir, 'tlhat w^hon the reipjresantatiive insttitution of tlu» • olonv is ad- j jtisifed do as to give real legislative ef- ; feet to the plo'pulae wil 1 , tlia iinposing oillars of land monopoly will fiin>l tihem|sel!v©s in a belaio<l ininoritv. The mlachrnery is nov,- in course of consrti^u'etion. I know mien wfto sold tiheir freehold property at a high | pr cc and took vp land under the lease ! in .petjnej?u'it ) y. Tdie.-e are jnen of money, atfd they m,ake it apipear that they are fighting the battle of the small leaseholder whom they are really trying to drive out by purchase antl by fraud. When the burglar wants to ransaok ydu>r house he sometime throws a bone to your, dog. Tjie freehold is a granft system for lawyers, land -obbere, money lendci-s, anjd other parasites, but of the genuine workers it makes an army of homeless, workJess and landless tramps. Ohio need not be rrjuch of a judge oE the political ourrent to see that the Farmers' Union is a machine elaborately contrived by a few exploiters to serve their own ends. Its leaders are entirely out of sympathy and touch wi'tjh the asjpirations of 'the mass of the imogjle. Wr Bujgess has not disproved my defence oi tlie St<>te as a lrn'Hlord ; or vet my jrtdiotihonT of th« Irislv Land Loi^« ; If he can do so, / s-hall at cn'-o place myself utnlflc th^ .■.iM-n<'v <>f tli.< Farmers' Tjnion. Thanking yo,u in anticipation. — T am, <fee, V.T.