MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1909 VICTORIAN LAND POLICY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13337, 1 February 1909, Page 6

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1909 VICTORIAN LAND POLICY.

The Victorian Parliamentary session ■which opens this month is to bo chiefly a Land Laws session. Sir Thomas Bent went out of office largely as the result of liia weak-kneed attitude on the land question; his successor, Mr John Murray, appears at least to hare a mind of his own on *the subject, and if his land reform priiwriplea do not carry him as far as the Radical "Age" would like, they go quite as far as '■ many in Victoria wish. They may go further yet, for, as has been stated, j the now Victorian Minister for Lands is to visit New Zealand for the purpose of studying our land laws on the spot. The Premier, as he told a Warrnambool audienco the other day, expects that the visit •will be an "eye-opener" to bis colleague, who, he believes, will return "charged to the brim" with information on land taxation andi land settlement that will be of " incalculable value" to Victoria—whether as example or warning, be did not say. But Mr Murray does not mean to wait until his colleague returns laden with .the land lore of New Zealand. Much of hie programme is to be put in hand at once. There is to be c re-classifica-tion of Crown lands, which are to be made available for settlers at £1, 15s, and lGs an acre, according to their quality. The settlers are to have forty years to pay. for the land, end after paying the first half-year's rent, they are to be relieved) of any payments for several years, so that they can devote themselves to improving and stocking their holdings. As a further means of assistance, the Government intend to establish a Crown Tenants Advances Fund, for the purpose of making advances to struggling settlers. They also mean to alter the system of obtaining privately-owned land for settlement. Hitherto the matter has lain in the hands of Parliament, an ostate being secured efter both Houses had passed a resolution in favour of the transaction, -which was then conclud-eci by negotiation with the owner, followed usually by proceedings in the Assessment Court. Mr Murray proposes that if the Government want a particular estate they shall opon negotiations with the owner, end if these are unsuccessful, they shall at once take the estate compulsorily, leaving the question of price to be settled by a Judge of the Supreme Court after hearing both parties. "One " cannot mention New Zealand's lend "laws," remarked the Premier, "with"out thinking of its land taxation." Tho came difficulty has been experi-

enced by New Zealanders, -with perhaps more reason. Mr Murray evidently lias in his mind some idea, of following in New Zealand's footsteps in the direction of a land-tax. Certainly the incidence of tho present land-tax in Victoria seems rather peculiar. It affects less than seven million acres out of the twenty-five millions that have been alienated. Not only is no tax levied on areas of 640 acres or less, but Co !ong as they ere five miles apaJrt a man may have a dozen or twenty of such estates and escape taxation on the lot. A "more scientific" tax is to be imposed, perhaps next year, probably in the direction of limit-ing the total amount of land a man may hold without paying tho tax. The curious thing is that whereas in New Zealand ali legislation of this character is employed to create an army of State tenants, in Victoria it is to be devoted to creating a community of freeholders. ,; We sometimes/ said the Premier, " hear a good deal about the great " danger we are in from the great tide

"of Socialism. I soy tho best barrier *' you can have against the advance "of Socialism is to establish on the " land a class of sturdy, determined " freeholders. The more you have, " the better for the State, and tho '" less you may .have to fear a violent " and undemocratic Socialism." That is the point at which tho Victorian Government's land policy diverges most strongly from the policy of the New Zealand Government, on which, in other respects, it is evidently framed, and follows that of the New Zealand Opposition. It is the mingling of those two policies that gives the Victorian Premier's proposals their chief interest to New Zealanders.