THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1911. THE LAND QUESTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10493, 2 December 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1911. THE LAND QUESTION.

A great deal of mdsreprei&entatHbn is uttered by political candidates of the "Liberal'* type concerning the attitude of the Reform Party in, the matter of the land system or thie Dominion. It is persi&tenftly urgedi by some, that should Mr Massey be placed in power at /the polk l next week, he would immediately set to work to destroy the leasehold system, and thus deprive poor men of the opportunity ot getting upon the land. It need Ibaraly be. said that such a suggestion has never been made by Mr Massey or any other member of the Reform Party. In speech, which, he .delivered in Wellington at the commencement of the. campaign, Mr Massey defined . has land policy es follows :

(a) By giving. all facilities possible to men of small capital to get on the land by means of tlie leaseholdi, as a .sitiepping-fstone to the' freehold if they so desire it. (b) By giving th|e option of the freehold* to tenants of the Grown lands in Li.p. at the original value, plus the difference between the rental: of the. o,r.p. and li'.p. ' (c) By giving the option of freehold to tenants on settlement land or 1.d.p. ! at the original value. (d) By providing for limitation of area to'effectuality prevent aggregation. (e) By providing for the payment of tlie purchase money in instalments if so desired by the tenant. . (f) By providing that the money derived from the sale of the freehold fee utilised for the acquisition of further land for settlement. > It wil at once be seen from the above that Mr Massey is keenly alive to the necessity for retaining the lea,&ehtold tenure as a, steppingstone to something .better. TJhe proposal to give the right of pnrcaiase to those wiho can afford to'exercise it wifll commend, itself to hundreds of Grown settlers who have been clamouring for thte right of the freehjold; and. the .suggestion) to apply the revenue derived from the Bile of the freehold to the acquisition' of further land for settlement at once disproves the- assertion that Mr Massey wi averse to acquiring further, large estates and throwing them open for selection. . '