CATECHISM ON THE LAND QUESTION.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2461, 7 February 1881, Page 4

CATECHISM ON THE LAND QUESTION.

The Rev. W. Hume-Rothery asks us (the u National Reformer") to publish the following: — I. Q, What are the grounds of private and public property ? A. Human labor and the gift of God. Whatever a man acquires by his own industry, or receives from those who thus acquire it, is his own private property ; but whatever the creator bestows equally upon the inhabitants of a country is public property. 11. Q. Who is the maker of the earth, and for whom is it made ? A. God is its maker, and it is equally for all his children in this world. The land called England is, by the gift of God, the public property of the English people. 111. Q. What must then be justly said of private landlordism ? A. It is fundamentally and entirely wrong. IY. Q, Though it was robbery on the part of the the strong to at first seize the land of the country and hold it as private property, yet as this land has for centuries been sold and bought, may not private ownership in land be now considered just? A. Impossible, Injustice while it lasts, is injustice still. The longer it lasts the greater it becomes. Y. Q. If every human being has an equal right to the land, should every one have and cultivate his own natural share ? A. This would be impossible. If England were equally divided amongst its inhabitants to-day, it could not be so to-morrow. Besides, all cannot be cultivators of the ground, human welfare requiring domestic servants, 1 artizans, manufacturers, tradesmen, sailors, &c. VI. Q. What are the consequences of the present system of land tenure ? A, A large portion of the inhabitants are deprived of their birthright, and the industrious agriculturists are burdened with the support of an idle class. VII. Q. Would not this injustice be remedied by the extensive establishment of peasant proprietors ? A. No. Peasants could have no more right than peers to exclusive ownership in land. VIII. Q. Would free trade in land supply the remedy required ? A. The land, belonging equally to the entire population, cannot justly be a commercial commodity. Moreover, it would not benefit the country to transfer the land from one class to another. IX. Q. What does justice require in this respect ? A. That the land should cease to be private, and should, in fact, become public property. X. Q. Should not its present owners be compensated ? A. As far as possible, and by the best means that can be devised. Some hardship may have to be borne, as has been the case with the great multitudes who have long been robbed of their right to the land. XI. Q. When the land is free from private proprietorships, and restored to the nation as its property, what should be done with it ? A. The nation by its agents should let it to the best applicants. These should be free to hold it for life, on the conditions that they regularly pay their rent and cultivate their farms to the best advantage. XII. Q. What would result from this arrangement ? A. All the unspeakable benefits and satisfactions winch necessarily proceed from doing justly.