POVERTY AMD THE LAND QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 19 August 1907, Page 4

POVERTY AMD THE LAND QUESTION.

MISS MURCUTT'S VIEWS. The Auckland Herald have been interviewing Miss Ada .Murcutt. who, it will be recollected, lectured in Now i'lymouth last month, and obtaining her Impressions of this country. "I am writing on the social conditions of this country, she said. "I am very interested in the advanced state of affairs here."

"In any particular direction?" ( "for one thing, I am impressed by your Department of Labor. This strikes me as being the most democratic country I have travelled through. lam impressed by the prospeity of your people, the manner of their housing, the remunerative nature of their employment. I am also very much interested in the land question, and am watching with interest Mr MeNab's Bill for controlling the size of estates. This is decidedly a step in the right direction. In .Great Britain the land is practically owned by a few persons, and they will never be able to ameliorate the conditions of the poor at Home until they settle the land question." ""Would you say. the poverty in the great cities hinges upon the lund question?"

'"Yes. Even in the cities land is owned l>y a comparative few. Inherited estates are the greatest curse of the Old Country. They are clearing people off [the land to enlarge the landholders' deer parks. Consequently the people herd in the cities—herd there in a manner that no kind-hearted man would herd his cattle. The cities are congested nerve centres. In the East End of Ijmdon there are !MX),000 people illegally housed. If the law as to cubic space were enforced over there. 500,0110 new rooms would have to be built. I lived in the East End of London, lived amongst these people, and made a complete study of the question. I visited some of the sweating dens, mere hovels, impossible for those working in them to be decent, let alone comfortable. So, coming here, I see people who have more opportunities, inlinitely better conditions. Before they can have land reform in England they must do away with the House of Lords, which is largely composed of landlords. I hope Xew Zealand will never be owned by a few individuals."

"Have you come across any poverty in this country!" "Yes, I have; but tlie result of my en.l v.s tin?. Ikvii thai a hat 1 have seen has been due to the individual. So l'ar as I can see there is no need for poverty in New Zealand. Everyone has a chance.

In the Old Country tens of thousands have no chance at all. litre a man can work if he will. 1 went into what they call the alums of Wellington. I call them nothing compared with the London slums. Certainly I came across a number of Chinese gambling dens, and 1 hear that there is overcrowding iu Wellington. That, however, I consider to be due to the selfishness of the individual. Ido not think your Government u to blame for the poverty that exists. Of course, there are cases of indigent women and children, who are poor through circumstances over which they have no control. But we are all liable to that. I find you have excellent charitable institutions here." lliss Murcutt also showed great iterest in the Conciliation and Arbitration Act. She thought it a magnificent thing—one that she wished every country would copy. In the case of the strikes in Great Britain everybody suffered. Our Arbitration Court she looked upon as an object lesson to the world.