Fielding Star. THURSDAY, FEB. 5, 1891. A Land Tax

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 96, 5 February 1891, Page 2

Fielding Star. THURSDAY, FEB. 5, 1891. A Land Tax

As it is the declared intention of the Government to substitute a Land Tax for the existing Property Tax. a good deal of anxiety has ! een felt aud ex-pressed-by many of the farmers iv this district that they will be sacrificed to pacify the people who live and have their, beiug in large towns, and who, for some occult reason, look upon the country settlers . as fair game. That the' owners of .large landed estates have cause for une.asiness may be true enough, but that the owners of small farms should be alarmed, is not bo well justified by the facts. Accepting that journal as an authority on the" question of the policy of the Government in this respect, we make the following extract from the Wanganui Herald :—...« " There are far too liiany land monopolists now in possession of immense areas of land^in the colony, who are hindering settlement and' preventing the progress of the colony. -There should be no accession to their ranks possible under the land laws of the country, while the present Government are desirous of administering in the interests of .settlement, so that the population of New .Zealand may not leave its shores in the way it has been doing during the past three years, owing , to the obstacles placed in the way of men of smallmeans taking up land -to make homes for themselves and their families ' ; upon. A large and 'prosperous population of small settlers would soon put the colony on a safer financial footing, and make ' it otit of the most attractive fields for labour south of the" Equator.". It may< safely be deduced from the ; foregoing' that whatever the 1 intentions of the Government may be they • will not allow the~small farmers to be taxed out of proportion to any other ; class. We wish to lay particular stress on this point, because if _ the ' impression were allowed to becojne- - fixed, our local farmers, who have done so much to make their land valuable, would suffer either directly or indirectly by the .consequent depreciation of the market . value for their ! properties.