CLOSE SETTLEMENT

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 472, 26 August 1909, Page 3

CLOSE SETTLEMENT

AND WHAT IT HAS DONE FOR DENMARK.

Referring to the benefits of close settlement in his address in the Masonic Hall on Tuesday night, Mr Hogg quoted Carnegie in his book ‘ ‘ Problems of To-day ’ ’ in respect to Denmark as follows : ‘ ‘ That wonderful little country Denmark, not long ago, was in the hands of a few owners who rented it to farmers whose position was that of farmers in the United Kingdom to-day. The laud that seventy odd years ago was in che hands of a few is now owned by no less than 86,000, and as to 75,000 of the holdings the law prevents their being merged to form larger farms or estates. No revolution was necessary to produce this change —no Government ownership- The country was divided into farms iff a certain size and a progressive, land .tax levied. For one man cultivating one farm the tax was small. If he had another the tax was much greater upon the second, and so on until the additions became prohibitive, the object being to favour the owning of farms by those who cultivated them.”