The Daily News. SATURDAY, APRIL 30. A MESS OF POTTAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 377, 30 April 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, APRIL 30. A MESS OF POTTAGE.

I The workers of the world are careless of their birthright. The speculators of the world arc glad oi this carelessness.' New Zealand has too large a share of the speculators. Because the land is the source of all income, land that is kept in idleness is preventing someone from making an income. Incomes not earned frcm the land .by applied and productive effoft arc, excepting in special circum-' stances, dishonestly obtained. The land jthber who simply holds to sell, and who while .holding does not use his land, is not a good citizen. There are a large j number of poor citizens in New Zealand. The Commissioner of Crown Lands has lately rebuked the persons who traffic iu Crown leases. Mr. McKenzie, of course, knows that the Government land policy is shaped to put as many producers on the land as possible, at as small a rental as possible, and under the least prohibitive conditions. The man who deliberately obtains a lease of Crown Lands without any intention ot using it for production is defeating the object of the law; he is guilty of placing a fictitious value on the soil; and therefore is the enemy of every person in New Zealand. Mr. McKenzie cited the case of a man who might obtain a Crown lease for, say, £450, and who was able, after a few months' idle hording,' to quit bis interest for £IOOO or £ISOO. The reason the Government leased the land to the man at the small figure was that he could improve it with profit to himself and his family; but, most of a.l, that he would improve it to the advancement of the State. The people are the State, and therefore the people own the land he obtained for £450.' He therefore -wilfully robs the people of £550. He is considered a smart man. 1 The man who gets that land for £IOOO is the man the Government would have been glad to put in at £450, and ne gets in at last handicapped to the extent of £550. As an'example of the ethics of land-sharking this might pro-j vide unlimited sermons. The State nas a perfect right to complain when it is robbed. But there is an evil equally as great which the State does not altogether discourage. Quittance of land, whether held under lease or fee simple, at exorbitant and fictitious prices, is generally conceded to be good business and a sign of prosperity. Thus, to give a homely illustration we have (before used, Smith buys 100 acres at £lO an acre. This may be the Government valuation of the land for the time being. Smith does nothing to the land, and sells to Jones at £2O an acre. Robinson is a worker, and develops his adjoining land. Jones (who does nothing) takes due advantage, and sells out at £3O an acre. It is now time that the Government made, a new valuation, and so it carefully assesses tne value of ali the land in the vicinity at the highest price realised by the land-jobber, who may not know a cow from a lawn-j mower, or butter fat from petroleum. At any rate he does mot care. By this speculative cruelty, not only is an intending producing purchaser victimised, but every other real producer in the vicinity has to pay for the fictitious values that are misnamed "prosperity." The ibasis of value of all land' is not what it may foe boomed to bring in the' market, but what it may produce and send to market to feed the people, feed town commerce and the State's revenue. At bedrock, a million acres is worth nothing at all if it produces nothing. It is only applied, labor that makes it worth anything. It is the source ot wealth, fout it is not wealth in itself. Land without men is- like an ocean liner without engines, a cart without wheels, a clock without hands. If it is recognised that the land is the State's, and the State is the people, it muse be also recognised that the people have a right to use their own property without payment, seeing that their property is absolutely valueless without use. That is to say, the Government of this or any other country is likely to get a bigger revenue from the land by giving it away and refusing to allow its alienation at a price, than in leasing it at a' price that tempts unproductive speculators to use it merely as a vehicle on which to ride to wealth. The insistence' on the use of land is the policy that must produce wealth. Mere speculation is not a production of wealth. It is' simply a transfer of money representing! non-existent wealth. The Government j that will make it absolutely necessary; for the man who obtains wealth to earn! it fairly has solved one of the earth's| greatest problems. To convince human nature that it is wicked to traffic' in potential values would be a greater lask than to convince it that night would not come or the sun would noti rise. Still, the great truth remains:] Land itself has no monetary value; bnt| what the land grows keeps every animal; on earth alive. i

