THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1913. LAND MONOPOLY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 1 April 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1913. LAND MONOPOLY.

In a lengthy letter which we publish to-day, Mir A, W. Hogg endeavours to .show that, with the pen and from the platform, in. Parliament and out o"f Parliament, he has consistently advocated the cutting up of the large estates in this district for closer settlement. He reproduces a letter written to the Hon. R. McNab in 1907, in which he draws attention to certain properties that should have been cut up. This, it must he remembered, was only six years ago, and the Minister at tliat time defended the inactivity of the Government by stating that it was considered that the price asked for the land was too high. The writing of that letter was, of course, known to the Minister and Mir Hogg alone. We observe that Mr Hogg mentions nothing in his communication about lea station, which could, and should have been acquired many years ago. What Wa s the attitude of Mr Hogg towards this property ? And as for the rest, we have not suggested that Mr Hcgg made no representations to the Government on the subject. We do hot say for a imoment that he did not urge the claims of the district upon the Government. But what form of protest did he enter when successive Ministers turned him down? If it is a question of life and death to-day that the land should be profitably occupied l , was it not a question of life and death five, ten, and fifteen years ago? Why, we ask, did Mr Hogg accept a seat in a Ministry that had treated Ihis electorate in so disgraceful a manner? Why did he espouse the cause of a Government that could be so unmindful of the needs of the' people? Why, when he became a Minister, did he not insist upon justice heing done by the Mosterton electorate? Would any other member of the House, iknowing that his requests had been treated with contempt, have continued to vote with the Government on every crucial di-

vision? The point we wish to make is this: Mr Hogg represented the Ma,sterton electorate in Parliament for over twenty years. During -that period, with the exception of Langdale, not a single acre, not a foot of lan<J was acquired in the electorate under the Lands for Settlement Act. The Government could have acquired the land, under the compulsory clauses of tlie Act, when it was about half its present value. Jt made no effort in this direction. It allowed the big estates to remain untouched, and permitted population that should have remained in the district to drift elsewhere. Mr Hogg knew this to be a fact. He knew that the Liberal Government treated .Masterton a-s a stronghold, and treated it shabbily. He knew that his requests were deliberately ignored. And yet liis protests were of such a feeble character that they were brushed aside. We are glad to observe tjhat Mr Hogg is awakening to the seriousness of the position, and we trust that he may be found supporting a Government that is prepared to do justice by the electorate. As for ourselves, we have consistently urged the claims of this district in the matter af closer settlement, and we shall continue to urge those c&f'ms. If Mr Massey cannot do more for the Masterton electorate in twelve months, in the way of closer settlement, than was done by the Liberal Governments in twenty years, then we shall be tempted to say that he is not deserving of. the renewed confidence of the people. But we believe that !he is alive to the necessity for turning the large estates to good account, and we have sufficient confidence in him to think that he will redeem .his promises in this connection. If he shows the same laxity as did the Libena.l Administrations; if he persistently and consistently repudiates the claims of .this electorate, as did his predecessors; then we shall feel it our duty to say that he can no longer expect to receive the support of the"'people of this district. Had Mr Hogg adopted a similar attitude with the Seddon and Ward Governments, he would not iliave found it necessary to write at this period, 'deploring'the need of closer settlement.