THE LAND QUESTION.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2690, 2 November 1881, Page 2

THE LAND QUESTION.

(From the “ Daily Northern Argus,” Rockhampton.)

Again we assert the land should remain, so far as possible, the property of the State ; and had this principle been adopted at the first, and had the Governments clung to it as the rock upon which to erect the edifice of prosperity, the revenue arising from the rental would have enabled us to pay the working expenses of the State, and to have made us infinitely more clear than we are from the capitalists of Europe. Keeping the land in our hands is the basis of free trade. The people of these colonies are for the most part believers in Free Trade, outside their own territories, but they are Protectionists as regards the land. They appear to consider that because through the banks or Syndicates any quantity of land can can be purchased for speculation and nothing else, it is Free Trade. It might as well be asserted that an invading army which acquired land by the sword, and then handed it over to any alien race, would be the exponents of Free Trade. If the land from the beginning had been leased for all purposes, pastoral, agricultural, and mining, the first mentioned to be restricted as settlement advanced, we believe we should have now one hundred settlers, and all doing well, where we have but one doing indifferently. New Zealand is a strong case in point; the land is taken bodily there as it is here. Syndicates, companies, and wealthy individuals, have declared that they have brought capital to the country. They have, on the contrary, taken it from it. They purchased some time since, as they are purchasing in Queensland now, land at from 5s to 20s per acre; and the people were taxed for the purpose of making railways frequently to, and through their property, and now these speculating companies are demanding and getting from £5 to £2O an acre from the agriculturist, and every of

the money goes out of the country. If the small purchaser borrows money, which he frequently does, of the company, he becomes little better than a slave. Therefore these capitalists, instead of bringing money to the colony,.are actually taking it away, at the rate of from £6 to £2O for every 6s to 20s they invested ; and this, too without having laid out one farthing in improvements. This is Free Trade with a vengeance ; making the rich richer and the poor poorer ; while positively taking from the State the profits obtained by dealing with treasurers who conceived that if they could but show a surplus everything must be progressing wonderfully. When will the people understand that disposing of Crown lands, save on very rare and extraordinary occasions, is a crime committed against the State ? The people of Queensland are being taught a lesson, the full meaning of which they will not comprehend until they find themselves poorer by the loss of the greater portion of their best lands, and the profits they would have derived had the property remained in their hands, had passed into those of Syndicates, who finance only,[and no not work or speculate.