The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1888. FREETRADE IN LAND.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1827, 11 December 1888, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1888. FREETRADE IN LAND.

We are told that the Yictorian land boom has come to an end, and that it has brought grief and woe and ruin to many a home. This is nothing more nor less than what has been expected. It originated in fraud, and could not but end in disaster. A few speculators have pocketed the spoil, and the entire colony is now lamenting. A similar boon occurred in this colony in 1878. We have felt its evil results ever since, and, unless we are greatly mistaken, the day is not very distant when we shall witness a recurrence of the same kind of speculation again. Prices have gone up—the earth hunger has seized the people —and they are just now as ready to rush madly into land speculations as they were ten years ago. There are a great many now eagerly waiting for the " boom " to come, but in our opinion no greater misfortune could befall us than that our people should pay fictitious prices for land with borrowed money. We would no doubt have a season of great prosperity, just as we had in 1878—and just as Victoria has had for the last couple of years—but the after effects would be serious, Our advice, therefore, is: Buy in the beginning of it, if it does come ; sell when the excitement is at its height, and keep your money in your pocket until it collapses —and theu you can easily get a bargain. The speculator is, we have reason to believe, already on the war-path. We have heard through a private channel that a syndicate composed of ten persons, with a capital of £20,000, have been operating for some time past in one of our large cities. Tbe modus operandi of this syndicate is novel and ingenious. They secure every cheap property that is offered for sale, and when they have bought to the extent of their capital they borrow more money again. In all these transactions only one of their number is known, and he, when it seems fit, puts I up some of the properties for sale, and then one, or more, of the other nine bids at the sale and runs up the prices. The uninitiated of course takes great notice of the fact that that shrewd, clever business man is willing to give so much for the property, and he says to himself: " Mr —— kaows the value of it. There is something

in the wind when he is willing to give S 3 "much for it for speculative purposes. Tf it is worth so much to him to sell again it must be worth more to me, who wants it to live on it," and the unfortunate victim of the trick bids on. If no such bidder happens to be present at the sale the property is knocked down to one of the syndicate, and it is booked to him, but no one knows that it has not changed hands. The fact that it was bought by him enhances the value of the property immediately, and next week perhaps another property is put up, and another member of the firm, who is equally well known for his shrewdness, bids again; or perhaps several of them bid against each other, and thus they force prices up till they make perhaps a profit of 50 per cent, on their bargains. Now that is the way speculators combine together to fleece the unwary. From a moral point of view the modus operandi of the syndicate ,is objectionable, but there is no law against it, and it is perfectly legitimate, if we believe in the popular doctrine of buying in the cheapest and selling in the dearest market. It is none the less a species of. chicanery by which the vultures of society live on its lambs, and the question arises: Is it right and proper to continue the system which enables such villainous tricks as these to be played on honest and industrious people? Of course, we shall be told that it cannot be helped. We believe in the glorious doctrine of " freetrade in land," and this is one of its effects. It is certainly ( impossible to remedy the evil so long 1 as we continue the system of " freetrade in land." There is no remedy for it—no Act of Parliament could meet the case. In olden times laws were made to punish persons combining to raise the price of food, but these would not suit our times. We i could, of course, make a law fixing the property-tax value as the maximum I price of land. This would have two | good effects: one would be that those who wished to sell their land would I put a fair value on it for property-tax purposes; the other would be to do away with the speculator, and no one could be hoodwinked into giving fictitious prices for land. Land I nationalisation would, of course, settle ■ all this, but the time has not arrived for such reforms as these yet, and probably it will be a long time before we shall be ripe for them. Meantime land booms will go and come —a few will make fortunes and many will suffer. Victoria is in the beginning of her suffering now. We have suffered for the last ten years, and unless we are very careful we shall suffer again, too.