UNEARNED INCREMENT, EARNED DECREMENT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 688, 13 December 1909, Page 3

UNEARNED INCREMENT, EARNED DECREMENT.

; Sir,—The'acquisition f bf the freoholdas dealt with in tho Budget .for lease-in-perpetuity and renowablo: lease, whether for closer settlement or Crown lands, is just ns likely to result in a reversal to an earned decrement in the remoto future. The advocates of the loasehold about thirty years ago,'witli-its aim of land nationalisation, did not. foresee that land.values up. to tho present 'time would 'more than have doubled. Now, the question arises: Will.land values rise much higher in the future? Taking for;granted that such .-will be the case,- bltimately a .point, would bo', reached, when-jthe margin beyond interest and rent for cultivation and production would be swallowed isp in land, forcing agricultural labbnrcrs into tho Proletarians. .-On.tho-other hand, supposing that ii\ a much shorter poriod than 150 years land values should have become normal,- not only would there .bo. a decrement in the value'.of public works-in which borrowed money lias boon expended, but the rack-rented tenant from our time would then becomo the problem of tho dny as to whethor they should obtain relief from n Governinont bordering on bankruptcy. A position such as this is quite possible ( undor reversed conditions in the world's markets. For the present, at any , rate, we may at once dismiss thethcory of land nationalisation by purchnse; in-the meantime the. single tax theory by Henry George romnins the only solution to be partially applied in conjunction with limitation of areas. .Self-reliance is tho golden rule; instead of tho selfish nagging of town versus country; nndlcaso versus freehold, there should be encouragement of local industries to manufacture our raw material into finished articles. It is generally..-.recognised that no nation can prosper /through.. exclusively developing; her. agricultural domain, leaving Hie industrial- domain uncultivated. -.PolamV exhibited tho fate of , such-a. iiniion;:her selfish rural nrisS.ocyn.ey, found..it:ptud.better, to; ship her produce to foreign markets, and to buy with it foreign.manufactures,.instead,of< by temporary- -sacrifices, "-nursing , a home Industry which

supported the free m'iddlo class, whose sturdy arms would have been better iiblo than the serfs to defend Lev ■in tho day of danger, whose intelligence would have prevented her from the decadence which nmde her Government n byword in the whole world. Our present Government is, , in the borrowing policy, piling up a debt to hinder the unborn, and,in another policy, proposes to. give back an unearned increment supposing to exist' in 150 years from now. The fallacy that borrowing is necessary for public works is borne out by tho granting of charters to private banks to circulate notes on bonds*. Tho State should assert its right to mnkc Stato bank notes legal tender for local circulation, to be issued oil the security on public works,-the advances of:improvements to workers and settlors; such money should be paid off in instalments, and fresh'ones issued as demand required, anil withdrawn from circulation nt tho expiration of thirty years. This would not only prevent the' country being flooded with cheap money, but it would also provent one .generation from encroachment upon a future generation. If the peoplo asserted their rights, by demanding the initiative, and referendum, the. present position would not be countenanced for long; but no one can eloso his eyes to the fact tlmt there are factors in our very midst undermining our stability for Iho struggle for life,—l am, etc., CHRISTOPHER M. HANSEN.