A LAND QUESTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13315, 18 June 1907, Page 2

A LAND QUESTION.

SCOTTISH SMALL hULIHNGS In ill. House of Commoi.-- on Api i! 23th, discussion was resumed on th- iiuieiiitiiuiimoved by Air Munro Ferguson (Leivli ls'.ugl.---), "to tli- motion for second reading of me ,-small Landholder..- (rScotlaiict) Bill. Hie amendment declare.) that, while the House ■welcomed State action to promote small holdings, it supporl-d the principle of responsible ownership in land, and Delieved iliat the Government policy should b_ based on purchase and deprecated the t-xtension of .Hi extreme • toriu of divided ownership to <u.Mi'ict> beyond those crofter area-, where the occupur provided equipment. JJr Yhoma:» .Shaw (the Lord Advocate) ?aid the land prubltni in Scotland. " owing to the distribution of the population on thi one hand aucl the distribution of the land on tile other, exceeded in contrast and gravity anything that was known either in hurope oi' America. With land • l.ough to provide four and one-third acres fore-very Man. woman and child, one'half of th • nation was ciowded together at llit- -rate of two (xTsnns to on;? room. The ai.-vniiit of land-under deer used almost exchuively for .sport Mas nnii- approximately tlir -i million acre--. II; 1 thought rural Scotland war; brooming what Tsnnyson • !escribed I'agan KnginlitV to be when he said And as [here grew great Irnctr> of wilderness Wherein 4lie lt?a*S was over more, and more And man was less and less, and he held it- to be- the duly of th? House to Si •; that, the balance beLwwn th.} national well-'o ing" and human luxury war. redressed. In supporting this-amendment. Ui? Unionist party recognised that it was the duty of tjn State to intsrv-ne to find a l oh'tion of the prob'em. but they would also b? committing themselves to a. gigantic scheme of. State p->rcha*e would far exceed' -in extent, the Irish .scheme. The Government wonhl have no part or lot in r.nything of that kind. Ho pointed out ill.' essential differences between the conditions prevailing in Ii eland and Scotland. Tenant right had not had a fair chance in Ireland, but it, had b.en a complete success in Scotland, and so satisfied wire the croit-ers with their condition as guaranteed to them bv law that- not tlirt-e per cent. would change it. lor purchase. '.Scotland-had mack' up it;> rnina on this question, and did not wish for purcha&al He--hud. calculated that lor every pound expended in setting up a. •"leasehold on fair terms with fixity of tenure they would require ij2) for a transaction of puich.L-*:-. Therefore the Bill had an advantage of twenty to one over the plan of purchase proposed in \he amcncTment. The labourers ia Scotland were enthusiastic in favour'of the Dill, because tiiey saw it was their only chance of' getting easy ac-c-e. ■> to the land on just terms: It was not a class the Government- wished to favour, but a race of men they wished to preserve. ,\iv Balfour (City of London) said the Lore} Advocate had carefully evaded the practical questions which arose out of the proposal. Wli.it relation had the. overcrowding in Glasgow to the deer forests in Ross-shire and Inverness-shire They could not- diminish the gravity of the urban. difficulty simply.' by increasing the numb r of niral inhabitant?-. The number which could be profitably employed in agriculture was limited, and the larger the nunib.i- of families engaged in agriculture,' the larger must be the immigration into towns of prrsons who could not- find employment on the land. Ho did not'believe that the present Bill would greatly add to the iruniber of families engaged in rural work. - T'li? Government- did hot believe it cither. The means of greatly increasing th? number of agricultural workers wa.-j iiit-.i.iiiva cultivation, which could not be profitably carried out- on holdings of th.- size contemplated in the Bill. Mr Sinclair vSecreiary for Scotland) said the Bill included holdings of all .'.iz>s ; from' one to fifty acres. Mr Baliour pointed out that the holdings created under, elie Bid'could not after waras b.- subrhvizled, and,, Therefore, the Bill created an obstacle to intensive cultivaliojj. Hi- could not understand on what principle the Government had decided to give iixity of tenure to holdings of under jJS9 in annual value, and to no other class engaged in agriculture; "I am a tenant of the Crown," said the right hon. gentleman. "" and', therefore, a national- tenant, imfc the nation does not give m? fixity of tenure. I w;.~h if did.'' 'Hid Bill, he .'aid, had the unique peculiarity of : offending ag-iiiist. cveiy canon of legislation which -.•very human being held, from the extreme of doctrinaire individualism-to the extreme of revolutionary socialism. Under- the Bill a ;.mall holder, although he 'was losing money, could not- give tip his holding except, by consent of the Land. Commission. With another race, and in another country, that- would.be described as a. servile ooi/iitioii. He was not there -specially to plead for the landlord! though lie thought the landlord was entitled 16 count upon at alf events a clear percentage of justice. It was absurd ;to say -that no harm was done- to the landlords if you struck at their credit and reduced their pow-:r to borrow on -(heir land. What would a business man think if the Government, or any other 'predatory body, tooK in* caphal or a pan of it, and, on th..-, plea that it knew, what was ibest, for "ilu community, 'to ■ speculate with that capital.' That, was wliao the Government proposed \o do wivh the capital of tile.landlords. ■ Like other .'.peculators, the uiovvirnhcii: might' lose. ilien who was going to bear me loss'/ The p.opib who lorcioiy took the capital from the true owner, an;) used it in a'way i;> which 'the true owner objected? ZSo! T'ne whole le;i.s was going to be- put upon 'tha tui»liling paxtn'.r -to the: nnquuuus bargain. Xo.hmg could make it a jiutitiabLe proceeding. If the G;j\ ....Kiit c-iK.se let thcni i:y all means landlords ;ind keep ilia land in their own hands. There was plenty of land to lie: held. Lec them givt> landlords peaniission tb pay 'the, death duties in lana, and they uie Governnient, wotdd .soon have more land tnan they kn.: w to. do with. If they desired, as he clesiied, to see small holders niultip.y, then tlicy could tile that lan-.l for that- purpose. if they thought the land should be municipalised, ihen let tliein ice the iahd as State projierty, and let the Suite bear any loss uliere might, b.-. What the Government were doing nowe.ver. M~as the most foolish of all things, i'or a f'.nall piactical result they weie go-' | ing to commit, an enomious and devastating change. In order .to obtain a lelatively pretty result they wc-rs going Lo shakt: the whole credit of Scotch -agriculture to lis foundations. 'lhey were like people who, for.the purpose of irrigating a small field, dammed a river and Hooded a thousand acres. The -.-icheme of (he Government, would destroy all friendly relations! between landlord and tenant. It would turn the tenant into an often unfortunate holder bound -to his holding, and it would turn the landlord into a mere collector of lvntv. The Bill would destroy the source of the gi ea.tr---t- capital exjiendiiure upon land which now existed, and in doing that it would not merely do an injury to Ithe landlord and violate every principle with regard to the* equitable treatment ,'of property, but it would inflict irreparable injury on the agricultural labourer and small holder, w]io were the only excuse for thirwild and infantile experiment.

