THE VOCTORIAN LAND TAX.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13996, 3 September 1909, Page 4

THE VOCTORIAN LAND TAX.

The Treasurer of tlio ■ State of Victoria lias .'introduced a Bill to jhnpose .a land tux to effoet, two jnirposes,the first aiul most- important of which is to act as a crushing force to break up largc, estates, and only in the spcond plnco to provide revenue. ' Tho Victorian Government'has for some years, been in possession - of legislative machinery.foi* acquiring estates for pur-, noses of closer settlement; but tliey have not been too successful in appjy-;. ins it ; have mado some notable blunders it appears; and tho new..J.finistry. proposes to try the <-method-wliioli, has . been adopted in NpA" Zealand, <,fs;tr;>'-.; •ins? to compel, .large':landowners.- ;tr> :b'W i come agents of closer settlement them- , selves. "When this Bill was outlined some time aco, it. was stated, that if; possible tho tax would be applied only i to the -large estates near centres- of imputation mid lines , of railway,. )mt the possibility of: doing this was doubted-,- thoup.li it woidd be unreasour: able, to put a lieavv tax on . large , pastoral estates •• so' remote .from. means- of transport that in the meantime agricultural ."ptitlement would be -impracticable.The Bill will probably be carried, as the Government are ororoised the sup-. r><-rt of tlio Labour Party. • The. idea th.it a. freehold is an indefeasible tenure is being driven nut of Australasia. The " Pastoralists' Review " bewails this angrily, saying: "There is ; absolute,lyno security of tenure in either. Australia or New Zealand. No mau kuows •

whether if he buys a p property, ninkea a homo< for his children, vspends moneyin beautifying the place, lie is to be* allowed to possess it. , The Australian landowner lias for somo years recognised that near railway or town, tho time- has come for liiiu to part with a portion of his property in the interest : o,F population and his country. He hns boon cutting up vast areas, and is doing so now. ■ Wliia the demand lias \ come along, as a rule he lias met it."' f Tho last assertion cannot be absolutely true, or taxes or compulsory resumption, would not he. resorted to. The New South "Wales Government has adopted another' course of action which is especially obnoxious to tho " Review." Certain large* landowners. on tho' Liverpool Plains havo.: made arrangements for throwing open 20,000 to 30,000 acres of • rich land ■ immediately. The Government, however, publishes a-gazette, notice, blocking them and twenty others for dealing i« any way with their" lands for twelve»,•< ; months." This because the Government mny decide to take over.the land and subdivide it .thomselvesi "Ancl this," says the "Review," "is called security of tenure and honesty!" It is no' use- kicking agaiijst tho pricks. Tho conditions. of : the several States have changed since „the big estates were acquired;., a sense-, of need for population is growing up in Australia; a.landhunger among men of moderate means ■: has to be appeased in Niiw Zealand; and the productivity: of small t A holdings as-compared-with largo—a few - notable exceptions proving the is an additional., argument for . subdivision iu this heavily indebted country;*