LATEST TELEGRAMS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81899, 4 December 1906, Page 2

LATEST TELEGRAMS.

THE LAND BILL CAMPAIGN. 7*

MR MASSE Y S KEI'LY. Per Press Association. Auckland, December 3. Mr replied to ti.o Hou Mcab to -'iignt at. Om-huugu. There \va.> an uu.iusiast.c meeting, d.vided ten t?rnent, but a leiolution in fa* vout 01 the Government propjsals war T ° n of " antts - Mr Masi > said Mr McNab had not given the wiiole facts of the Land B.il proposed, ji • declared if M' McNab had been to '- tile North before u le Bill was preoun.cd to I ailiament it would never nave been presented in that fotm. Lea.enold would be fatal to the -econd or third class. It hit " the .Northern lands, \v\iich were mostly iV rtii worst of all, and would ait courage settlement by removing the only swmuluf to improve Hie land. The proposals wer e the most absurd ever placed before the community, and were based on antiquated views, which ' even the population of R ußß i a were lejectmg. The Bill absolutely igaored the van area of Native land held locked up and unused. Tlie weak point of the Bill was that it permit ed the speculator to get the bensfit of undeveloped land, while it discouraged and harassed the legitimate rarmer. Any system would be better than this, provided it left the freehold alone. He believed botjter results would be obtained by adopting the continental system of on 1 ath by a graduated land tax, and tho Land for Settlement Act. The Bill was neither fi.li, flesh, fowl, nor good red Herring. What th e Government should do was to submit the 'ssue freehold or elasehold, to the coua« t'y, and figjht it out at an election. A motion thanking Mr Massey., but " approving the 1892 Land Act in regard to optional tenure, was proposed. An amendment that the meeting approved the present proposals was submitted and lost on a ahow of handti, and the motion was declared "?S with cheers and groans. •*