THE LAND QUESTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12894, 5 February 1906, Page 6

THE LAND QUESTION.

To the Editor of the ''Timavu Herald. y " v ' Sh"j—As it has icome to my eare that there is a dispute about my nationality, and that Mr Ghthrie is- from the same place, and that it is a " put up thing" between iiiyself and Mr Guthrie to provoke this uisiiussion, 1 wish.' to state that that is not mj. I am not acquainted with him. even now. 1 was brought tap in Wigtonshire, and had a thorough groundiiig in all. kinds of agriculture practised' in the .district. I came to New Zealand in '69, '••and after spending some years in ;Otago came to the Timaru district in 1875. and have been in .the district ever since. I •am familiar with a .1' the .legislation since Sir Julius Vogel's time up" to the present ; and that may excuse me for being interested in what is taking place now.. ' Mr Guthrie, in'..his .. last letter of explanation, mentions compukory residence to keep the people en the laiid." That will hot do it so well as letting the man have ; his money;in. the':land.. He will then look ' after his property'; better ..than any •'egis- . lation can make-him. Aggregation can be dealt with at the deeds office by sworn .'affidavit that he holds nb- more land than - he is entitled to by an Act that could be brought' in, under penalty of confiscation. That would put that matter right. But there is a large problem to solve, and that is the large estates rthat- the Governmenthave not yet purchased. How are these to be dealt with?. It could be done in this way. Give them 20 yean, io., subdivide so that no man should hold more than the required amount. I would not,advocate this; it would,be too; barbafons. I would rather return to what I put forth in my po'icy. Give the freehold to the I.i.p. tenants—with no compulsion let them pav off or no as they desire, and the money could be used t'o buy further Isnd. Thfs would make the process slower, but it might be surer.

If the Mackenzie'* runs are depopulating. Mr Guthrie, who is conversant with whaii the country is capable of, should "be able to devise some scheme whereby the population could be doubled. In the Wafcatipu district when I was there it was reckoned that 1000 sheep would keep a. family* on the grazing country. If that is not large enough make it 2, 3, 4, or 5000, whatever may be the ideal flock, so that the tenants could live comfortably, and make the amount of rent a secondary consideration, so that the people could remain thereon without crushing. Such leasehold should be a stepping stone to the freehold, if desired. It is a -rigorous climate, in some winters, but it cannot he much worse than the Highlands of Scotland, and smaller holdings would enable the farineis to look better after their flocks during severe weather. Of course I am no auihoritv upon this question. Now I must pay some attention to Mr Trotter. If "Adventurer" is objectionable, I will scratch it out. I would not like to fall out with anyona over this matter. " Adventurer " is one who hazards or attempts risks or enterprises. When I wrote this I was-thinking of the top of the Three Springs Range, where the tenants had.to surrender their Jeases, which is just the very thing I wanted to convey by using the " adventurer " expression or *" wayfarer," for either describes the position exactly. They had; gone, and the only thing left is perhaps a gooseberry bush to denote the former habitation. "Now Mr Trotter is trying to take a wrong meaning when he says " you would think we were getting charitable aid at the expense of Mr Max' well. And he tells us he is making fi le railway pay. Yes, and the same tiiinji would obtain if the settlers had the freehold in the same sized farms. Mr Trs U r says he pays no land tax on his first Vi'ire. which is 7s 3d per acre on 496 acre*, which upon a 5 per cent, basis gives £"472 value. If a freeholder had this and the-e was no exemption allowed after £25 C* is reached lie would haves to pay £l4 9s 1,~ : if he was mortgaged up to half the v::V=. he would be allowed to deduct his'mn--gnge. leaving still £7 4s 8d to pay in hrd tax, whereas the leaseholder pays' nothing Now if that is correct, it is a very g-:od

tningf-jr tbe leaseholder. Muttlpty--the first sum. by. 999,. and you can get -some conception of what He Trotfer -and his de- i scendants will reap if no revaluation takes! place, ' Is it- airy -wonder that - he would ask others to mind their own business. There is no doubt but that the leaseholder has got the best end of the stick, as Mr Guthrie says. , .1 would not 3ike to the leaseholder too much that there will not be * revaluation. There is great regret that it was not added at the time the lease was first put forth, and some day it may be added. There is one thiug Mr Guthrie mentions in his first letter: that to give the leaseholders their holding at the value they took up the land the Governmentwould be losing one million pounds iu an average of eight years. Multiplying out million by 999 years and dividing by eight, there is the enormous sunt of £124.875,000. that the Government is going to lose. In face of such a sum are they, going to hesitate when the time comes "to add the revaluation clause? I think not.

Mr Trotter asks me where I get my figures. I Trill give him some. There are 66,000,000 acres in New Zealand, and before he goes to .the ballot box again to record his vote, as things are going there will be one pound per acre on every acre in the three islands, namely, £66.000X00. How will this affect the land up Mr Guthrie's way? Does it) want any second sight to comprehend this? Ceroid" there be 25.000 acres in the Mackenzie basin wonh in an acre? If there is. sell it, to make r':e proposed railway. .This was .Sir Julm Vogel's scheme—pell the. land to pay ft:r the railways. Mr Trotter may wake up some morning to find that lie is up a couple of pound an acre. .The valuer has been round. Then he will say: "Maxwell was right after all. It was just -what he says', a venture, this leasehold." ' There need be no alarm. The freehold can be given to the -leaseholder, by any Governmeut which :S prepared to do it.

Now I -wish to wind up. If I have offended any one it; was nob intentionally. I have touched more matters than the leasehold system, and if I" spoke strongly, I have not spoken stronger than I feel, and the best of people want talking to sometimes, even if the speaker is a neophyte. I am, etc.. ALEX. MAXWELL. Kakahu, February. 3rd.