THE QUESTION OF TENURES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 868, 14 July 1910, Page 4

THE QUESTION OF TENURES.

If De. Findlay's interesting, an/d in some respects remarkable, speech in the Legislative Council yesterday is to be taken as voicing the views of the Government on the land question, the Ministry would seem to have in contemplation another acrobatic effort. Practically the whole of tho eloquent pleading of the At-torney-General was directed to the very formidable task of convincing the Council and the country, that the_ disputation which' has been agitating the Dominion for so many years past on the subject of . land tenure hits been wasted time and wasted effort. The question of tenure, according to the learned Leader of the Upper Chamber, is a mere nothing compared with the vital issue'of territory. To quote his own words: "The problem of government to-day is not tenure, but territory—to find land for our people, not to squabble with regard to forms of tenure." This is very ingenious —we must really compliment tho learned Doctor on his clever phrasemaking. Of course, the questions of keaure and territory are two entirely different propositions, and some might suspect that this new cry now raised is intended to serve much the same purpose to which a red herring is put when it is desired to draw the hounds on to a wrong scent. But we do not propose to elaborate that point The. solution of the difficulty with which Dn. Findlay finds his Government confronted is so very simple that we are astonished that with his acumen he should not have immediately perceived it. Since the question of tenure is one of so little importance, why not end the .disputation at once. The Government has only to concede the option of the freehold and the strife which has for so long raged in the politics of the country on the land question will cease. But perhaps De. Fishlay has already foreseen this, and his speech is merely paving the ■ way for an announcement on the subject from his political chief.