THE TIMARU HERALD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1601, 30 June 1887, Page 2

THE TIMARU HERALD.

TO THB EDITOR, Sir, —The unfortunate readers of the Timaru Herald have been greatly pestered with twaddle in its leading columns intended to condemn our present Ministry for their honest endeavors to settle the people on the laqd~to gire a siarying population au opportunity of providing for themselves the necessaries of life. Their heinous crime of overstepping the Parliamentary vote is ivhat has exercised the presiding genius of the Herald ipost, He has thrashed out column after column of trash that he is conceited enough to call public opinion. Public opinion, forsooth ! When wo read the Herald we are apt to think that we are in St. Petersburg, or that the Cijar of all the Rnssias must have come and taken possession of us apd that we must (

now speak with bated breath and secretly express our opinions with dynamite, etc., or that the Timaruites hare found a veritab'e Hip Van Winkle, About a fortnight ago a working man sent a letter to the Herald expressing opinions contradictory to its public opinion. Like most working men, because of n limited education, the writer was not able to express his opinions in a grammatical style that dpfi°s misconstruction of meaning. And this clever editor set himself the task—by prostituting bis talents or better opportunities—of making it appear that the working man bad only shown himself to baa participator in the wickedness of our wicked Government. I enclose a copy of a letter I sent the Herald on (he land question, which, like the majority of letters that are sent there, was declined. I hope you will find a corner for it, not that I want to thrust my opinions down anyone’s throat, but there is a widespread feeling that our political machine is not working smoothly, and, as everybody knows who have had ,to do with machinery, when a machine is not working smoothly it makes bad work, and before a mechanic can repair a machine he must find out what is wrong with it. And ns the electors are the mechanic that has to repair the political machine it is the duty of every one who has an opinion to give the rest the benefit of it, and we can hardly do this without a tree press. But wo have reason to be thankful that all our journals are not reduced to the cringing condition of the Timaru herald. —I am, etc., Wm. L. Duncan. TO THE EDITOR TIMARU HERALD. Sis, —f see in your issue of Thursday last a letter from a working man, who is apparently not so well up to the art of inkslinging aa we are—that is, you and I —and you are not slow to take advantage of his wan l of ability in commenting on his letter, After reading your article, the poor fellow must have felt that the half acre he is so proud of, bad placed him somewhat in the position of a receiver of stolen property. But if you will conde j cend to give me .1 fair chance, I will unde t -ko to prove I hat the shoe fits far bei 'er on Iho other foot, and to prevent misapprehension I may first state that tli« small parcel of land that nominally b»’ongs to me has been paid for through the nose pretty well. We have been used to hearing and reading a lot of rubbish about the nationalisation of the land, for some years past. It is a question that is agitating the public mind throughout the civilised world, and is forming a sort of battleground between the classes and the masses everywhere, and the struggle must end at no distant date in a decided victory for the latter, however the battle may be fought or whatever weapons may be used. The contention rests on the question, To whom does the land belong? You will say that in New Zealand it belongs to the persons that have bought it, but I say emphatically No. The land belongs to the people. It is ours. It is the gift of God to man. Land is an element aa essential to our being ns the air we breathe, and no man can have ai absolute right of property in land. Before there can be a title to buy there must be a title to sell, and that is what never has existed and never can exist in connection with land. The assertion that we have parted with the public estate through our representatives is only claptrap, and the adage that Governments never die is a mere juggler's trick that has been long practised by the . enemies of reform. The legislation of to-day can be annulled to-morrow, and we have never had the power to sell land to delegate to our representatives. It is ours to use aa we please while we are here, and our successors will do what they think best with it when we are gone. The bits of parchment we call title deeds are deluding documents. Nothing could exceed the pride and presnmtuous egotism of a man, the worm of a few years, imagioing that his actions and what be wills will continue for ever. Will the living submit to the tyranny »f the dead ? They did before the schoolmaster was born. But will an enlightened intelligent race of living men submit to the tyranny of dead asses? Decidedly not j and the sooner that wo recognise that our title to land is only the scratch of a pan that can be cancelled by the scratch of another pen ut any time, the sooner we will get rid of “ the dog in the manger ” policy that is so detrimental to the whole community, and the less danger there will be of titles being cancelled. There is no danger of such n contingency unless the people are literally driven to the extreme by the pure pigheadedness of monopolists. For in spite of the cant about original sins, and a’ that, there is an innate love of jnstiee that permeates mankind, which is sufficiently proved by the all but universal admiration of true nobility and the hitter enviousness and malice of very little mind, To avoid trespassing too far on your space in one day I will conclude, and will with your permission continue the subject in another letter or other letters.—l an, etc., Wif. L. Duncan. June 20th, 1837,

[The Herald knows the side on which its bread is buttered. Monopoly is in a better position io butter the bread of the Herald than the working-map, hence the reasoa it snubs one and supports the other. Sam Slick says that there is a great deal of human nature in man, and probably the conductor of the Hera'd has an average share of human nature in him. On that ground—on the ground that it is justified in looking after No. One—it was right in rejecting Mr Duncan’s letter, but otherwise there could bo no objection to it. “God helps those who help themselves.” The Herald is helping itself, and if the working-man does likewise be will find himself more respected. So long as the working man allows hims§lf to'be the tool and dupe of raopopolists he will find that no ope wjlf respect biro except once in every three years, that is at election time. —The Editor.]