GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 153, 24 July 1909, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS

The days of farm speculators are com iug to un cud iu this district (says tb< William Argus). Up to the present i ■as been quite a sale tuiiig 10 uuy farm it almost ally price, 'because tliere \va i certainty 01 ijuicKiy unloading at i :ew pounds per acre prolu. \Vnile tlii: L'ouditiou ol aliairs lasted it was not ai uacummon thing for a speculative fame, iu buy tiiree or four farms in a season Knowing that lie could easily quit then at a prolit. Now, however, that price are approaching full values there is no the same safe margin, and buyers ar< more likely to come from the ranks o ihe bona lide farmers who will purchase the land with tho intention of farmin; it. The present scarcity of motley an< Uie enhanced rate of interest will aim ict as a check upon those wdio dealt i; farms for purely speculative purpose! We do not think this slight check wil 'jo any drawback to the district; on th contrary, it will prove a distinct ad vantage, for a coutinuel change in th ownership of farms has a detriment* effect. When a man purchases a fam with the full intention of selling it ti the first buyer who comes along, thei he has no interest in improving it. Th sooner he sells tho more quickly h makes his profit; and the fewer improve meats he has made in the ineantim the greater will Ibe his gain. Tho farnie who purchases with tho desire of mak ing a permanent home for his family i the best class of settler, and is the mai who will do the most good for the dis triot. He will, as circumstances pernul improve his holding by ditching, liedg ing, trec-plantiag, and effecting othe improvements. He had selected his hom and he wishes it to he made as com fortaible as possible for his family. Th speculative ibuyer entertains no sucl sentimental' ideas. He looks upon i farm with no more sentiment than i entertained by a horse-dealer for a horse He regards it merely as something tha he can sell at a prolit, and ho is inaini; occupied in seeking a purchaser out o whom lie can make a few pounds. I the day of the land speculator is cominj to an end ia this district there will to no occasion to regret it. His place .wil be taken by a more useful class o people. 1 livery student of economics knowi that a period of expansion is inevitably followed by one of saving and caution If trade conditions in the Old Worlc had continued normal, the dull perio* might h ave 'been delayed fur aiiuuiei year or two in New Zealand, but it ivai sure to come. It would be interesting t< know what ia becoming of all the cap! tal that is being driven out of civilUei countries. Germany is adopting all surti uf strange methods gf taxation. Mr Uoyd-George has been warned that hii liuilget will drive all the capitalists ou of Great Britain. The United State.' Senate favors a substantial tax on th< earnings of trusts. Every civilised coun try is "bleeding" the unfortunate capl ta list, and the capitalist is sending hi 1 money "out of the country." Presum ably tho money is all being rushed t( China; but we dare say that when tht present alarm has subsided the capi talists will all be found in their accus tomed places.—Lyttelton Times. 1 Recently a cable message from New York stated that Mi'. J. D. Rockefeller had given two millions sterling for education purposes, making ten and a-half millions ho Ims now given for these purposes. 4 At least one American millionaire does not believe in such gifts. Mr. Crane, a Chicapi man of many millions, says of them: "I have given a great deal of thought and study to the subject of higher education, and have conducted several systematic investigations with regard to this and many other institutions engaged in advanced lines of {duration. In fact, so far as I know, lam ■he only one who has ever taken up this subject in a businesslike way, and the I have reached is that practically every one of these institutions i a fraud and an imposition on the pubic. I am prepared even to go much m-ther than this, for I maintain that nstead of being a benefit, such instituions as this are a positive cure, aud are loing a vast amount of harm by dc noralising the youth of this country."