MR McNAB.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9117, 9 April 1908, Page 2

MR McNAB.

REVIEW OP LAND POLICY. 'Press Association. Ashburton, April S. ThefHon. Robt. McNab, gave a lengthy resume of the condition of affairs in the Dominion and a vigorous vindication of the Government’s land policy to a Guardian reporter yesterday. He said it was a mistake to suppose that in the South Island we"were anywhere near our limits, but he believed that as a whole land in this Island would not be so much subdivided as in the North Island. Alogether he thought that the prospects before the two Islands when they had both become traversed by lines of railway would be very good indeed. He stated that there was a great demand for the 33years renewable lease, and quoted instances. Continuing, he said —“Everywhere I find a disposition among large laud owners to look upon the subdivision of their properties as a thing that cannot'now be indefinitely delayed. It is certain that the increase in the Graduated Land Tax has encouraged this subdivision and I believe that the power given to owners to prevent the compulsory clauses of the Lands for Settlement Act being put in to force while delaying compulsory subdivision is compelling voluntary subdivision by making large areas of laud through taxation too costly to hold. FALL IN LAND VALUES PREDICTED. It is only the phenomenal profit from stock raising of late years that enabled owners to hold on. Under present condtions some of the syndicates who have purchased estates in the South Island are trying to unload them on Government, and some of the members are willing to unload even at a loss on what they paid for them. Not all the syndicates who rushed in before the Government purchased, are going to clear big profits and I think generally that the land market for the next few years will be easier, and will allow Government baying for cash and selling on easier terms, to be in a better position than during the last few years when in the excitement of high prices almost anything was offered to g§t .land. Under anything but boom conditions the Crown can find cultivators of its lands when a syndicate cannot find owners to occupy them. I believe we are coming forward to a steady and not a boomed prosperity. EFFECT OF SPECULATION.

As Minister of Agriculture, my sympathies are of course with the cultivator. Too often successful speculation'makes the cultivator“dissatisfied and takes him out of the ranks of cultivators. Speculation and dear land generally accompany one another. That is one of the reasons why I hold that dear laud is not the best condition for the State. The Minister further stated that if not another area was brought under the pcovisions of the Lauds for Settlement Act, machinery under the legislation of last session would silently but effectively bring about subdivision everywhere. DISTRIBUTING THE WEALTH. Concluding, he said the settlement of the land along lines upon which we are going appears to be best of the methods which have been suggested for the distribution of wealth among the people, so that we contend that our policy in regard to the distribution of wealth is wrapped up in our land policy, and any solution of one is equally a solution of the other. That is the settling of the country along our lines means the advancement of industry in the towns.