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CORRESPONDENCE.

Leaeeuold or Freehold?

TO THE XDITOB.

Sir,— When the Land Bill comes before the House there is every reason to believe that the most momentous debate that has ever taken place in New Zealand on the land question, will then eventuate. The decision that the Houae will arrive at is> of stch vital importance to every man, woman and child in New Zealand that it is not to be wondered at that the most thoughuul section of the people will anxiously await the result. Is the State going to give away the rights of the whole people of the colony for a mess of pottage, or is it going to maintain the popular rights; is the real ieeue at stake, and I hope our confidence in the democratic government of New Zealand is to be justified. With your kind permission, I would like to explain the fundamental principles, which underlie the leasehold propesftii In the first place the land in New-Zea-land wa3 not created by this or any Mother Parliament ; it was in existance fige* before human foot trod its ground* ii.n€ will continue to exist ages after .tfipae who now tread its soil have been buried in oblivion and forever forgoifejr; This fact, from the nature of the Case, being indisputable, it follows as; * sequence that no Parliament^that ever existed or ever will exii^ft, h^s the right or the power to sell "foe «ver" that which it never created ; or to' enact laws which it cannot enforce. WJiat right has any Parliament to assume" that it can pass laws binding future generations for ever? And yet this powfT'-is claimed by those who support the freehold proposals. To me the positioners advocated by the freeholders is untfifckable. How dare they presume to-'^eihe hands of future generations to pl£ iff' those comparatively few land speculators and rack-renting landlords thifc^now burden the earth like so many i^tbuses? The arrogance of the claim ./s astonishing. In a few short yaar'sythoSe who now live will naturally cea« -from troubling," and new peoples, witVnll their own troubles and problems wil^take our place, and are we to think fo? a^inoment that they are going to alUvt. the dead to govern them ? Rubbish ! /fW^living wont conside the dead one iota, Ifcor should they. They will be as much '^titled to undo the legislation passed by ' us, and pass new enactments of their own, -fes we are to tear up and consign to tlu ' waste-paper basket, those laws handed down to us by previous Governments. Therefore I maintain that we have no moral right to claim the power to pass legislation binding the people of New Zealand for ever, which is the freeholders' claim. We are really only the trustees, and not the owners of the land, and so morally speaking, the freehold proposition is void on that account. But even supposing for the sake of argument that the Government had the power of selling for bits of metal the land of New Zealand I claim it is totally inexpedient that it should do so, besides being entirely undemocratic and utterly immoral. The colony of New Zealand is supposed to be governed, — Abraham Lincoln's imortal words, — according to the following declaration : "That the government of the people shall be by the people, for the people." The freeholder challenges this proposition. He declares in practically as many words that the Government of this yoUng country shall be of the people, by the people, for the landlords. Already the bulk of the people are learning by bitter experience, the slavery that was imposed on them, when the cupidity and ignorance of previous Governments placed them, holus bolus, body and soul, right into the hands of 4and speculators and sharks, and worse still, rack-renting landlords. Here in little Wanganui, the leading business' houses are crushed to the earth by the exhorbitant demands of grasping property owners, and the same fact applies to all the centres of population throughout this otherwise grand little country. I Bay, with all deliberation, that if the present Land Bill grants to future land buyers the freehold, future generations will bitterly suffer through the lack of foresight on the part of our present day legislators. It is an old axiom only too true ! which read? that " a politician can only eeo as far as the next election, but the statesman sees into the next generation." Alas, we have no statesmen in these days. The country, members, almost without exception, are willing to let the interests of the people be sacrificed to the wishes of land grabbers and speculators. These men, boaeting of their love of this country, with their 'every man his own Landlord" cry, are really its greatest enemies, and unworthy to be called patriots. They wish to perpetuate in this free land, all the enactments that have hung like a millstone around the neck of progressive reform in the Old World, and so long as the wealthy are catered for. the common people can be trodden to earth. The whole system of landlordism is execrable, and undemocratic. What with exhorbitant rents, and extreme value of land; and land agents and speculators — the direct result of private ownership of land, — the people are being robbed right and left. The freehold may pass this session, but the battle will not be settled by any means. Thia question will have to be settled right in the long run; in the meantime it is exceedingly regrettable to find so many M.H.Bs. so willing to pass laws, which in time to come will all have to be laboriously undone. Hoping the true principle of leasehold will survive the present attempt to stifle it.— l am, etc., WALTER GREY, 161, Avenue.

Tw* first offending drunks were this morning fined 5s and coats, in default 24 hours' imprisonment. Mr Thos. Bamber, J.P., presided^. The art union for the oil painting, "Milford Sound," was won by Mr T. Crawford, of Marton. The drawing took place under the supervision of Mr A. A. Gower, J.P. Intending exhibitors in the Home Industries class at the International Exhibition are reminded that entries close on Monday netx, the 24th September. They may be made with Mr Varney, director of the Technical* School, or the local secretary, Mr J. T. Muir . Members of the Wanganui Pigeon Flying Club are notified that training operations will start on Friday, 28tn, from Wayerley. Members are requested to have their birds hampered by 6.30 on that morning at the station. All clocks to be in Mr Wild's shop by Monday, 24th September, so that they may be overhauled and repaired if necessary.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WH19060922.2.57

Bibliographic details

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 11978, 22 September 1906, Page 7

Word Count
1,101

CORRESPONDENCE. Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 11978, 22 September 1906, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE. Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 11978, 22 September 1906, Page 7

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