Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1906. TAXING LAND.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LV, Issue 8582, 16 October 1906, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established Third of a Century.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1906. TAXING LAND.

The Member for Masterton has lodged a notice of motion in the House of Representatives in the following terms :—" That, in the opinion of the House, the regulation of over-grown estates by means of a properlydeveloped graduated tax should be proceeded with without further delay." We are afraid that we cannot quite see eye to eye witli Mr Hogg in this crusade against big estatesThere seems to us to be a right way and a wrong way of dealing with large properties, which may from time to time require subdivision, and that the member for this district advocates a wrong method.

The public revenue of New Zealand, and a very fat revenue it is, dopends primarily upon the produce of the soil, and not, as some people seem to imagine, on the cleverness of its politicians. To tax a man's laud for five pounds, or twenty pounds, or a hundred pounds, as the case may be, when the man on the land needs his money to buy a plough, a horse, a sheep, or even to pay interest on his mortgages is foolish. We regard the existing land tax as "bad," and possibly Mr Hogg's progressive graduated tax will be " worse." As long as a man on the land is spending every sixpence which comes to him in improving his property, he is indirectly helping the State, and the said State should not handicap his efforts with a land tax.

Of course a time comes when some wonderful men succeed not only in improving their properties, but also in paying oil' their mortgages. When this red-letter day arrives —perhaps after a struggle extending over a quarter of a century—they undoubtedly make good incomes oil their land, and can afford to pay an income tax. A land tax is unnecessary at this stage, because an income tax may be made to yield an equal amount of revenue, and it is a fairer levy. We do not believe in taxing a man's capital, whether it be invested in land or in groceries. It resembles too much the process of killing the goose that lays the golden egg; but taxing his income is legitimate.

It seems to us that there is only one righteous view to take of the duty of the State towards the land. The State ought to make each acre in the colony—whether it be Crown Land, Native Land, Private Land, or those unfortunate acres tied up as reserves,—yield every blade of grass or ear of corn which it is capable of yielding. Taxing land is the wrong way to do this, but taking neglected land and putting it in the hands of capable settlers is the right way to do it. If there be waste, uncultivated Native land, it should be taken straight

away and put into the hands of men who will cultivate it. If a Shepherd King takes £20,000 worth of produce from his land, and small settlers would be able to take £30,000 worth of produce from it, then the State would be justified in handing it over to the small settlers.

But if small settlers are to take the place of a large settler and make half as much again out of the land as he does, we should regard a freehold option as an essential condition to secure the best results for the State. We do not caro much for party views on this question as they are not always based on a simple consideration as to the policy which is best for the colony as a whole and which is just to the colony as a whole. The power of the State to determine the tenure on which land shall be held is admitted, but this power should be used in the best interests of the whole colony and not to satisfy parlies or factions. We are with the Member for Masterton in his desire to multiply small holdings, but his method of attempting this very desirable object appears to us to be a wrong one. We do not wish to see New Zealand become a " land of bondage." Every fetter which politicians forge is a step in a wrong direction.

A jiEMBEK of the Borough Council informs us that there is practically an unlimited water supply in Masterton, and the diminished pressure complained of is due to the water being partly turned off every morning. If this be the case, we fail to see why the water should be turned oil in the morning. There should at all times be a minumiin pressure sullicicnt to enable the Fire Brigade to throw water over a tall building, if a (ire occurred in the day time, probably in ten minutes full pressure might be turned on, as we understand the municipal turn-cock has instructions to this effect. But it is very unwise to give a lire ten minutes start. We. understand that a pressure of 751bs to the iuch is ample for lire brigade purposes, and that the 451bs of which Captain Jenkins spoke is altogether inadequate. It seems to us that the Borough Council should not allow the pressure during the day time lo fall below a point of elliciencv.