THE GOVERNMENT LAND POLICY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2364, 3 December 1908, Page 5

THE GOVERNMENT LAND POLICY.

FREEHOLD ISSUE CAUSE OF THE MINISTER OF LANDS’ DOWNFALL.

An endoivor has been made to blame a local issue, the Meik.e case, for the defeat of the Minister of Lands: but the “Oago Witness,” which should be in a position to know, evidently attributes the result mainly to Mr McNab’s attitude on the [md question. \\ riting editorially it says: —The fact that the electors of Mataura have decided to send Mr Anderson to Wellington in place of Air Me" Nub need not occasion any great surprise; it was only whatmight- have been expected of any constituency that had followed closely the utterances and actions ot ihe Minister of Lands in the last Parliament. Mr M'Nab made his first great mistake, when he rashly assumed that he would be able to convert tlie country to a- Socialistic doctrine, to which he himself hi id only comparatively recently given in liis adherence.' Having' foolishly committed liiimelf to the advocacy of the leasehold system, as opposed to the timehonored right to the freehold, so dearie the heart of every true settler, he soon found himself on the horns of a dilemmu. For the country respectfu.lv declined to be converted to this .Socialistic idea, especially seeing that such conversion involved the surrender of a- foundation principle upon which the success of the agricultural and pastoral industries so greatly depended. Despairing of persuading tho people to adopt his tenets, Mr M'Nab executed a volte face, which was neither creditable nor timely. Had he been more moderate at tub commencement of his leasehold campaign, it- is possible that his change of opinion might have been overlooked; but having announced his intention of nailing "his colors to the leasehold mast, vuid of sinking or swimming with his Socialistic colleagues, it came as a sort- of shock to find him ultimately modifying his opinions in order to save his face. It is this kind of chopping and changing which shakes the -public confidence in a man occupying a position of influence and responsibility, and the electors of Mata urn. in justice to themselves, could do no other than mark their disapproval of Mr M'Xnb’s ill-considered ami weathercock-like ideas upon so vital a subject. It probable that Mr M'Nab will not .ask the Government to find him a place in the present Parliament. In all probability ho will occupy himself with that literary work in which ho has already achieved distinction. And while engaged in an occupation, whieh.from its nature,* will give him more tiine to meditate than is possible when caught up in the whirl of politics, it -is more than possible that his ideas may -undergo considerable modification. In which case the country may in future years have placed at its -disposal the services of a wiser und a better man than the records of the Minister of Lands at present entitle him to ho considered.