CORRESPONDENCE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4145, 4 November 1884, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

■ MODERN SLAVERY. [Td the Editor of the Daily Telegraph.] Sib,-—My letter on the above subject ha; drawn forth a reply from " K.K." in which he advocates Henry George's remedy for a State of things for which I prescribed tho universal recognition .of the principle of Equality. " K.K." says " divide the land," and wotild have us to believe that, in the possession of land, every one would bo equal. That is not so. The true Liberal recognises in the term ' : ' equality " something more than the division of land: it means tho division of capital, and the deBtruction of that which would give capital to one and withhold it from another. For the enjoyment of perfect freedom all men must bo equal.. Now it stands to reason that the mere division of land could not bring about such a result, because Nature has not made men in the same mould. It would not bo long before very many would be landless; owing to want of money to import Chinamen to work tho soil they would have to borrow the necessary capital, and in duo course the mortgagee ■would enter in and occupy. Other men to •whom an equal division of land would be given might not have the disposition to do a hard day's work in the field, and would he glad to take a billetin a shop. He would therefore let his block of land, and probably - sell it after a. time *to enat>le him to enteu into business. Other men's inclinations, like"K.K.'s," would lead them iuto paths political, and having little or nothing to lose, would advocate revolutionary principles that bring no grist to the mill. These men would soon go to the wall and have to sell their land to the industrious and thrifty. Now perfect equality would not trouble itself so much about land or who owned it, but. would keep a sharp look out for what is made off it. Let those work who like. Liberty should be the order of the day, and those who did not choose to work should bo entitled to have of the pins of those who did. Labjr, being nothing but another name for slavery, ought not to be submitted to by a white man. There are Chinamen and niggers in plenty to do the hewing of wood and the drawing of water, and let them do the work of the slaves till they become civilised enough to produce a Homy George, or a Sir George Grey.—l am, &c, PrOGRESS. November 2,1881.