The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1925. VAGARIES OF LABOR LANO POLICY.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 October 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1925. VAGARIES OF LABOR LANO POLICY.

Tin: l.ahor Land Policy contains .some remarkahle features. The so-called “nsehold" tenure is not satisfying even many ol’ the political l.ahor candidates. and one of the offenders was refused nomination by the party in Otago. In the North Island different phases are the subjet t ol various explnnations, and those who attended the meeting of Mr O’Brien here heard him pint in a new interpretation clause, which as we commented on Saturday. was foreign to the intent and meaning of the Labor policy as published. The published policy provides for “a land tenure based on occupaiiey and ti.-e. wliieli shall secure to the working farmer the full fruits of his labour and exertions.” This sounds very well, hut we are wondering where the farmer lias to employ labor to help him (and what sort of a farm is it that does not need the extra labor to bring about ample productivity) who is to secure “the full fruits of the labor and exertions” of the hired labour. Now. although the full fruits etc. are preserved for the working farmer, another paragraph closely following says the Labor policy recognises the interests of the whole community in the land! That is. every Tom. Dick and Harry has an interest in the land. the working farmer, poor Bill, is toiling on. and what is worse, though the policy promises full fruits for the labor and exertion of the farmer, there is following this all embracing contingency: “Securing to the community (Toni. Dick and Harry) of ABB values created by the community.” \ r ou see. dear render. Toni. Hick and Harry ns the community round about eat the produce of Bill the farmer's land. If Tom. Dick and Harry were not there, there could he no eonsumption. and there would he no value created hv any community. so it is apparent Bill is working for Tom. Hick and Harry, and as he is feeding them. why. says the Labor policy, should not they in the end own all the value Bill puts into the land to I

keep thorn iilivo? Poor old Bill, you see. will not l>e working and exerting for himself, hut for Tom. Dick, and Harry. When the land policy comes into lone Bill will he a hit of a fool if he does not leave the land and look on with Tom. Dick and Harry, while some other loot tills the land for the good of the community I Then, under the I.ahor policy there is to he a State hank, and the money lending institutions are to go! If Bill wants a loan he must go to the State Bank, hut if the simple community folk do not deposit their money in the State Bank, where will the Bank find funds? That will he ease. There is a Government printing press. So the New Zealand notes can he turned out as fast as you like, and in due course of time will he as useful as the German marks were when millions of these went to the pound sterling. Ves. there will he some reckless finance, when Labor starts its State Bank, and Bill and his class (the farmers) will he the first to find it out. Passing on. we read in the policy something about Bill receiving the fruits of his exertions. But there is another catch. Bill will have his land valued when I.ahor gets into office, and that valuation will Ik' his interest- no more and no loss —in the land. What has become of the fruits of his exertions? This is a query'to he answered by the Gabor candidates. Then, when Bill gets up in years, and thinks he should retire. Flo may. hut. he may not sell Ids holding to Torn, Dick or Harry if they are fool enough to purchase it. He may sell only to the State! And of course at no profit. The fruits of his labour have gone into the land, bnl he is statute barred as to value; the worth of the land is the amount of liis valuation when the Labour policy came into force. So Bill will realise that all the time he has been a serf to the St.-Hi'. As in Russia in day- of old there were serfs a.s there are now. so in modern New Zealand, under the Babur Land Policy. the working farmer will he a serf, working first and last for the community and the State, and not for himself. Tin will have the right In live and the right to work, hut the promise of the fruits of his labors is a myth, for everything over primal value goes to the Stale. Tt is a strange policy indeed—said to have been drawn lip bv a clock maker ju Palmerston North. Tt is a policy which wnuhl ruin land devehijimon (.. and bring the prosperity of the (nullity down with a crash. The policy has been criticised very severely, and little wonder. The public. however, are not likelv to take the new proposals seriously, because on all sides wo find members of the Labor Party dissenting from important details, and the whole fabric will thus collapse. But on polling day. the electors. and the farmers in parti l ular small and large—should bear in mind the difficult, in fact impossible, position. in which the Labor Lund Policy would land them by favouring the T.ntiour candiate at the I allot box.