The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1928. LAND AND ELECTIONEERING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 233, 2 October 1928, Page 6

The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1928. LAND AND ELECTIONEERING.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

'•'Much is heard about aggregation," the public is told this morning, "especially when an election is looming near." We can assure our Reform friends that during the coming campaign a good deal is going to be heard about aggregation, and why not? When is there a better occasion for talking about the land sins of Conservatives and Reformers than during the appeal to the people? But the approach of an election produces other things—land legislation, for example. The Government has just brought down, in the dying hours of the session—oh, well-worn phrase, used as a cloak for laziness and haste! —a measure to facilitate the subdivision of land and to give the freehold to leaseholders on the historic Cheviot estate, the first of the properties cut up under the law of compulsion. The Bill itself and the circumstances of its introduction raise a strong suspicion that the Government does not intend it to pass, but has introduced it to catch votes. If one could get rid of this suspicion, one might welcome the Bill, for it has some promise. It is a little oasis in the barren waste of what passes for Reform land policy. Its provisions enable owners of land and purchasers to combine to obtain Government help in the disposal of estates. If the authorities approve of the scheme, the State may help each purchaser by advancing up to 95 per cent of the purchase price, and may receive cash from him or payments extending over 34 years. We take it that under such a law not only the large landowner, but the farmer with a holding which, though relatively small, is too big for him to work economically, would benefit. But why did not the Government bring this Bill down early in the session, and put it through after careful consideration? To spring a scheme like this on the House at the last moment is not business-like. Besides, the Government proposes to lend money to purchasers at 5 per cent, though the last loan cost the Government £5 3/5. A detail like this strengthens the feeling that the Government is not really serious.