The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE FRIDAY, JULY 11, 1919. A MONSTROUS PROPOSAL.

Taihape Daily Times, 11 July 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

FRIDAY, JULY 11, 1919. A MONSTROUS PROPOSAL.

A ~vv}ith‘wbich ms incorporated “The Taihape Post and 'Wa.i'marino ‘ News.” 4

- One of the nicest. distinctions 196*.‘ ‘tween .the politician‘ and the statesman I was unwittingly furnished by the AY:t- 1 ing-Premier to a “Housing Problem‘ Deputation” that waited on him Yes‘ terday. Sir James Allen .also dis-I closed, .to- some extent, “the - futurei attitude towards ‘taxation and after-l wxar éonditions of the political party? of which he. has been rather _an§ irregular flare. It is appatent Wll9-t,] Sir James Allen,'Mr Massey and thej one «or two other members Of thigh House that are of -the Massey.-Reform ilk, have put their heads together '9O throw upon municipalities .the sole responsibility‘of- providing houses to dec.en'tly,_humanely, and cleanly house the houseless masses in their respective‘ teri-itories. Sir James Allen makes no F bones about it, and tells the deputation that the Government can only get the money _.by taxing. the people, and municipalities and county councils could get 5 it‘7'=‘in .the 8234118»,-NV!a»y. ,; We have never |dlaSS:°d':':the~ .Al3.t.iDf§2P.-iml!?:i‘3.¥;:.;. ‘."m°n.g <i€‘3Prtll..i-11k"-Tsi‘ and:aW.e:!.l,ivs;ssW—-- 8.» fu‘r- . I‘-'§he‘r3 .;:{gO_od.-, i-"hiin, in *ti'c'al:s. :.th-wit . wouhi i- W. . ..71.3,€"~~.~i‘.G%1’..-2 i?'credi-ta_bl.e -,V.‘to,:. ,him, ;.,or., -his;, ~uan§t,y, :_. "-:81?" lJem'9s -~..A11«.et.-.§, .iiu.£lg.l.l}g ..-fT9m 111?”. }£l£§test -;.p_ronounc'ement .011‘. the.-.ll.qll,_‘S;l'l-I'g,, I -pr\ob‘lC}lll',“. is .. Aeither ~ an party ,_to,.___ rap __ , plot_..; ,-?‘-for.:- 7eif’ecting [the ~:nlost; unjjsrstifia:';l?,l;e_H i;'profi_teeri,ng, against the ,niasses,_ while’ |« lettiing/the “Land Kin_'gs.’ ’ or; this little‘ '»-jland escape free, How Sir allies _must plong for "the old l‘_‘Eeudal.’ ’ days, when ~the people had tolprovide everything . for the lord, and the lord for the King. E But it was the feudal lords with natures Issuch a‘sp_Sir James Allen discovers in Zhimself that filrstcaused the masses to | rise against. oppressio'n; that caused the first strike, and it is the same un‘reasonable greed that kept strikes Efashionable -among the maisscs, and ljustthe same old ‘greed -tliat"m-ade the ,Ka.iser to long "for the‘ utmost ‘the damnable p'as's'ion- could acquire "for ihini, and it is the same unmistakable" quality in Sir James -that would com'p"el [the poor to build houses“ for-the poorj‘ ,'to\_let” the deadbury their "dead; We ‘may be ’talking- in riddles to some of our readers, but one "case" to disclose _'our meaning will "be quite ample. It will show clearly how Sir James ‘Allen and'lliS"‘very- at-rophied party would ',fil's_t /tax the poor, then the small farmer, and,-lastly,‘ the huge" land-king It will brilig‘plainly into view the accui's‘e(l kink‘ inlthe policy of Reform, for, as in the housing problem, ithcy would cast almost entire respon- ‘ sibility on the poor ‘to house the poor, } and save the land-kings in assisting in [.the housing -of the poor they create, ' so their policy is in every other ques!’fioll, and in every other respect. VVC Esay, without hesitation, that the very Eluarge land-owners are humanely head and shoulders above the politicians Q they have elected to represent ntheum in I Parliament. Let us take -0111‘ J own County and Borough; the gflangitikci county I is one of lthc largest and richest in New ‘Zealand; the Taihapc Borough is among the smaller municipalities; in E the Borough the housing conditions are a disgrace to civilisation; in the ‘County houses are empty and~rotting' :for want of occupants-—a condition. ‘brought about by Reform’s policy of i land aggregation. Here we are enabled ito see that while the struggling people -of the Borough would have to tax sthemsclves beyond the .security they {Possess for loans suflicieiit to house . the poor that are constantly, steadily, | almost’ inVaria‘bly drifting on the land i into the Borough, sthe owners of the exi cecdingly large number of huge estates in the County‘Would‘ not be called upon Fto do anytlrin-g, to spent a penny, or contribute a great to taxation for rhrcusing purposes. «Landowners, with their from £20,000,000 to £30,000,000 ’ Worth of land, with only a total population of 7000 souls, h‘-ave, on their lands houses going to decay; they want no more houses. It is these few landowners with their £20,000,000 Worth of land that Sir_James Allen and his Reform coterie would free from contributing to the housing problem. Then, let us see how ratepayers in the Borough will fare;“ the Borough has to provide asylum for all the surplus. humanity not wanted in the country; the. B01'~0U£:‘h to’ whence comes. for shelter all the men out adrift on the

large sheepruns when ‘special-, seasons] are —.‘over,_ or when rthe men are not wanted. It is on the Borough of Taihape, -and on the small holders of land that Sir James Allen would cast all the Housing responsibility. While -'l‘.-nihape has a, rating capital valuetolf about £300,000, the County has a rating value of over £7,000,000, and Sil‘ James Allen" says the £300,000 in the Borough: should» carry the whole load for the £7,000,000.~=‘1n the county 7000 people ‘own: the £7,0.0,0,000—-which is Government valuation for rating 15111‘-poses--in the Borough 2000 "people own less than £300,000 'of'naateable. ValueIn other words, themen owning £300,000 worth‘-of-property in the Borough should carryell the «responsibility, and the people owning the £7,000,000 should not be called upon for a‘ penny, ‘because they already have houses in plenty, houses thereis no"one to occupy. - The Borough urgently needs ‘at least 50 houses, -and ‘veven""'.then it could not house the drift of humanity from the’ country, but to get these 50 houses the people’s £300,000 worth ‘of property must be ‘given as ‘security for the £40,000 required for houses; for another £40,000 for water-,~ to say nothing of the increasing inadequacy of sewerage -and. electric ‘-lighit: services, The Borough is already contri-butingA£4ooo in rates, and Sir James Allen ‘would compel it to increase --that ‘burden by casting uponi it the responsibility of providing houses ;for nll the drift of humanity. that is-no-t'_ Wanted ‘by the land-kings, with -their millions’ worth of property.- Of course, the ActingPremier’s disclbsu-re of“ Reform policy shows thatxit was conceived in greed, born in ignorance of-‘the intelligence of the people, and nurtured in blind hope; it‘ was, at its conception. destin¥' ed to bring its Reform parents into illrepute. and for the good name of New Zea-landtvo'hol3‘e the em: to throw ion nrunicipalities the entire responsibility for housing the houseless will be promptly smoth.ered., for We should be ashamed (.04 think that other nations had become awarejwe had a Govern--_ 'ment that did not_ know better than to; and opt anything .so 5 absurd, fo_olish_7,-,.-and "Ifiifiil‘st._' _ '