THE FREEHOLD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 608, 10 September 1909, Page 6

THE FREEHOLD.

;.V: ■..'A-STEAIGHT-OIIT'ADVOCA.TE. : V , " ■ Speaking lit- Taihap^on Wednesday night, : fiMr. G. Hutohison: remarked,that there wero m freeholders-and freeholders. One of his . op- c j ponents ; (Mr. Meldruni) had stated that he A would give the freehold to Crown tenants, but ' j not to tenants under the lands for settlement „ system.- Well, he.Mr. Hutchison) wasm-fav- > 'our. of <giving■ the. freehold io. every, tenant of «• ■the-Crown without distinction. Some of.tho w 'other -candidates, were freeholders, in the ab- -a; stract; he (the speaker) ■ was freehold, in the w conorete,' ferro-concrete, concrete bound by t| rods arid bunds of steel, such as. would give b an-"edifice .that, woold be. everlasting, if-the „ freehold were granted to all Crown tenants, , r , the Government -wo-uld f not, as at present, be embarrassed by the .'.want of money .to. promote • . land settlement, but:by the plethora of monoy . . 'that would be coming into its coffers in pay- ? mont for the land. The terms on which he ;lt ■favoured the granting-of the freehold were that > w the tenant should pay the present valuation of a the property less. the value of the improve- t> ments. (Hear, hears.) ' :': .-.;■' •'.'•. s; ■;. "I 6ay emphatically," stated Mr. Hutchison, b r'thaf if the freehold is given -to all Crown 'a tenants it will .tend to solidify, and..advance ,tl '.the Dominion more than anything else that I c , know." (Lond applause.) ■'.': • • n ■ Subsequently, in reply to .a questioner, '■• Mr. Hutchison stated that there,'.was enough-land ■? in New Zealand to meet'the requirements for. -P "many years to'come. He was opposed' to'the « aggregation of large holdings, and believed in ■}' the State acquiring suitable estates at rea-. is sonable prices, for-close settlement. What he tl j-must insist,upon, however, was that all Crown' p Lsettlers should be. given the option of the ci [freehold.- (Further, 1 ' applause.) ', > :. ' ' \ P '"V : v''—— ; '■•:•'■■•■' '■■• V : ;u