The Dominion. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1909. THE BOGUS "FREEHOLD."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 673, 25 November 1909, Page 6

The Dominion. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1909. THE BOGUS "FREEHOLD."

.The quick changes of the Liberal Administration in the matter of land policy during.the last few years ought, to have educated the public up to an unusual ability to seize upon the purport of any general measure relating to the land\ of the'State.'What with Royal Commissions and .the kaleidoscopic play of varying tenures; the nailing of flags' to masts and the hauling them down again, the public; would have no excuse for being unable to, see right through a Land. Bill and right through the speeches of that eminent economist the present Minister for Lands. By tho time he begins to, explain that his.Bill,is a .'.ffair. compromise", everybody will have, had time,to seo for himself.that the Bill is a compromise in the ; sense-that it denies that the leasehold principle is unsound and denies equally that there is unsoundness in , tho principle of the freehold:.; On the one hand the Government repudiates the doctrine' that the Crown -should not';■ ■ part 'with its lands; on the-other it declares "that in respect of several"millions of 'acres the tenants shall under■■'no'circumstances, be allowed to purchase their holdings. .Itwould not. be very difficult to anticipate; the 'sophistical rhetoric with: which the Minister for Lands will seek to establish a beautiful harmony between the concession' of the''freehold and the withholding of it in respect- of ,tho ' co-called "endowment" lands (which are ,in no real sense "endowment" lands at all, as we shall see in a moment). He will, have no difficulty whatever in convincing that section of his party which unfortunately lives only to be.convinced by.anything he.chooses to say. ,But there-his power of persuasion will end,' unless the'secret little 1 personal hopes "of; such land nationalises as Mn. Laurenson- and Mr.. Hanan will enable them to bear with becoming fortitudethe wounds inflicted' on- their faith.:; ; '".", 0 . : - : iVitb. the...leaseholders, .however,.-.', we have-no. concern. '•> They; must bear>their troubles themselves.. But what of the- majority returned to the House to: support tho .of 'the. freehold ?• < They '.can-. 'not , possibly lend their -countenance to any BH1: that aims:'aV doing violence, to' that'principle so: far as at least, seven million.'acres are concerned; \- "' No man can support Clause'.33;of the :Bill," ; which .-denies the freehold in respect of the "ehdowment".lands, unless he is f an acknowledged leaseholder or, "a freeholder false to his pledges and bo anxious to commit political suicide. The public has had too much experience of the Ward Government's methodsto i'p'ay- any attention/to theplea that' "we must have endowments to:pay for education." /The revenue of itheso "endowment" lands will be used for '.the,'payment of the cost of education: and 'pensions. But everybody knows; that this and ma'ke-believe, for "Tho National .Endowment Account" is merely' an open' channel through >which the revenue, passes into the general purse,in the ordinary.way, and everybody knows that if there .were ..no National -Endowment: Account the/ finances ofl. .the. country would not be altered ■ in 'any way, :while the expenditure on education arid pensions would not be' affected by a penny piece in the annual, reckoning. :Tho choice of the word "endowment"; was an ingenious/attempt ..to turn .the 'point of the freehold sword, arid the friends of tho freehold expect, the freeholders in the House to expose and destroy this sharp practice.; The freehold movement has been, opposed by every device that Socialistic ingenuity and political ■■ disingonuousness could contrive, and tho freeholders in the country are in no mood for any further flouting of their mandate,. Clause ,33 must go. But the duty of the freeholders in .the House will hot end with securing the general application of their, priricipk. -.. They- must see that it really is the freehold which*tney secure.: They, are 'strong ; enough, not only in their numbers,- but in the soundness of their creed and the goodwill of the nation towards it, to demand; that they- shall obtain full msaaure from the Government. '-.'■ • ■■■'.■.. '-~" 'And the freehold that,is;offered is a bogus freehold. Indeed,; it is not the fee. simple that is offered at all. The Government, as the administrator for the time being of the Crown's estate in this country, can: of course name those terms which, as a Government,, it considers a proper basis for negotiation with the lessees of Crown lands. .'■ But it cannot ask anyone to believe that; it is offering the. freehold when it s demands the right to step in every 33 years, for 165 years or for ever as the case may be, and confiscate a: large portion of its ex'-lessee's possessions. It offers simply , a "semidetached freehold. ground upon which it'bases its offer is set out in the Bill itself in quite menacing and aggressive terms—"in order, that the Crown (which is at present entitled in> reversion to the whole value) may receive a reasonable proportion of the increase in the unimproved valno of tho land." We may have something to say later'upon this innovation in draftsmanship, but we will ,only note here that the unjust and , unsound policy of confiscating the increment of: land values, while leaving touched" tho increments of value in the case-of other forms of property,;has,not, even ; by , the British Government, Been maintained against agricultural land.-If the Government defends its proposal by references:to. the British Budget,'and to' Me/ .LLbybrGEOßiE's: advocacy of. the in--cre'meht; t<wc,' v?e -alialL-be -able, ,,to ; fluote

the ; Britishyßudget' 'aha: fctio* i f rieiicJs of tjiat Budget, .directly against the policy of the "recurring charges."- We call at-; tention in another column to the fact that, : in addition to the: hobbles that' it has placed on the "freehold! ,; that is: offered, the Government has placed handcuffs on.it as well. ,;For a,lessee who converts his 400-aoro holding will'never bo able to re-sell it to anybody but a man who has no interest in an inch of land. Pis property will ho lapu. It will not be as other.land. His neighbour, holding 400 acres that were; not- Crown land, will be able to'sell to whomsoever ho pleases. What kind of market will there be for' the lapu land 1 It is obvious that this provision, added to the othor provisions, will seriously, depreciate the value of converted holdings, and will operate to the disastrous disadvantage of the.' cx-lessce' in some future year. To call an offer made on these,terms an offer of the freehold is to. insult the country that returned a-freehold majority to Parliament. It is just the offer, no doubt, that should he expected from the Government that framed the: clause which has this side-note: "Person acquiring interest in land in excess guilty of a crime." When the, Bill comes up for,consideration in dotail the supporters of the freehold will no doubt sec, that its. objectionable'features arc removed.' The country looks to them to fulfil their pledges. :■; ' • ,: : . ■■ ■