THE LAND QUESTION.

Evening Star, Issue 3976, 22 November 1875, Page 2

THE LAND QUESTION.

Mr Charles Wooloock, who is one of the t candidates for Parliament for the Grey t Valley, addressee the electors at Gremouth » ou November 12, when a resolution was unanimously passed th d he was a fit and - proper pel son to represent the district. Wo make tds following quotation fr m his speec i ; “I am not one of th'>se who envy 1 l' ir g e landed proprietors of the Colony, or the great accession to their wca th > by the expenditure of public moneys, y but I do think it is only just and fair that they having rec?ived large and special benefits from the expenditure of borrowed t coney, should also become special contri- • hutors cowards providing merest and sinking fund for the same. The amount of laud alienated from the Crown or people of I'ew ? Zealand cannot at the present time be much, j if anything, less than 16 GOO 000 acme ; if we take the present average value of the 5 land so alienated at L2 per annum, which I ihiuk is much below its present money value, it follows that the land held by private individualsinthisColony is wort 11 32 00.000 sterling, an annual tax of 1| ter cent on which w uld amount to T.4.iU 000 so that the imposition of a lajd tax of | percent, t on its value would a’oue provide amplo s tevenue to lupply the detici ncy eroded by the entire abolition of datms on all the ne- , cessaries of life, together with the gold duty, l which is about 1.40 OUO per annum. i v uch a t tax, which I think, mud be admitted to bo • m itself just, would relieve the laboring class of a great burd-n, give an impetus to industry, and act as a sa utary check on land i speculation, which is fast becoming a serious F obstacle to the bona Jith s ttlemont of the country. ’