Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, OCT. 19, 1899. Everyman his own Landlord.

Manawatu Herald, 19 October 1899, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, OCT. 19, 1899. Everyman his own Landlord.

* We have been told by colonial politicians that this colony is in advance of the world as regards labour legislation, but the Act lately passed by the Conservative Government of Great Britain is much in advance in solid advantages. How everyman can become his own landlord was very clearly explained by the Rt. Hon. Mr Chamberlain at Birmingham at the end of last August in these words :— It is a bill to enable people to become the owners of their own houses. In my opinion a most desirable thing in the general interests of the State, calculated to secure the stability of our institutions, to promote thrift, and to encourage independence on the part of the people. What this bill does is this. It enables every person who desires to become the owner of a house — which, if a leasehold, must not be worth more than £300 ; but if as a freehold, may be worth more — it enables him to supply to his local authority, which is the town council or the district council, and to borrow money from them at a low rate of interest, payable in 30 years by annual instalments, and the practical effect of it is that, if a working man can either save himself or borrow one-fifth of the purchase money of his house, he may become the absolute owner, without paying a penny more, and in some cases paying something less, than the rent and taxes that he now pays, and at the end of 30 years, or, perhaps, an earlier period, he will be his own master. He will have control of his own home, and I cannot help thinking that there are many working men who are both able and desirous of securing this great opportunity. We all like to be owners of the things for which we most care, and there is nothing for which we care more than for our home. I believe that legislation of this kind will do something to improve j the dwellings of the people, because a man will do more for his own house — the house which is his own property — to ornament it, to keep it in good order, to make improvements in it, than he can be expected to do for a house which belongs to another, and from which he can be turned out at a week's or a minute's notice. This legislation then, I believe, to be real, practical, useful legislation, of the kind which I urged upon you at the time of the last General Election.