SUBDIVISION OF LAND.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15976, 19 November 1919, Page 4

SUBDIVISION OF LAND.

Mr Masset claims that during the last seven years—that is, during his occupation of the position of Prime Minister —there have been 19,100 subdivisions of land. This is put forward as one reason why it is not necessary to further stimulate the dissolution of the large estates of his friends and supporters. Is it any wonder, however, that the Government is overwhelmed with offers to sell, considering that the Government is buying land as fast as it can at inflated values. The State has paid an o average price per acre for settlement land of from £C 6s to ills Gs more than prior to the Massey regime, an increase of nearly 150 per cent. Under such circumstances it is not surprising that subdivision is taking place. And yet the Government of which Mr Massey is the head only a. couple of weeks ago thought it necessary to pass through Parliament what is described as a drastic measure to stop what it professed to recognise as the evil of aggregation. As the Lyttelton Times points out, no adequate measure of subdivision will be brought about by the policy of borrowing money and purchasing land with it for settlement. Sir Joseph Ward’s policy of increasing tho schedule of taxation in respect of large estates is the only practical policy, arid we believe that this one proposal largely accounts for the persistence which the Liberal leader is being attacked by tho Reform politicians and their party organs, since their artful invitation that he should join them in politics has been rejected. The present policy of purchasing at inflated prices is suicidal, as the process means still further increasing the inflation ; and the policy must eventually break down under its own weight. The proposal by Sir Joseph Ward to subject the owners of large estates to increased graduated taxation in order to bring it into the market., is certainly a much more statesmanlike one than the policy being adopted by Mr Massey.