DUMMYISM.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2110, 11 October 1890, Page 1

DUMMYISM.

(Oamaru Mail.) There has been a boom in land settlement* There has been bo dummyism, Mr Ballance is a very bad man, who tolls awful stories. Ministers are very good men, who would be Sunday-school "'teachers if they were not Ministers. Everything but Mr Ballance has been made right by Ministers; and all that Ministerial* ists ask now is that everybody will put faith in their word of honor; and disregard all the contradictory evidence

of facte, whose perversity invariably drives: (them . into opposition to asservations of Ministers and Minis-' terialiet mouthpieces. The Press also is wrong. It has 'altaost with one kcclaim !t hVgbd the necessity fbr the hstablrshineilt of a system whereby land' settlement would not only exist Within the but bn the land^ifcself.'‘’l^as '‘declared its bpihioh 'that dummjnsm exists; to an alarming degree^- exclusion of actual and progressive settlement* apd that -legislative measures- should ha taken to put an end to it.. ,The Waste (Lands Committee—of- the House were !wrong. After having investigated the matter, they came' - to" very much the, game 1 eonfeitisioa 1 ' as'the Press, based; partly on the confession of Mr Brydone that he himself on behalf of the Now Zealand and; Australian Land Company, though that gentlemanus as innocent of the* offence as a new-born sbabe., Land Boards are wrong. They have expressed their f opiriißh l thkt dd'mmyism has been practised ; and the Liidef-Secretary of the Lands' Department' has foolishly given instructions to them to prosecute in any case whbre a false declaration has been made by a purchaser. . - Glancing through Hansard, we ( find that Mr Hislop, seized by the popular complaint, moved that the Waste Lauds Committee be instructed* to inquire into tho allegations of jdunimyism that had been made by members on;both sides - ot'the-House ; that Mr Richardson* catching the contagion, said that (“ the Government had the matter I under consideration - , , and proposed asking for legislative authority to deal with the subjectthat “ dummyism had always existed . . . -and that all they could do was to limit it as much as possible; that ' dummyism does not consist iu a person putting in a niiiiSber'of applications,' but in a person taking up land 4 with a view to transferring it to somebody else, especially to a, large landholder, for the purpose of increasing his holdings ; ’that the Government were anxious, if possible, to pass an amendjment Bill, but did not wish to take action , till the Committee had reported; and that (on September'2nd) Ihe was revising a Bill, which he hoped Ito have in members’ pigeon holes in a ishort time.” We also find that Mr Fulton (tbe : Chairman of the Waste (Lands Committee) caught the fever. !ln commenting upon Mr Richardson's ; statement, that he - did not wish to 1 take action till the" Committee had reported, he said that, though the Committee had not completed their inquiry, “ they had got enough evidence before them to satisfy them that there were constant evasions of the Actand (on September 2nd), being no better, he brought up the report of the Committee, in which it was stated " that the Land Acts have been in a number of instances evaded by false declarations, made with a view to dummying,” and _ that “ Committee is opinion that it is the duty of the Government, ..to. take steps to enforce the law, and recommend that offenders against whom a charge will lie be prosecuted, ,with a view to putting a Stop to the like practice in future.” Mr Richardson was a member of the committee, and moreover, as we have shown, be not only pledged himself to bring in an amending Bill to cure an evil that never existed; but, on -the report being brought down, ha ‘ said he was revising the unnecessary measure, and hoped to have it in members’ pigeon-holes in a abort time. The truth has now, it seems, dawned on the misguided and highly susceptible persons; yrho raised such , a .storm over nothing. Notwithstanding all that has been said i and done —notwithstanding the concessions of Ministers, the repprt of the 1 Waste Lands Committee, the opinion# of the Chairman of the Committee, i the condemnatory evidence of those iwho were examined at the inquiry, : the. .definite..statements of members r on both sides of the:House—notwithstanding all this,- there has been no dummyism. Rub out the records in Hansard; forget that Mr Brydone ever confessed guilt; obliterate the remembrance of Ministerial admissions and promises—-for an election is near at hand. At such a season tho phase of everything must be given a rosy Ministerial hue, Things undesirable that were: arei not—things desirable that never were have been crystalised into facts. Ministers are angels of light whom to honor ia to be honored. Their opponents are ripening for perdition. What a happy people we must be, when, burying our heads in i the sands of a desert, we can persuade ; ourselves that we are in a paradise.