THE LAND ACT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2145, 30 July 1907, Page 2

THE LAND ACT.

(To tlio Editor.)

Sir, —I notice under clause 66 the Government proposes to take land for close settlement purposes at the capital value on the assessment roll of the district. This is very unfair, us many of tho improvements have cost the owners far more than is allowed by tho land valuators. The Government show their inconsistency here when giving l.i.p. tenants the right of purchasing the freehold. In Clause lb it says the said capital value shall be determined by valuation or arbitration. AA’liy not give them the chance of buying at' present value on rate rolls? This is sauce for tlie goose but no sauce for the gander. Tlie present proposals of the Government, if carried, will simply mean confiscation of all the estates over £40,000 unimproved value, for with the proposed increase in the graduated land tax and no allowance for mortgages, this, with the County and Harbor Board rates, will simply swallow all the profits, so that a man will be better off by sitting down and investing bis money at 5 per cent. It- looks as if the big farmer has had his day and is now going to ho wiped out by a Socialistic Government'. I would likq to 'know who it was that made this district what it now is. If it hail not beer, for the man with capital,' who went into the backblocks anil felled the bush by the thousands of acres, where would our sheep industry be now? Would wo have wanted two freezing works to cope with our exports? AA'onlil our town have gone ahead as it has done had it not been for these pioneers? It makes me fired when I hear some of these cow spankers talking about taking some of these estates, which are only moderate in size, and are being worked to the best advantage by tlieir owner?, who stop at no expense in the matter of importing first-class stock to the district. - After a man has spent the best: part of his life in breaking iu a property with the idea of handing it down to liis family, and just- about when it begins to pay, the Government come along and out you go to make room for someone who has not the pluck to go out back and break in a place. He wants it already made with hot and cold water laid on.—Yours, etc., FARAIER.