Land Tenure.

White Ribbon, Volume 10, Issue 115, 15 February 1905, Page 1

Land Tenure.

By Mrs S. Saunders Page.

Slowly but surely the women of New Zealand have won a recognition of their right to take an active interest in many of the great public questions of to-day. Few of the most old-fashioned Conservatives now question the propriety of women participating in the struggle for Charitable Aid Reform, better care of State Children, and an abolition of the evils of the Drink Traffic. But the question of Land Tenute is still toe often consider 1 quite beyond the limit of those public matters in which women may legitimately interest themselves. The reason of this is not very apparent. Home is admittedly woman’s peculiar concern, and surely nothing more nearly affects the home than does the Land. It is the literal foundation of it. Nothing can more nearly concern the mother than that the boys and girls she is rearing with such /.taiou* (p-e may be enabled to earn a heaithv, wholesome and honest livclihood. And how can she secure their doing so except by taking care in the p.esent that the land laws of her country are such as to ensure to every man, woman, and child a partnership in the land which is the ultimate source of all wealth ?

Pifty or so years ago, many a woman willingly and gladly took her life in her hands and followed her husband into this then little known and comfortless corner of the earth, in order to secure to the children she here brought forth, in loneliness and peril, a means of livelihood denied to them by the land

laws of her native land. We have still living amongst us some of these

brave pioneer women, yet already there is in sight a time when their children’s

children must in their turn betake themselves from kith and kin to seek,

in yet another land, the same privilege for their descendants. Nor can even

this method eventually succeed. If

the present system continues, the time must come when all the lands of the earth will be in the hands of a comparatively few monopolists. That this is r.o fancied danger a study of the condition of things existing in our own New Zealand will soon convince us. The total area or available land in the Colony is made up in the following manner:— Total area sold ... ... 11,(370.240 Acres Granted and reserved ... 9,§16,081 On lease of permanent character ... ... 4,055,078 „ Total 29.142,591* Acres Total area remaining for future disposal ... 9,541,450 Acres Roughly speaking, there are 40,000,000 acres of land in the colony fit for agricultural and pastoral purposes. Of this area 30,000,000 acres (three quarters) has been already disposed of, and 10,000,000 acres (one quarter) remain for disposal. The number of holders of areas over 10 acres in extent is about 45,000. Assuming the remaining ten million acres of the Crown lands to be taken up in the same sized holdings as the thiriy million acres that have already been disposed of, the whole of the availible land will be held by 60,000 persons, or less than seven per cent of the present population. When the

population reaches five millions, which has been suggested as the early destiny of the colony, the proportion of land owners (assuming there to be no further sub-division) will be only a shade over i per cent. In other words 60 000 people will

hold the means of livelihood

of 4,940,000 in their hands.

It is true that this result is not likely to be reached in a year or in a decade, but women are particularly concerned in the welfare of posterity, and they should see to it now that their children and their children’s children are not made dependent upon the bounty of a great monopoly. The present land laws of New Zealand permit of three different tenures : viz.—

1. Freehold (purchase for cash). 2. Lease with a purchasing clause. Rental 5 per cent, upon value of land. Lease for 25 years with right to purchase at the original upset price at any time alter the tirst ten years and within 25, or to convert into a lease in perpetuity. 3. Lease in perpetuity at a rental of 4 per cent, on the original capital value for 999 years.

The great present need seems to be an immediate stoppage of any further alienation of Crown lands, either by sale of the freehold, or by the grant of a 999 years' lease without revaluation. The present owners of land generally advocate the sale of the freehold on the ground that it is the best method of ensuring security of tenure. I do not for one minute wish to question their honesty of purpose. We have very much for which to thank the original freeholders of New Zealand, and I, for one, do not grudge them any benefit that has accrued to them ; but human nature is still much as it was in the days of Christ, and the owners of any possessions of which there are not enough to go round, generally do approve of existing arrangements.

Security of tenure is undoubtedly necessary to induce a man to interest himself to get the best possible return from his land, but we leaseholders think that a man holding direct from the Government land which he could neither mortgage nor sell to any one but that Government, would be infinitely more secure of his tenure than the owner who was at the mercy of speculators, money-lenders and land sharks generally.

Of course while it is possible to obtain the freehold, each of 11s feels that as the land is passing into the hands of a privileged few, we shall be safer to be one of the tew and not be left in the great majority who can eventually obtain a foothold in the land of their birth only on such terms as the owners dictate. And to know what these terms may be we have only to study the history of the crofters m Sec .land or of the small tenants in Ireland. The land, as the source of all wealth, should be made available, directly or indirectly, to every member of the community. Those women whose husbands or brothers or sons are engaged in winning their living from the soil know that the task is often a

toilsome one and that the result is often precarious. There can be no wish among women to make the task more toilsome or the result more precarious. Hut there must be a general desire to get the best returns from the soil by wise subdivision, by generous conditions and by intense cultivation. Great areas must not be held by large companies and wealthy individuals to the exclusion of men and women who are anxious to take them up in small holdings. The aggregation of vast estates must be stopped, either by the imposition of an effective land tax, or by the resumption of the land by the State. And when it is resumed it must not be let,on tenure that will leave the community without any he tefit from its working for a thousand years. The holders of the smaller areas must be encouraged by long leases on generous terms, but every 20 or 25 or 30 years there must be a revaluation which will give the community at least some share in the additional value it has helped to create. Then we shall have the land really serving its purpose by providing homes and occupation for the people, easily bearing a larger share of the burdens of the country, and surely removing some of the chief causes of crime and poverty.