The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18, 1907. THE CASE FOR THE L.I.P. SETTLER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2188, 18 September 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18, 1907. THE CASE FOR THE L.I.P. SETTLER.

The very excellent article on the land question which appears in another column should be read by all who take an interest in the settlement and consequent development of New Zealand. The writer, Mr. J. E. Watson, of Invercargill, is a gentleman of very extensive experience in farming and commercial matters, and in addition is one of tho most respected men in Southland and Otago. On any subject concerning the farming interests Air. Watson’s opinion must necessarily carry a good deal of weight, and his utterance on the freehold option is entitled to close attention. It may be that to many of our readers the facts set forth by Mr. Watson in support of the lease-in-perpetuity settler are already known, but he has succeeded in putting the position so clearly, so simply, and so effectively that his letter cannot receive too wide a circulation. Nowadays, thanks to the splendid work of Air. Massey, Mr. Herrios, and other members of the Opposition, together with the substantial backing given by the Farmers’ Union, there are compartively few people who do not recognise that the future prosperity of this country is dependent upon its lands being divided amongst a class of intelligent, thrifty settlers owning their own farms, but it is just as well to know precisely what this conviction has been founded on, and Mr. Watson’s contribution supplies some unanswerable arguments to fortify the freeholder in justifying the faith that is in him.