The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 1913. LAND AGGREGATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 284, 23 April 1913, Page 6

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 1913. LAND AGGREGATION.

When lie was in Xeiv Plymouth the Prime Minister stated that he was having a report made by Departmental officers regarding the re-aggregation of land that was alleged to be . going on in certain districts. This report is now available, and shows that the statements had been justified, and Mr. Masse,y, commenting upon it in Wellington yesterday, said that the re-aggregation had taken place under previous Governments. This, however, true as it may I be, does not alter the position from the country's point of view. Land monopoly is against the interests of the State, and it is the hounden duty of the Government in power to ta:ke prompt measures 'to prevent it. The safety of a country, Sir Rider Haggard told a Sydney audience the other day, lies upon the land: "If people desert the land for the cities, so surely will they bring upon the world the prophesy of their own doom." The historians .tell us, that "great estates ruined Italy," and gTeat estates will retard the development of New Zealand. A few days ago there appeared in the Wellington Post, a joilrnal that sup- > ports the present Government except on the land question, under the title of the '"Rural Exodus," a remarkable account of thfe 'depline of population in the districts near the East Coast between Wellington, and Napier. A great deal of the lSund there id of splendid quality, admirably suited for close settlement, and evidence, that the land monopolist has been working steadily there for several years past." The Post takes four counties in the district chiefly affected, and shows that during'the .past seven years* depopulation in three out of the four liaS fallen oil'; that in all four the..number of houses has decreased; that" in three out of four there lins been an increase in the number of empty houses. The figures are so remarkably instructive that deserve repetition. In Weber county, between 1906 and 1911, the population fell from 693, to 520, the number of houses fell from 105 to 95, and the number of empty houses rose from 0 to 13. In Woodville thfe population fell from 203G to 1880, and the number of houses decreased from 419 to 40G. ,In Pahia(tna the population, fell from 3072 to ' 3398, the number of houses fell frctfi 710 'to 708; and the number of empty houses rose from 01 to 81. In Akitio county, it is tri(e that -the population increased from 1394-to 142], but the number of houses decreased from 304 to 297, and the number of empty houses rose from 28 fo, 31. To complete this .disastrous record it is only necessary to add that jn Weber county the attendance of children at primary schools declined during, this period by 17 per cent., in Woodville there was a falling off of 130, and in Pahiatua, in 1911, there were 151 fewer children in the primary schools than in 190 G. The Post shows that it 5s quite impossible to attribute this general decline of population to the quality of tin; land, or any lack of adaptability for settlement. For throughout this part of the North Island, land values have been steadily rising for years past, and on every side there' are evidences of wealth and prosperity. > But the land is in the hands Df a small fraction of the population, and what progress the country has 'made has benefited them almost alone. Iu the Akitio district, fc4l>ere is one estate of nearly 25,000 acres jS»ehol(] t with a capital value of over j|||l00,000; another, of 9300 acres, is vailed at £35,000; another, of 5000 acres, is valued at £21,000; another, of 4500 acres, is valued at £14,000. The same thing is going on in other parts of Ilawke's Bay. We were told the other day by.a Hawke's Bay farmer visiting Xew | Plymouth of a district where during the past three or four months six or seven I small farmers had liseu bought out by big hind-holding neighbors. Commenting I on the same subject, the Auckland Star | shows that within the past twenty years the drift of population from the country towards the towns has been growing more and more strongly pronounced. In 1890 the counties of the Dominion had a population nearly 85,000 greater than that of the boroughs; now the counties have over 9000 less than the , boroughs. And it is a significant fact that during this same period the original excess of houses in the counties has been transformed into a deficiency as coinI pared with the boroughs, while the counties still maintain their excess of empty houses. Plainly, our rural districts arc being slowly but steadily depopulated, and it is equally certain that this exodus from the country to the towns is very largely the effect of the land monopoly. iJere is a chance for the Prime Minister to make good his promise that' if re-aggregation were going on lie would: take legislative action to stop it at once. Adding further turns to the graduated land lax screw and limitation of areas will prove effective; we doubt if any other method will.

PRESS CRITICISM. The subject of press criticism came in for some counter-criticism at the meeting of burgesses at the Town Hull last night. We have less objection to this than apparently some citizens have to our own and our contemporary's comment upon matters of public interest. The press may not bo literally an Archimedean lever with which to move the world, hut nobody will deny that .it fills a very important part in our public life. There are plenty of people, in fact, who would | sooner go without their breakfasts than without their morning paper, and this, prosaic test as it may be, is surely an indication that we do serve some good purpose. The conscientious journalist realises his disabilities quite as much as he realises his responsibilities, but lie pays strict attention to both. Jl is the function of the daily newspaper the world over to give a lead to public opinion, not in a spirit of dictatorialness, but more as a reflection of an embodiment of expert opinion upon whatever matters of public interest are momentarily under discussion. A newspaper is not written and prepared upon the ground-floor of a journalistic office, as many people think, for it is part of the duty of its staff, whenever there are matters of local interest before the public, to seek and sift the knowledge and experience of those who are pre-1 sumably expert in the particular subject before them. There is a popular fallacy that an editor knows everything. He does not, "but it is his work to learn everything about anything that is of vital interest before endeavoring to give a lead to public opinion. There are always thin-skinned people who are sensitive to criticism, but so far as Taranaki is concerned they need have no fear of misrepresentation or abuse. An honest and fearless newspaper press, uncensored and unrestricted, is one of the most progressive institutions that a community can possess, and in this connection we shall continue to strive to do our best in upholding a tradition of which we can only be proud.