The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1908. LAND QUESTIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13601, 22 May 1908, Page 4

The Timaru Herald FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1908. LAND QUESTIONS.

The Farmers' Union. is\ an --organisation which has failed to establish itself' on ; a satisfaetoiy basis -in South Canterbury. The only -. part, of the. district iij . >which it has managed to maintain even a .precarious. .-existence is \at Pleasant Point, and even there, to judge from tlia reportof the annual meeting printed in our . news columns •, this-. morning, tlie farmjpg- ponimunity does not " appear fo . have''-any great* us-e for the society which was founded for •ihe purpose of ; consoliciating. the agiiculturalist.4 aridvpastoraiists from end. to. end t>f New Zealand: : The ; members of' the Auckknd suggest that- an incursion into politics is" an absolute necessity if the Union. :is„io exert iiny real influence upon legislation aft'ecring the farming : industry, but whatever , may -be the case in the northern province, we are not at all hopeful that in Canterbury ab all; events the Union would .be galvanised into a vigorous existence by the abandon-, nieni. of what Mr Allen-" Bell yesterday denounced as " its spineless political attitude." If suclr" a change of. policy : had any effect at all, it would only be to fir an impassable gulf between the State tenant and the private owner, 'for we ; can hardly imagine that .-settlers on resumed estates in this province would be agreeable' to identify themselves with a political organisation whose views were those enunciated, by the --uckland provincial president - yesterday. The Crown tenant in the. bush country of the North Island .has quite -a mirnber. of. genuine grievances against the Government,, brtfc in this district- the man who has been : placed upon the land at the public ex- : pense has every reason to' be grateful and. very little reason to grumble. In his letter on 'Socialism to-day,'Mr Thomson sums up ' the position fairly accurately by stating that, "when everyi thing is right- the tenant sells Out at » i goodwill .which he- duly .poc J kets, and when they are bad he. applies to the .State for. a remission of rent." Fortunately most of the estates which have been bought and subdivided in, Canterbury belong the former class* but the purchase of; Kinloch at whittle River provides ait instance'ih ; which the Stiite ha.-* been asked to come to the rescue of its; tenants. Whether the purchase price of that property and the rents based thereon were too high, or whether it was merely a. case of the tenants being crippled ?by two successive dry seasons before they had had time to get' on their feet, we are unable to say, , but the fact remains that they appealed for considerate treatment, and the Land Board offered to let their rent stand over for a year or st> without charging interest upon the unpaid accounts. A prominent Ministerial journal has exploded in rhapsodies over this generous treatment, and has con- ; trasted the benevolence of the State land- * lord with the action which a private ; owner might have been expected to take. We recognise the generosity, and the ad--' vantage, from the tenant's point of view, of having this complacent landlord, but it is only fair to point out thai there are oilier people to be considered who have .■ nor-been considered in the arrangement..' The tenants may get behind with their rent, but the London moneylender Who advanced the money borrowed to resume, the estate does not wait for his interest,, i

which has to be mark good by the general! taxpayer. It is just, an well, therefore, to recognise while we are lauding the . success of our land settlement- scheme,' that the system puts whatever profits may accrue into the pocket of the tenant, "and any losses that may be incurred ' upon the shoulders of the public. The Crown tenant in Canterbury is, in fact, engaged/ in the old game of '• heac.is T win, tails, you lose," so that, if there is to be any opposition to the Government in this district, we s>hould expect it, not from the Crown tenant, but from the public who must, be prepared to accept the loss from a failure under the Land for. .Settlement) Act, and to see the profits from it going into the pockets of a new sort of landed aristocracy. There are ' a few other points in yesterday's proceedings at Auck»

lanil which merit the attention of farmens. especially upon the eve ot' a general ♦•lection. The motion condemning the ••National endowments" »* the hrsj: "*• sffttown* of land n»ti»ii!*ri»as»«n hardly open to contradiction. though ttw "glib parliamentarians" wilt ot' coarse continue to insert that the reserves for education, hospital ami charitable aid expenditure, and old age |ien.Vi«ns —abisardty inadequate as they are for those purpose - were set aside purety for revenue purposes for the thrift objects described:, atvt'e nut with the idea of putting them beyond the reach of the- freeholder. 'the latter. hewever. wilt nob have forgotten that in higinal Bill, Mr McXab propo>«-d to with hold front the optional tenure, not only thdi seven million acres set apart in the National Endowments Ait of last vision, hut every inch of unalienated ground in the colony. In regard to valuations, we do. not know that, it fe» legitimate blame the Department for the startling advances which have taken plaiv in recent vears. The valuations have be 'ti based upon actual sale which in turn haver depended upon the high prices reali.sed during the fast few season* for the pcndttct* of the land. It thes-e t.ill. the Department will ati.;o haw to readjust . s values,, but in the meantime if. would b.* hard to say tbwt its valuation? have been fictitious.