QUESTIONS FOR YOUNG MEN.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXIV, Issue 17732, 4 December 1919, Page 3

QUESTIONS FOR YOUNG MEN.

Sir, —During the last few weeks we have heard a great deal about land aggregation from each of the three parties primarily interested in the result of the forthcoming election. One Avould imagine, to hear most of the Labour candidates, that there was no limit to the amount of land any one men can hold —freehold or lease: 3ld. Many Labourites think that if it was possible for every man to be given the chance of holding, for instance a maximum of twentyfive acres of first class land, or its equivalent in second or third class

land, thsn everyone would be satisfied. , No one could make more than a certain amount per year and tho output of tho country would be greatly increased, as one man could, relatively per acre, make more off twenty-live acres than another man Oii! a thousand. Everyone would be happy, as there would be no incentive to obtain more land, and by law fixing the maximum amount of land so the maximum income would be proportionately fixed. Now, sir, as we all know, a great many men who are large landholders to-day started with nothing and have worked their way to where they are now. Some put it down to luck. In the majority of cases it was not luck, but solid hard work that has given these men what they have now. They have endured hardships and taken risks that the average man will not take now. What young man, provided that he lias hei.lth and ambition, cannot make enough money to start on his own at the present time He would have to go into the back country and forep the pleasures of town lire. The majority are too slack to do this, so turn round and blame their employers and men who have honestly earned what they now possess. Drink is undoubtedly the cause of many fai ures, but that i 3 the man's own fault wl.y penalise the majority because the. minority are not, strong enough to keep themselves m hand? Every young ma- knows what lie is up against. He can't make money and drink too. He has to choose; after he has made his money he can do what he likes, but if he wants to succeed Crlnk must .go. Now, sir, do you think that the average young man at the present time would rather have the chance of in thirty years time .being able to/ma,ke some thousands' a year, or would he rather know that he can never make more than what he can produce off the twenty-L/c acres? The man with ambition would say, "Leave things as they are. Give me* the same chance the elder generation had." The one with no backbone would clink to the twenty-.ive acres. Sir, could you tell me why Labour as a whole is so unsettled at the present time, when every man has a fair chance of making money, and what Mr Bradswould do if someone left him ten thousand acres, worth ten pounds an acre, fully stocked, as a going concern? I would ask Mr Brady this myself, but being in the country, I have been unable to attend any of his meetings.—l am. etc.. JULIUS.