TOWN AND COUNTRY

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 256, 6 November 1901, Page 4

TOWN AND COUNTRY

TIIE UNEARNED INCREMENT

i Wairarapa Times. ! I>- tlio Evening 1 Post attention is directed t> tlio Farmers’ Uuiou and the freehold, and much stress is laid upon tlio questiou ol the unearned increment alleged to accrue to the land-owner. May we. ask our contemporary what is to become of the unearned increment which lias boon secured by City enterprises. What has caused the largo expansion of the businesses of the skipping 1 and trading 1 firms of Wellington '{ I'lie answer can only bo the expenditure of monies in the country to which they have not contributed, but by means of which they mako easily increased profits, and build up busiuess concerns which have socured most certainly a large unearned increment. Why should not the State have this also? And the professional classes ; whore would they all be but for the expansion of settlement brought about by the money and energy of the farmers ? Could onotentli of thorn live without the growth of wealth in the country, to which they do not contribute, but from which tlio fund which supplies their incomes has received enormous unearned incromont.

In the early fifties tlio then provincial authorities refused to grant leases of the Crown estate for the reason that money was needed, the money of the settlors, to road the country, and to obtain wharfage in the City. Dr Featherstou, the then Superintendent, told the early settlers that the land was only to be had on payment of five shillings and ten shillings per aero, and so the early settlers were dejileted of their money and the freehold forced upon them against their strong protest and their demand for the leasehold. Now the loaders of thought in our cities seok to thrust tho leasehold on the sons of these pioneers.

Sir Robert iStout. in a theme on “ Ideals,” recently published in tho New Zealand Times, states concisely that there is no freehold, the land is held under feudal tenure, with tho State for over-lord. It is no wonder that tlie farmers are uniting, and trust that tho strop, g ; iea ,j s and ar^s that have produced New Zealand’s present prosperity, despite overwhelming difficulties in the earlier days, will show that they are no degenerate sons of their British ancestors,

" Dli, those comforting words Phrygia, I’amphylia, Thrace ! ” once exclaimed a devout old lady. And under a similar inspiration there are somo pious politicians who take comfort iu tlio shibboleth tc unearned increment.” If wo were asked to define tho term, wo should feel disposed to answer that it is ‘-an increment which is earned.” “'The earned increment itself is rarely spoken of, and yet it is one that often fails the unfortunate settler. What farmer cannot relate a bitter experience of disaster to crop, stock or pasture, which has swept away his “earned increment.” Were there no “ unearned increment,” as a set-off to the loss of “ earned increment,” his lot would be a dog’s life, or something worse. In all pursuits there is some natural law of compensation, and in that of the farmer it is tho freehold or the hope of a .freehold which sustains a man to combat hardship and privation.

I By what moral right can a State j take from the farmer the little “ uu- [ earned increment ” that may fall to 1 ills lot ? When the Labor Unions comi memo, as they will do, to tight the Farmers’ Union, let the latter say to them, That which is sauce for the country goose is sauce for the town gander.” Get the State to appropriate the “ uuearned increment” of the city laud tirst, and see what the city journals will say to that ! Shed your own town blood to show that you believe in the principles which you advocate, and theu it will be time enough to interfere with the country. Let the Farmers’ Unions demand that “ the unearned increment ’’ in the cities be appropriated to lessen their own taxation. They have as much right to make this claim as the Labor Unions have to mop up their freeholds.