CURRENT TOPICS CANCER. Upwards of six hundred New Zealandcrs die of cancer every year. Cancer hitherto has been held to be incurable except by actual removal—generally an impossibility. Cancer .nets its name because of its' crab-like growth. The man who can relieve the human race from its most dreadful scourge will be placed anions; the immortals. Because "hone springs eternal" the cancer patient is the victim of innumerable charlatans who prey on the optimism which Nature gives the diseased to help them meet their trouble. So serious has cancer become that untold wealth is being expended to study it and to endeavor to find alleviation. And. seeing that 83!) deaths took place in this Dominion in 11)08 from the terrible scourge, it follows that the subject is of grave :n----terest to everybody. Scientists hold that cancer is a local condition brought about by a refusal of a cell (or a series of cells) to perform their natural function. The refusal of anything in Nature to perform its function is disease. It seems necessary, therefore, in the treatment of cancer, not only to kill the growth attacking diseased cells, but lo bring the cells back to their normal health. Tt is feasible that even if the "trypsin" treatment killed cancer, it need not necessarily ; provide immunity from further attacks. Nature never attacks anything not predisposed to disease. The "trypsin" treatment is by way of injection into the system of solubles approximating to the digestive juices, the idea being that abnormal digestive capacity would eliminate abnormalities. The partial failure of the system is not a condemnation of it. It merely shows that human science has not advanced far enough yet. Radioactive agents have boon used for cancerous growth with varying success, but have frequently demonstrated the fact that the cure, was as bad as the disease. Thus a persistent experimenter with rays has been known to die from atrophy of his hands. There is nothing in the whole history of heroism more notable than the constant and dogged pursuit of knowledge by medical scientists. They have fought for knowledge so that their successors may know; they have died that others may live; and their partial triumphs spur others to splendid endeavor. As human ingenuity has devised enemies for other diseases, so may increased knowledge devise death for the terrible disease of cancer.

THE AUSTRALIAN REFERENDUM. Yesterday we published a cablegram intimating that the results of the Australian referendum*, although not definitely known, were officially regarded as decided. The people of the Commonwealth 'were asked if they would have their State debts taken over by the Commonwealth. According to the official forecast, the people will say enthusiastically "Yes"' by a majority of 127,010 votes. The other referendum was on the question, "Shall the Commonwealth pay to the Treasurers of each State a yearly sum of 25s for every person in the said States?" And, according to the official forecast, the answer is to be t; No" by a majority of 25,508, which looks very much as if the people were vacillating a good deal. There is a large proportion of Australians who regard the federation of the States as a farce, and still desire to secede. The point of view is that six States with seven Parliaments each of two Houses means a considerable bill for 4.197,037 (last census) people to pay. But Australians are excessively fond of politics, and so they keep going a Senate of 'Mi members, Hind .a House of Representatives (75 members, and each of whom is paid £OOO a year). The Governor-General, by the way. gets £IO,OOO a year, ami the Federal Executive draws' £12,000 per annum. New South Wales has 57 Legislative Councillors, anil the Legislative Assembly numbers.oo members, all paid. The New South Wales Governor costs the State £SOOO a year. Queensland is satisfied with 44 Lords and 72 Commoners, all paid. The Governor draws £SOOO a year. South Australia's legislators totaf (10, all paid. Tasmania has 48 paid politicians, VicAustralia 80 (all paid, too). In order, therefore, to politically rule the people of Australia over 600 .politicians and seven Governors are supposed to be needed. The reader may cheer himself up by estimating what the members, Ministers, Governors, and the horde of civil servants cost. No wonder Australia is befogged when it is asked a financial question.

WONDERS OF THE AIR. "They shall mount up as eagles: they shall run And shall not be weary." Everybody knows where the sentence conies from—there arc tens of thousands of literary gems of great prophecies in the Work containing it. And talking 1 about aviation reminds one that a short | year ago Englishmen were accused (as \ always) of being 'behind in an endcuor to conquer the air. The Britisher was not behind, but he does not talk i-o much about what he intends to do or is doing as the American or the Continental. He would much rather demonstrate. In regard to the acroplaninc wonders that are taking place in England at present, it is certain that thi English passion for "sport" is oin> of the reasons for the extraordinary development and improvement of aerial machines in Britain. The British adnnrV intrepidity, and there is no doubt i.hat the men who are buzzing through the nir in England and on the Continent at the .present time are intrepid. Public admiration is the greatest spur d man can have, and the extreme novelty of the racing taking place will, of couv ; c, force great amounts of capital into competitive flying. It seems but a step from flying as an experiment to flying as-a commercial proposition. The possibility of finding a dead aeronaut in one's •bade garden, dropped from the clouds, is not alluring, and if aerial ironclals ever fight in the air non-combatants on earth will have to burrow. The art of flying has already produced geniuses, and this morning we publish Wright's tribute to Paulhan for his wonderful methods of navigating the air. Although no New Zealander would be persuaded to acknowledge that this Dominion does not lead the world, it is curious that no aeroplane has "sailed" the air in this country yet. One advantage the navigator of the air has—the air is his. It can't be cut up and sold, and there are no national rights to observe or dues to pay for its use. He can get oft" the earth into the only free space known to civilised man.