THE LAND QUESTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12899, 9 February 1906, Page 6

THE LAND QUESTION.

To the. Editor of the " Timaru Herald." Sir,—l made .iln assertion .to Mr Maxwell, that ths Crown, tenant did not owe the ratepayers of New Zealand one penny of interest on the-money invested in thenleasehold : but rather the. other way about. It paid' them' to have us, and iliat we paid fair-share of taxation the. .n«u»o as, r the:ireehdlder. "

In. your leadipg article of 50th Januarj* you did not think that, we did so.- You quoted a lot v of figures to support your views which. I have no opportunity o'l seeing in,;the.back,blocks, and before I could answer you I had to verify them, aud that is the reason I did not- auswer you sooner. Your- figures are correct, but then there is another side to them, which I will eiideavour to show. ' ' •'•

You say thae-the Crown tenant is making the leasehold a stepping stone; He is making the stone he is on veiy solid anyway. The improvements that lie had to put on Punaroa was £IBO4 2b 6d. He put on £7137 -16s' Id.- That looks like as if he" was going away soon. But if you-are correct, and he-does sell out, your paper proves that the freeholder is selling his farms by the dozen, and •-pocketing the unearned increment up to £2O and £SO an acre.'* Does the ratepayer get this? The 10 per cent, rebate seems to be the great: bone of contention. It ' would oot- v do to-give .10 -per cent, rebate on ,taxes,_ as the Government are fupjjosed to make ; taxation-as low as possible in" the interests of the' .tuxpayer. BUt in the' 'case of the-.Crown tenant the ratepayer -^f not suffering, ..as it is our nmnev we jire ; getting in rebate. As yon know wV are paying a much higher rate of interest than is paid for the money invested; in our leaseholds ; ■ alsof paving jritefest : «'.n cost of survey, loading, and "Otlier exj<euseS," which will pay for those in full, in soins-, thing under. 20 years, ws.; interest for 999 . years, . . Tae profits aife* S something over. filOO.'ObQ, -.and. outiof tlife we are paid 10 per cent.. H&pte* •.. .vj . • This answers all the rest, Spottswoori* and other failures only showing tliatrHs in', business, there are some lines that seem failjires, but .'.the whole pays, iiancleouaelyI So .itjis withothe ki.p. ,* iP'on't you tliink that- £lßll- 15s 6d in arrear <not bad* debt) .! put of £152,117 ,0s -6d • one month after it is due' is an : argument in. favour of 10, per cent. . rebate . for •a" ;rent -s paid in, -ad-, yance? So^you : see the London capitalist* is getting Kis interest, which is not n charge on all classes • of. the community. ' i With the first part of. MaxwellW letter I have nothing to do, as I did not interfere in his arguirie ! nt;fwith\ Mjs Guthi-ie. But resenting Mr ie* inarks re tbe : Gsown/ ternuit me to write at all. ' 'He has apologised for those I ierms and seemingly agrees with me in my last; letter, he lias not tried to confute my 'arguments"in any way. ~ He~Tays"lfe'' tised tho|e terms, not to* us. but- to tlie tenants oti Gove&ment .& sheepf Now, I thoughV-that tm>se tenets pafd_> more income to the an»* j freeholder, and the State still laud 1 | when they do fly away. Mr Maxwell owns that the leaseholder is as good as the freeholder when he save that ,if we; were-freeholders we would also niake thV [railway pay; the fi-eeholder could, do r.c more.

Mr Maxwell's problem about land tax' is not fair. We pay 5 per cent, interest on the survey increased 1 to 1A jier «.ent. more than it cost. Surely that is enough for. safety.. He would like to see us rackrented and out of > existence. It is just as jEair for us to say that if the State had tHe -unearned increment on all freeholdj.pai.d to them, then there would.be bo, national 'dSebt. 1

i Mr Maxwell says he will give me -some : figures ,to .that~ the Crown- .tenant, is a bird oif "passage, and he tells me how ipany acres are' in New Zealand,-and "then predicts • the -future. '- He says it does'-not any second;.6iglit to/do tliat.,;.. I do. not know anything, about wiat is going to. be, and with all due deference to him, I do not .think jNIr Maxwell does" either. . I ■ im, etc.. . . t'.'TPunaroa.