Mr Sinclair (Secretary for Scotland) declared that it was not difficult-to produce evidence to show that the evil wtach the Bill sought to check was just as rife, in the Lowlands of Scotland as it was in. ether paits. Mr Balfour, before discussing the Bill, should have mt cle himself .acquainted with what were the undisputed tacts with regard to. depopulation in the Lowlands of, Scotland. There were two ways in which small holdings would help to solve the urban problem. it would provide openings lor men to work on the land who would otherwise drift into the towns--men wnose lives Had been tipc-nt in larm work, but who under pit sent, conditions had no opportunity <>i investing their saving.: in the work which th.y knew best. 'Liu country districts could hold double thu people they contained - at- present. . In oilier countries which were making organised efforts, to grapple' with the sains probkm of agricultural depression the basis of theie effoitii was securi'ty of tenure. Another characteristic of their efforts was an organised administrative body to look after agriculture, such as tliey were proposing :io set up under' this; Bill. The devoloprncivt of agriculture must necessarily benefit the uroan populations' as well a.s those direaly engaged in the- industry. Agiiculture wi siiiiermg from, a want of aDcention, caie, and elfort. , If tlie -House agreed that rural depopulation was a real evil, he hoped they would look wiih sympaiiiy upon the-eifort- ihey were- making to focus public atteie.ton upon the pioblem. .Mr Balfour had led the House through a. maze of .supposition that lie.- (-Mr Sinclair) really did; not know at the end of it whether hj:: was on his head, or his heels. He maintained (hat, (.he measure in list b> regarded cm a footing of common sense. They" must have a compulsoiy clause; but the clause they had embodied in the. Bill was' hedged about by an infinity of safeguards, and was only, to bs u>ed in extrem./ Ho riiaintained thiit- the Bill was founded on Scottish experience, and opinion. What alternativo remedy did the leader of the Opposition suggest ? . \ Air Balfour Purchase. Mr .Sinclair raid that purchase! would be a much ■more serious departure than the proposal of the Bill, and was against all -Scottish exjierience and .sound Scottish opinion. If a system of purchase. were introduced, the whole -system of landlord and tenant would : necessarily •be thrown into confusion. By giving security of lenui't! they would ,«ive-.,a revolution in :the land system. , Mr Munro-, Ferguson's amendmenb was rejected by 365 to 126. The Bill was then read a second time -without a division. A motion by Mr Balfour to commit -'the Bill to a CominiUee of. the whole Houre was . defeated, v -and. the measure, therefore went to the Scottish Standing Commktce