RYOTWARRY—(No. 2).
TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. SIR, —Of the three advantages offered by tho perpetual lease the most Important perhaps is tlie creation of a Crown lauds property. At present land is being daily parted with by the State in perpetuity. We are living not on our income, but on our capital. We call it land revenue, but the term is a misnomer. It is a land windfall for the year. With each sale we forestall in that year what posterity will have complainingly to make good in other ways. We are consuming in annual bonuses wbat might be a valuable reserve fund for the nation. The opportunity is now in our hands for creating a large lauded estate for the nation—for retaining for the future expenses of Government tho rental from 10,000 square miles. It is the opportunity of the present moment, and will .never recur On a similar scale. Shall it be used or thrown
away ? Much has been said pro and con. as to the State being the landlord ; but the majority of political economists will, I believe, be found to agree iu desiring a compromise, a balance, in which each system cheeks and improves the other. The most perfect state o£ things for a community is for part of the land to be in the bauds of private individuals and part in the hands of the State. It is just such a-posltion that now offers itself. ■ -
Boughly speaking, half of New Zealand is at present in the hands of Europeans or in the market for them ; the other half is unsettled Maori laud. It is because of the great national opportunity that appears at this moment to be before us, and which if not accepted will pass away, that I press for a consideration of the subject at the present time. To the Maori it may be said, “ This proposal secures a competence to you and your heirs for ever to the Englishman, “ Thus you obtain a landed estate without purchase in the present, and thus you create a valuable national property in the future, if the present aboriginal race pass away.” This melancholy doom seems inevitably before them.
Let us as honest neighbors'do them justice, if not more, while they Racist as a race, and secure that the heir' to raw vast domain, if heir there must be, is the nation, and not a few private individuals—land speculators.—l am, &c, , E. C. G. Thomas.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18780919.2.14
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5454, 19 September 1878, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
413RYOTWARRY—(No. 2). New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5454, 19 September 1878, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.