The Land Question.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6885, 21 June 1890, Page 3

The Land Question.

TO THB EDITOB. Sib, — The above is one of the three great questions of the hour— land, railways, and population. Now that Parliament is in session and the general elections will shortly take place, the following extract from the Bpeech of Bishop Julius at Lyttelton last week, is worthy of the utmost consideration to all who espouse the Liberal cause in New Zealand : — " He did not want to go into politics, but he could not help thinking that the large blocks of waste land could be used with better advantage to the people. They^iad sufficient land, if properly thrown open, to make work for every man, Avoman, and child in New Zealand, and many more besides." This, coming from the Bishop, who has been only a few months in the Colony, is a proof that he saw something radically wrong in our Land lawa. But, air, although this is, I think, the first time a Bishop has spoken thus, it ib not the first time 3uch a statement has been made from the Church of England pulpit. The Eev O'Bcyen Hoare, oi St John's Church, about the Jubilee time (January) spoke in a similar manner, saying " the people had as much right to the land as the air they breathed." If my memory iB right, the same minister has uttered these views more than once. There is another point (a most important one) in connection with this matter I would like to draw the attention of the electors of Canterbury to. In the report of the Bishop's Bpeech at his reception at Lyttelton, neither in the Press nor the Telegraph is there a word about the waste lands aa referred Jto by the Bishop? Why? Because both papers represent the present Government, and are not in touch with the working classes. The question is — Is New Zealand to be a sheep walk or to be inhabited by the people ? I have waited over a week now to see if you, Bir, or some abler pen than mine, would notice the above matter. Hence my troubling you.—l am, &c, ELECTOE.