POPULATION, LAND, AND CAPITAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 900, 20 August 1910, Page 10

POPULATION, LAND, AND CAPITAL.

. Sir, —I -would like to .give you my. ■: tfiews on certain'.matters affecting, this Dominion. Of course- there is a continual cry of the want of ■ populations Possibly the supply is equal to the demand, and as 1 go on I hope my contention may become clearer to- your view. I will endeavour..to apply tho reason, why we have-not a larger population, or at least we are not growing £o :fast in .that direction as, say, Can- V edit.'.. My answer is, opportunities are' not available to aecommodato 'a/large; -. .influx , 'of. people. /First I might .say, ' Hand settlement, is slow; tho present ■method/is not progressive; tho,:selfsatisfied'policy indulged in.'by our .Ad-, /ministration is a farce. First of all, I , 'anT. thoroughly convinced the onlysat-' ' isfactorytenuro is the freehold.' ifyery, opportunity should-bo placed within tho .' reach • of •' the '■■ occupier to attain' the -. -. freehold of his farm. Those who know the soil can imagine how-dear it is ito the occupier to be'the: owner of the plot he tills. It is the lifo oE the industry. Why this should bo denied one I cannot understand. The opposing clement of our politicians who pose as leaseholders are generally found to be ' jUving in a house of which they own : the Freehold—a funny position to take up: The graduated land tax will-'pre-vent large estates becoming the order of the day. .1 again, say. Why/deny the, freehold to -the occupier?: The "matter of revenue can always be adjusted, but I can not see where tho justice comes in for our particular class to be singled out for a special vicious course of taxation. . Now, I have iried to make myself clear on the matter of land tenure, and to further £oriyince any critio of the soundness of the freehold 1 would point to; Denmark, France,' aiid Switzerland, a.nd also its :' benefits in Holland. The freehold will eventually triumph. ■ . ' • _ ; . .Now,-as to capital.: This country (wants money and; generally where .money. , is plentiful population will follow, so far as' we.aro concerned I might eay this country is .starving for the jvant of development. JJiit.as this particular business is regarded by our legislators as theirs, things, cannot progress, lit the matter, of , railways, surely it would bo a wise policy 1 if . capital is willing; why not let them' construct lines? I have noticed on occasion where people have offered to construct lines if tho Government wonld allow them; this would not do, so the development is not to be entertained. Government has not the funds to carryout these important works and a blind idiotic _policy will not allow private Enterprise' to ■ carry them through. Would _oanada to-day have her great population without her railways ? and those railways would not be there today if they worked on tho lines of New . Zeakad. The development of our water-power irould bo or immense bene-fit-to manufacturers. Again, the Government will not allow i private enterprise to carry out this much-needed work. If conditions were' as they ehordd be look at tho thousands of pounds that: wtrald bo spent here. The result would bo fett by all classes. Be- . lieve me, this dog-m-thwnanger policy of ours is what is starving our country of its nrach-neoded population. Wo hare too much Government. I am just on ordinary, worker. I claim io bo no politician, but I just observe conditions, and then I think these matters over, and the above conclusions I've come to. Land nationalisation nnd tho nationalisation of industries I regard as a dream. impracticable and impossible. Socialism cannot be taken

seriously. The protection of workers is to »a groat extent in their own keeping. There is much 1 would say but 1 desiro not to make you weary. High tariffs 1.-dp with/. It is .an easy /road for combines. -'1.-really think' with' a couufry'such as ours, with its magnificent resources, ;. enterprise should 'bo encouraged.' If such was the case no moro would be hoard about, the want of population,—l a-m, etc., A WORKER. Wadestown, August 19, 1910.