The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. THUBSDAY, JUNE 11, 1885. A STATE LANC BANK.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 11, 11 June 1885, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. THUBSDAY, JUNE 11, 1885. A STATE LANC BANK.

In- his recent speech at Port Chalmers, Mr Macandrew, who has the reputation of being a thoughtful, earnest, practical politician, made some reference to the establishment of a State Rank, which he expressed his desire to see inaugulished. The question was one which he said he considered one ofi the most important that could occupy the attention of the Legislature at the present time. Through the instrumentality of a State Land Bank, he maintained that advances ought to be made to cultivators of the soil, on security- of their freeholds, at a low rate of interest, and without the intervention of third parties, or the verbosity of legal instruments with the necessary costs. In his opinion at. the present time the land m New Zealand is to an enormous extent virtually m the hands or absentees, who are receiving the whole — and m many cases more than the whole — of the profits which . accrue therefrom. Hundreds and he might say thousands, of our socalled freeholders are merely the nominal owners of the soil which they ostensibly hold, and what between the high rate of interest and other charges, coupled with the low price of producCj'the wonder is how they manage to keep their heads above water. It is to prevent the mci eased continuance of and to mitigate th's state of things that he desired to see a State Land Bank. He went on to explain that the sole function' should be not to interfere with what may be termed the legitimate business of bankiug , but to advance to such an extent upon the value of the land as the State may determine, tie would not involve the Colony m the expense of a new establishment, but would simply make it a branch of the Land Transfer Department, the existing staff 'of'wh'reh would, without any material increase, suffice to conduct the -operations. All transactions would be m respect only of land that has been ; brought .under the Act, and might" be" effected by simple registration and endorsement; m fact, one ought to be able -to go to the- Land Transfer Office and obtain an advance with as little formality; as he would go to his tailor for a coat. We quite agree With MaCA lib it kV that thesis no class m the community that would not " be benefited by whatever . might have the effect of enlargihgthe extent of the cultivation of the soil, and rendering the industry more profitable than it is. We should bear m mind that although there were m New Zealand sources of enormous wealth other thari agriculture, yet that the future prosperity of the Colony depends upon this. It is a remarkable fact that six-tenths of the whole population of New Zealand is agricultural, according to th<> last eensug returns m 1884. The figures are as follow: the total population was 540,877, classed as follows : — -Agricultural, 323.938; manufacturing, 11,44-6: other occupations, 150,827; not enumerated, 54,666 :— total, 540,877, So that there are 30 times as many people returned under the occupation of agriculture as there are under all the other manufacturing industries put together. A southern exchange approves of Mr Macan'urkw's comprehensive scheme for establishing a National Bank, but is of opinion that he appears too nervous about treading on the corns of existing banks. As for placing such a power m the hands of the Land Transfer Office it is not alto-! gether sure that that would be. a «iood plan. It would rather see the Bank managed by a non-political Board of Directors, responsible to I Parliament for their actions, and liable to penal servitude m the event of being convicted of any malprac-, tices. As regards the objection that it would only benefit the farming classes, this is a mistaken notion altogether. Tn the first place, on the farmers all our, dependence is* and any tiling that makes them prosperous will make the whole colony prosperous. I n the second place, if all the money locked up m land at present were let loose, money would become plentiful and cheap, and industries would then flourish. On the land all must live, and if those who own the land are hard up the whole-colony must be hard- up also. We congratulate Mr M aca n i> u k w on haying- left the beaten track of politics, and taken up this new idea, and we only hope he will not retire from political life until it becomes an accomplished fact.