THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1891. THE LAND BILL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2270, 22 October 1891, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1891. THE LAND BILL.

It will be seen from the extract from Mr Saunders’s speech which we published in our last issue that he said that the utterances of the leaders of the present Opposition were not to be relied on. He put the matter in more forcible language than this, but the milder form will do just as well. The first member to speak is the leader of the Opposition, and his utterances go a long way to prove the accuracy of Mr Saunders’s statement. The Hon. Mr Rolleston said in his speech to his constituents that “he did not believe the Government was in earnest in regard to the Land Bil’” that “ it was intended to serve a political purpose,” and that the Government had no higher motives than to use it as an excuse to put more members into the Legislative Council. Mr Rolleston must be very hard up indeed for grounds for complaint against the Government, when he resorted to such a transparent misrepresentation as this. To say that the present Ministers are not honest as regards their views on the land question is to say what everyone knows to be untrue, yet Mr Rolleston does not appear to have blushed while giving utterance to such a patent misrepresentation. Can he really expect that anyone will believe him ? Does he expect that the people, with the knowledge they have of the efforts which the Hon. John Ballance has put forth to settle the people on the land during his ministerial career, will believe that he is not sincere, or that the Hon. John McKenzie is not honest in his convictions on the same subject. Mr Rolleston does not believe what he himself says; he knows quite well he is not telling the truth, and that he is merely adopting the wellknown policy of abusing the other side. He said “ the people of New Zealand “ were living in an atmosphere of humbug,” but we venture to say he is the prince of them all. Now the facts are these ; Dux-ing Mr Richardson’s term of office duxnmyism became rampant and large estates grew larger. The result was that the people were flying in thousands out of the country. The present Government resolved to change this. They consolidated all our land laws in one Bill, and introduced into it new provisions so that no one could get a freehold title until he had made certain improvements on his holding. This was to prevent dummyism. The one-man-one-run provision was another to prevent one man or company having, like the late Hon. Robert Campbell, 25 runs, or Dalgety & Co., 23 runs with an area *bf over 555,000 acres. These, and the perpetual leasing principle, - were the chief features of the Bill, and when it went to the Legislative Council the clauses referring to them were struck out. The Government finding their measure thus destroyed refused to go on with it, and now Mr Rolleston says the reason they did so was because they were not sincere, but used it as a means of bringing discredit on the Council. His own utterances will show what a shallow reasoner he is. He says “ the Land Bill was a consolidating measurethat is, a Bill made up of the Land Acts already in force, and he added that all that was new in it were the restrictions placed on freehold and the one-man-one-run principles. That being so,' and the Legislative Council having struck out all that was new. what was the good of passing the Bill 1 All, except the new provisions, according to Mr Rolleston himself, were already in force, and when the new parts were struck out, what could be gained by reprinting old Acts '! We should like to hear Mr Rolleston answer this question ; and yet he says the reason the Government did not reprint the old Acts was they wex’e not sincere. It is no use noticing one who can utter such stupid nonsense. Mr Rolleston knows well he misrepresented facts, and the yokels of Halswell gave him a vote of thanks and confidence for doing so. However, no great weight can be attached to that. His own statements prove what Mr Saunders said; that is, that the utterances of Opposition leaders were not to be relied on, so we think we may safely leave him to himself. Give, him rope enough and he will do the rest.