The Daily News MONDAY, APRIL 30. THE LAND GAMBLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8097, 30 April 1906, Page 2

The Daily News MONDAY, APRIL 30. THE LAND GAMBLE.

The Napier " Telegraph " is doitij good service in calling attention t< the manner in which the land gam ble still goes on, That 441 person should have "taken tickets" in i gamble for the right to occupy or b purchase 1196 acres of second-clas land some miles from Weber ma; (says our contemporary) be proof tha there is a great natural demand fo: land. It may be, on the other hand nothing more than an jllustration o the evil nature and tendencies of tli land gabble system, A representa tive of our contemporary minglei with the crowd of investors assem bled near the Lands Office some tim before the hour of drawing the lot tery. It was remarkable how th< :onversation took fragmentary am bles round and about the subject o what was "in it." There appears to be quite a unanimous resolve tha the lucky person was bound to maki Tom £SOO to £IOOO, and one of thi nvestors stated that he was offeree £7OO for his show if he happened U Iraw the section. Under condition meh as these, remarks the " Tele ;raph," it is quite plain that insteae )f the lottery being any proof tha ihere is a widespread demand fo and, it merely shows that as in coun iiies where cash lotteries are allow >.d, and as in this country with it jfiicially protected totalisator, when ;here is substantial prize to be gam jfed for people will be eager to " tn iheir luck." Another illustration o the same thing was afforded by tb ■eading out of the 441 names of in restors. This would have been con vincing in a geneial way if tha occu pations of the various ladies and gen tlemen anxious to acquire the sectioi had been read out. As it was, t< the townsman listening there wa proof enough that a very large pro portion of the investors were takinj a chance without any idea of utilis ing the land if it fell to their lot. Ii addition, it was thrust upon every body capable of reasoning that th desire to win ran in families. A frequent intervals came groups o names of relatives This happenei when the applications had been pu in at the same time, and so becam scheduled together. In other instan ces one heard similar names crop u] at intervals—for example, those of : country clergyman and two persons presumably relatives, wore well sep arated—and it was impossible to ro sist the conclusion that among th investors there was a goodly propor tion of sisters and cousins and aunt and uncles. As it was not even ne cessary to pay a deposit to take a tic ket, the wonder is that the numbe of investors was not larger. Nov the undeniable fact is that this sor of thing is going on all over the coun try. With few exceptions, at ever; land gamble there are always in a investors a number of persons whi engage in this particular form of in dustry just as they would take tickets on the totalisator, The reinedy suggested by the " Telegraph'' is that the Government should put plenty of land on the market, and thus satisfy the abnormal demand, ind that it should sell the right to occupy by tender or public auction. Something certainly should be done to protect the bona Ada settler against ;lie speculator, and to prevent both liin and the State being plundered in ;he manner that is being done at the present time