The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1912. THE LAND QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 73, 13 August 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1912. THE LAND QUESTION.

Coming from a Government tha.t has been consistently charged with having intensely Conservative principles, the land proposals foreshadowed in v the I Financial Statement'are singularly Liberal. ■ Many of them, to he quite frank, were part and parcel of the aspirations of the late Government, and if we except the proposal to grant the right of purchase of the freehold to lease-in-per-petuity tenants there is absolutely nothing in the programme outlined to which the most earnest Liberal could take exception. It is satisfactory to find that the keynote of the proposed legislation is to be a vigorous policy of land settlement. This, according to the Statement, is to be attempted by "a new method of acquiring land for settlement purposes and of settling such land on the deferred payment system. There will be no increase of the Dominion's indebtedness, the settlers will have security of tenure on easy terms, and landowners will receive a fair price for the land required for closer settlement." This is a tall order, but we shall have to exercise our souls in patience until the Government's legislation is brought down dealing with the subject, for in the matter of detail the Budget is singularly discreet. If the Government can, however, "make good" on its generalisation it will have justified its return to power. So far as the balance of the land proposals are concerned, the ballot system is to be revived so as to check speculation and to give preference to those who have failed in two or three ballots; land is rery properly to be acquired in districts where railways are contemplated or are in course of construction, so that a legitimate proportion of the unearned increment may be secured to the State; and the Land Finance Act is to have its dry bones shaken into life and to be rigorously administered under improved conditions, while small holdings will be provided on easy terms for workers. This is a sound and not revolutionary programme, and provides for a measure of reform that was hardly anticipated from the party that had boon so long in opposition. Air. Massey was, of course, committed to the optional freebold, and we are satisfied that the granting of the right to purchase the freehold of leases in perpetuity—held under the abominable 999 years' tenure—will work for good. It will settle a whole lot of unrest in the country, and will remove from the arena of politics a question of a bitterly controversial character. It is intended also to give the tenants of renewable leases the option of purchase at a price to be fixed by actuarial ealcu-

latio*. But even the best actuarial calculation can hardly determine how much of the unearned increment at the end of the tenancy -belongs to the tenant and how much to the State, and judgment upon this point may well be deferred until the Government has disclosed the details of its intentions, which it has very wisely decided shall not be until next year. The only other point directly dealing with the question of land settlement is the "increase" in the graduated land tax. This is not likely to materially accelerate the breaking up of land for settlement, nor will it greatly increase the revenue derived under this heading, for the decreases on the smaller estates, which are many, will certainly balance the increases on the larger estates, which are few. Still it is, a recognition of the rights of the incidence of taxation, and though the increase may not induce the owners of large - estates to throw their lands promiscuously upon the market, the Government still has in reserve the second string to its bow. On the whole, the land policy outlined, while it is somewhat nebulous in 'several important directions, is extremely satisfactory as a policy. It remains to he seen what it will be in administration.