The Daily News SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10. THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8046, 10 February 1906, Page 2

The Daily News SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10. THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND

Britain's State debt is £79(5,786,491,! and it has increased under the regime of the late. Government, by £157,731,98(> in ten years. That is to say, by twenty pec cent,. If we examine our own finances, we find tlmt per head our own State debt is even heavier, and has hcreased at a greater rate per head than that of the Old Country. We owe £00,000,001, or a little over £GO per head of the population. The present British Liberal Government has declared for hnancial reforms, and the Liberal Government of this colony could also with advantage declare for financial reforms. The ostensible goal of both Governments is for the betterment of the people as a whole, and not in classes, and " the standardbearer of the rude mechanicals," John limns, President of the Local Government Board in the British Cabinet, is the hope of the worker, who c.iiniot become freed from the thrall of poverty except by the curtailment, of the borrowing policy, and by legislation that shall beneficially all'ect " mass " as well as " class."

I.v a magnificent speech, which showed the lofty ideals of this man John Burns, previous to the sweeping' victories of the Liberals in Britain, said inauy things that might very well form the basis of a text-book for colonial politicians. We got ft meagre skeleton of this speech through the cables. Said he: "My ideal is fewer workhouses and more homes \ smaller charities, but larger wages; more leisure, less rent; smaller cities, larger villages; and, as a result, stronger women and healthier children, till, in the years to come, the word pauper will be a disgrace, the word dependent will be a shame, ami to do anything but work for wages will be a dishonor." The Laborite Minister further said that lie was the first of the ancient lowly to enter the Cabinet of the ancient exclusive?. Ami this being so, anil he having a large following in the House of Commons of the like " ancient lowly," it may be that these Liberals have grasped the fact that flooding any country with borrowed money is hardly the way to raise a people from pauperising dependence on driblets of charity to a noble independence founded on the handiwork of the people.

" T ASK you to take peace as your god, industry as yrtur oritlanime. social justice as your motto," is another item of good advice from John ibirus. The motto is as good for colonial application as it is for British application. There would be less poverty if Britain took John Burns' advice about the land. The curtailment, of the borrowing policy both in the Old j Country and in this new country could be effected it' the .State went, in for n large compulsory system of react|uiniig land. The future happiness of the people of Britain, and the future happiness of this outpost of the Empire, emphatically lies i/i the cutting up of the land, and the limitation of the area of which one person may become possessed. The dispossession ol the lords of the soil in Britain, although an extreme measure, is not a harsh measure, if it is conceded that it is the duty of ai:y (iovernmeiit to do the greatest good for the greatest number.

" So loii<f us we have a lauded peasantry, we shall have homeless uien in the town," is the conclusion of the same great oracle, and we might add that so long as you have a landless people in any country so long will a State debt keep growing. And also, so long as the iteijuirit'g of land is hedged about with so many restrictions, and only capitalists, however small, are able to become landholders for mere speculative purposes, so long will it be a constant toil to make the earth bring forth fruit enough to pay off the mortgage. It is to be sincerely hoped that, should Britain decide on a humane land policy, it will avoid the system of balloting for land, for it is the cause in New Zealand of nefarious practices, such as " dummying," heartless speculation, and the keeping out of his just dues of- thq man who lias the best right to some' of the earth. I

If the system is allowed lo continue, if the yearly increases in the alleged values of land continue, in time the conditions prevailing in JSritniu will be repeated here. Although the (lovenunent o: New Zealand have done a vast, deal to make the path of the land jobber a trille thorny, the passion foe raising money to given semblance of general prosperity has been responsible for absurd valuations, which in 'innumerable cases fall very heavily on the small man, Tliese matters miK-qru people very little while there is an abundance of nionev in the country, which, by the wav, the people have got to " cut-out " in the sweet l.y-and-bye; but. so soon as the llow of outside capital ceases or slacks, so soon will the people find that tietitious values must eome down <t the bottom fall out of our prosperity. Put the people on the land. There is nothing fair in [lotting a

" person" (111 the land when the people " want to bo accommodated. There is nothing fair ill }>iii'uliiisinir estates with the people's money, or money which the people have to repay, in order that the luckiest person may score. The only real wealth is in the- land, and In allow any person in New Zealand to prolil, at the expense of his neighbour will in the as it has done in liritain, produce a "landless peasantry and homeless men in the town."