The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7. NEW ZEALAND IN EVOLUTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 308, 7 February 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7. NEW ZEALAND IN EVOLUTION.

Many histories of New Zealand have been written, but few authors have dealt in any way comprehensively with the development of social and industrial con- | ditions' in this Dominion, and a volume, | "New Zealand in Evolution," by Mr. j Guy H. Seholefield, a New Zealand journalist now in London, published by Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, is calculated to do much good by giving the people of the Homeland, and indeed many in New Zealand, a great amount of enlightenment regarding this important phase of our eolonial expansion. The work deals exhaustively with the struggles of our pioneer settlers, the handicaps that conI fronted infant industries, the cloud of depression that for many years hung over the colony, and it tells in clear consecutive detail of the gradual tioa of present prosperity. Mr. Seholefield shows that the present social system was not built up in accordance with accepted economic principles. It is a fabric of expedients devised by practical men rather than ischolars to meet momentary and changing needs. Yet it is justified not merely by its success, but by the measure of its conformity 1 with the economic principles of the Old j World. ''Critics," he says, "are prone to the mistake that New Zealanders do not know that these s'ocial experiments and this fiscal protection are increasing the cost of living. In point of fact, they do know it, and they tolerate it because they arc willing to make sacrifices for the sake of preserving fair social conditions. All classes in New Zealand are in favor of arbitration, because it has immeasurably improved the condition of the workers, and put decent limits to industrial competition. Practically all classes believe in a measure of protection, because they understand that without it certain industries* cannot exist, and if they succumb there will be a relapse to the social condition of twenty years ago." 1 Dealing with the land question, the author shows the similarity between the problems now being faced in Britain and those which inspired the advanced legislation brought in by the Libera! Government of New Zealand. In 1891, he says, two-thirds of New Zealand was freehold property, and two-thirds of the whole area of freehold was in possession of only 2254 individuals'. Upwards of one million acres were held by 50 absentee landlords. Of the 25,000.000 acres still unalienated, the vast majority was of inferior quality, including all the mountain fastnesses. En New Zealand, in 1891, the graduated land taxes were introduced with the object of bursting up large estates, while exempting improvements from taxation. The exemptions and deductions' have since been so adjusted that to-day not quite one-sixth of the 174,000 persons who possess land in New Zealand have to pay taxes. The graduated tax has, in fact, been adjusted and readjusted in its incidence so as to discourage the large holdings and encourage the small, and to discourage severely the absentee landlord. "There lias been a steady movement towards closer settlement," Mr. Seholefield declares. "Smaller farms and more of them; smaller flocks' and more of them; smaller subdivisions and more people. Seventy-nine per cent, of the New Zealand farms to-day are not more than 320 acres in extent, yet the private wealth of a million people is more than £350,000,000. New Zealand has furnished the model for many of the land laws of sister States. It has been copied in its most radical moods' by States which have been confronted with the same problems. To-day it is being initiated by the Mother Country of the Empire. But the best testimony to the good faith of the New Zealand land system's purpose and the efficiency of its operation is the genera] approval < ■ both parties in politics, the rapid increase of primary production, and the overwhelming fact that in Now Zealand farming is' regarded as a fit and proper occupation for men of birth and education."

Mr. Seholefield gives most illuminative figures showing the growth of our great primary industries, and traces carefully the organisation of labor and the initiation of our labor laws. He brings statistics to bear to refute the statement that the arbitration law has proved inimical to industry. In the decade 189G-190C, New Zealand's population multiplied from 714,102 to 908,726, an increase of 27 per cent.; its factory workers from 27,389 to 56359, or 105

per cent.; the wages paid from £1,907,592 to £4,457,019, or 133 per cent; value of manufactures from £9,549,300 to £23,444,235, or 145 per cent.; and exports from £9,177,336 to £17,840.340, or 94 per cent. But the greatest benefit of all has been the sound increase in employment. "If there is any truth in the statement that the history of the last fifteen years in New Zealand has tended to frighten capitalists by reason of the restrictions applied to industries," writes Mr. Seholefield, "there is also much to reassure them in the protection afforded against unfair competition, the freedom from strike dislocations, and the unlimited purchasing powers of the people. The market must for years be a local one, but as such it is probably unsurpassed in the world." Various State activities are explained, and tne author claims that of late years the tendency has been to leave more and more to private enterprise. "Tt is a swing of the pendulum. Ten years ago the Government would not have dared to suggest allowing private companies to develop the great assets latent in the energy of the rivers' of New Zealand. To-day it is the avowed policy of the State to encourage private enterprise in this direction. It is highly improbable now that New Zealand will make any further pronounced advance towards State Socialism until a new temper succeeds the present mood of conservative Liberalism." The chapter, "A Country of Engineering." contains many facts regarding bold engineering works accomplished in this country that must make New Zealanders proud. The book is cer •tainly the most informative volume concerning New Zealand that has yet been written, and if it attains the wide distribution of which it is worthy it should do much to enhance this Dominion's credit and reputation.