ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. [BY THE AUCKLAND "STAR'S" LONDON CORRESPONDENT. ] That "Cheeky Boy" Again. London, May 2.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 56, 28 June 1884, Page 6

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES. [BY THE AUCKLAND "STAR'S" LONDON CORRESPONDENT. ] That "Cheeky Boy" Again. London, May 2.

Thk cxclusivcnoss of tho Empiro in Franco has given way to a very different statB of things, and nowadays anyone who desires the honour of an introduction to the President of the French Republic has only to ask and have. The other day Mr K. Laishley, of Auckland, who is now in Paris, was presented, and had a little chat with M, Grdvy, who always shows himself very woll disposed to Englishmen.

A Powerful Shipping Combination. I learn that the closo rapprochement which 1 formerly mentioned as obtaining between tho White L Stav and Shaw-Savill Shipping Companies has led to thoso two corporations combining to sharo the Now Zealand trade, and, if possible, take tho "shine " out of tho New Zealand Shipping Company in the matter of direct steamers. The White Star people having 'intimated their willingness to run the lonic and Doric to New Zealand at their own risk, an arrangement was come to whereby the Shaw-Savill Company agree not to run their own steamers in opposition. This is practically, therefore, an amalgamation of those two Companies, and it ought to have a powerful influence on tho direct steam trade to yonr colony.

Land Nationalisation in New Zealand. A letter under tho above heading from Mr Wakctiold, M.H.R., which appeared in the " Tall Mali Gazette," has excited vory general and favourable comments. Nearly all the moderately Liberal papers support Mr Wakcficld's views, and even the Radical •'Bristol Tress" admits the truth of the assertion that " the very cstenco of colonisation is tho inextinguishable de&iro of freemen to bo their own landlords." Tho letter is as follows : — '* In the course of an article entitled ' A Plain Word to Mr George,' in tho ' Pall Mall Budget ' of the 1 Ith of January, there appears the following passage •■—•' That the principle ot collective ownership is capablo of profitable application much more widely than is at present recognised, we readily admit ; and it is possible and even probable that the experiment which is being tried in New Zealand of reserving to the State the perpetual ownership of all public lands, may in a now country be attended by a tair measure of success.' Will you allow me to assure you that no such experiment as you describe to being tried, or has ever been attempted is be tried, in New Zealand ? What you alludo to, no doubt, is tho proposal mado by the Minister of Lands in 1882 to empower the Covornov to set apart blocks of rural land for leasing, with perpetual right of renewal. Now, there are two things in connection with that proposal which ought to be stated in order to give your readers a right understanding of it. Firstly, the Minister never contemplated applying the system of perpetual leasing to ' all public lands,' but only to a very small proportion of them The leasing clause of the Land Act, ISS'2, says:— 'Fiovided that there shall never bo open for leasing under this Act at any one time, in any one district, an area greater than one-third of the area of agricultural land then open foi sale in such distiict.' Secondly, the Legislative Council inserted in the bill a provision by >\ hich any lessee of rural land, outside of the mineral area, may convert hitlease into a freehold if within six years he shall havo complied with tho prescribed conditions as to occupation and improvement, I need not explain that this amendment absolutely eliminated the principle of land nationalisation from tho bill. The Minister, however, accepted it, and the bill became law in that &hapc. In the succeeding session (1883) the Minister introduced another bill repealing this provision as to light of purchase; but, though it passed the House of Representatives by a small majority, mainly for the sake of sundry clauses not connected with this question, it was rejected by the Legislate e Council, and the Government submitted with a good grace. The truth i&, there never was any public demand for anything of tho sort, ' and tho perpetual leaking scheme is nothing more than a hobby of the Minister of Lands. Whether or not ho intended it to be the thin end of the wedge of land nationalisation I cannot say ; but lam quite sure that if any such | intention had been disclosed or suspected it i would have made the rejection of the scheme I even more certain than it was. Tho very essence of colonisation is the inextinguishable desire of freemen to be their own landlords. It is this which has established in New Zealand within forty years a British community of more than half a million of the most prosperous, contented, and lawi abiding people in tho world ; and we certainly are not going to abandon at this stage an institution which has made us what we are, and which still supplies tho chief inducement of tho most desirable kind of immigration. You say the nationalisation of the land may answer in a new country. Permit me to say, on the contrary, I that it is in a new country where such a i tonure would be most ruinous, for the reason that it oilers no incentive to energy, ' persoverancc, bold pecuniary enterprise, or that indomitable endurance of hardship which is inseparable from parly settlement. Neither are there in a I new country those terrible social anotn I alies connected with land ownership which, in old countries, appear at first sight, at least, to justify the proposals of Mr Wallace, if not those of Mr George. In New Zealand, for example, land is a chattel. It in bought and sold, and 'swopped/ just like sheep, or cattle, or furniture, or groceries. In every village there are half-a-dozon land agent 3 lawfully qualified to convoy land,, and the same practitioner who prepares tho deeds— merely a printed form— will survey the land, negotiate the bargain, and, if required, lend tho purchase money at current rates. The whole question, I solemnly believe, lies in a nutshell. Free trade in land is the antidote for monopoly of land. We have a few great estates in this country, which were bought when land was cheap, and have since been held for a speculative profit. But there is absolutely no * landlordism ' here in the Irish, Scotch, or English sense ; and there never will bo so long as the Land Transfer Act is in operation. Tljore is not a largo landowner in Now Zealand but js only waiting for hig price to ' cut up ' his estate and sell it in lots to Quit purchasers. One of the worst features of the Minister of Lands' perpetual leasing scheme is that it tends to make a monopoly of existing freeholds, and to lead landowners to hold out for a higher price than they would otherwise be contented with. But I think that scheme has already got its quietus. At all events, unleaa I greatly misjudge a people among whom I have lived for more than twenty years, there is not the slightest probability of its ever emerging from the region of ' JEads ' jinto that of practical legislation. '

Potato ajto Onion Stew.— Slice j:aw potatoes and onions to one's liking, and place, them in a stow pan. Cover with bofling water and cook tender. Season with salt #nd popper and a little butter.