LAND AND LABOUR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14450, 24 May 1911, Page 2

LAND AND LABOUR.

ADDIIESS BY Mil A; WITHY. The reason for the very. smuU: attendance ut tho meeting iiyidi.undjr the auspices ot the Trades and Council :n Hutchison's 'itoojna.V last evening, when -Mr Arthur Wit'nv,-sec-retary for the Is'.Z. Land .V allies League gave an address on, '' Land and .Labour" was, no doubt, owing to the fact that little or no puuhcity was given xo at beforehand. Only dozen men were present. and they found the address interesting. Mr J esse Header presided an<l. introduced tl«j speaker. He said he had never betoro met Mr Withy in -Jie flesh, but liad known hini by his very capable -writings. The subject- for tlxo evening's address was of vital importance tu the worker, since it concerned the relations "between land and labour. Mr Withy, who was well received said that the hind riuestioa waft a i very important one to all of us. -All material, or mosl pf it, citmo from the land. The object of thp Leaguo was to work for the abolition of all taxes on labour and the products of labour, and for the taxation, instead, of land valuers. From fifty- to sixty per cent, of monopolies arose from, land values. There was .something iu Sir lieir Hardie's argument that we must deal with land and labour by tho socialistic; system. There was,, indeed, a;great deal to be done in common, by tho single-taxors and tlje socialists.- The best solution of .tho Jand problem was the graduated taxation of land Falue3. The taxation of laud values was, doubtless, tho best way of settling'tho hind question, even if the'Stato-owner-ship of land was resolved on.-. By the taxation system, : the- people would be leading up to a ; *tate.- of affairs when tbey could socialise.land. . As , a single-taxer, lie did .not- think, that the latter step was -really but. if it/ proved necessary,ha*' would be prepared to go the full, length of socialising -all trade s\nd all.,industry. On tho subject of taxaM™*> ho would say that every. small worker, farmer or tradesman. ;ii' Ne\>* Zealand was grossly overtaxed. Mr AVithyako dealt with the two systems of. muni- • c.pai ratmg —on capital' land on 'unimproved > values. -H£ • Jfaicl"' it- was not brains and foresijght'/that^put.tho land up in value, but ...the" growth <'f the population. Going ,on t'r>/Aiaka comparisons, the lecturer' sajd' .thab five per cent, on the 'unimproved valuo would i>e jnoro thaiV ;, 2os-'Vi'the pound on tho land value. The farmer would have tj pay for the.fiill .amount of his land and the single tax would thus do away -with land speculation and land monopoly. . Dealing with the effects of ''tlie 1 Single tax on the workers,- Mr Withy said that tho annnal Customs t barij£ jn .Now - Zealand averaged out to. £3 ,ppr head for every man, woman and child.jn Lh3 Dominion. This meant roughly ' £ls per family. Allowing for- broken ! time, etc., it would bo tho : worker averaged from '£2 ,5s 'to"S£2 10s I per week. Indirect ly" the.Customs tari iff took 2s 6d out q!" ~ every ~£>.; tho | worker got. Tlie middleman \vus profiting by the tariff. Some- better, system of protection than the present was wanted in the interests of the : workers. Jtelerriug to several Xew Zealand industries. the speaker urgsd tljat it wa.« the owners and tlie • capitalists who were benefiting by the; present tariff system. Everything- in a :man's i house, to tlio very screws, -.was-taxed, and then men wondered, ivjiy ' rents were so high. ■ i Mr Reader asked a question regard- ; mg the rating on unimproved values I in^ the.case of a working man paying | ofi liis section by in still merit-si Hating 1 the land value would hamper, him j considerably because he was unable to , pay a lump sum for bis section. This would mean a heavy burden. ' Mr "Withv replied that if even a working man bought a ' section, he would not buy it for an ornament, hut would intend to build oil it. ' "Within two or three years, with the system ot rating on land values, the worker would have more than recouped himself. M. John Sinclair asked in reference , to the Customs duty, Low Mr Withv ' proposed to deal with foreign -.jaDufacturing countries where the .vork. was cone for little pay and by,long hours -dr "Withy said he would deal wi-',h that side of tho question. ' ;n«?jr«<tly. A perfect system in New Zea.aiO • would make Germany and oujG" countries follow her lead. The smr'o '*x m.Xew Zealand wrrdd' put?'* ijn.v.va.i.U of people here'. Tfo tax' could be increased a half-penuy or a penny in the pound ev<vv vea/. > Replying to Mr Koller, Mr "Withy said that, to demand a poll on the ouc-stion in Timaru, lo nor cent of the ratepayers would have to sign a petition. A vote of thanks to Mr Withv concluded the meeting.