THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1892. LARGE ESTATES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2316, 9 February 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1892. LARGE ESTATES.

Owners of large estates profess that they are ready to sell them at any moment, only that they cannot get anyone to buy them. Mr Moore, of Glenmark, recently offered to sell his estate in small farms, but now he asserts that he could not not find purchasers, so he has decided to pay the taxation and keep the land. There is also in South Canterbury a gentleman who possesses a very large estate, and for the last ten years some of his land has been in the market, but no purchaser has come forward. Recently, however, instead of selling any of his immense property, he purchased another estate adjoining his own, and to give coloring to his desire of parting with a portion of his possessions, he advertised the land for sale, placing on it a reserve price of £5 per acre. A commission agent, went to him and offered to find a

i purchaser at £5 per acre, but the landowner refused to take it, saying I that he had decided not to part with it £•■» Jess than £7 10s per acre. The commi^' 011 a S ent returned again after n t a J"'A " n( l told the landowner a few days - i os for the land, that he could get *, . - Rud the 1 his offer was also refusea, . landowner said he would not part wk.. his property for less than £lO per acre. Let us just review this once more. The landowner in the first instance asked £5 per acre, but when a purchaser came he raised the price to £7 10s; when, again, that sum was offered to him he refused it, and raised the price to £lO. These facts are absolutely correct, and they show pretty plainly that the landowner had not the slightest intention of selling the land, and that he had only put it on the market merely as a blind to make people believe that there were no buyers of land in the colony.

Now, as regards the land of Mr Moore, of Glenmark, the position, no doubt, is the same. Writer in a contemporary says—

" The land of the Crown has been sold, and is past praying for. St. Leonards, on the Nelson side of the Hurunui, was sold by the Government to Mr George Dupps, ! 30.000 acres, for 5s an acre. The adjoining block of 100,000 acres was bought by the late William Robinson under such, circumstances as will not bear comment upon in a mere letter. The land further south, on the Canterbury side of the Hurunui, belongs to Mr Moore, and is called Glenmark. It consists of land obtained at from 5s to 7s fid an acre, and forms a block of 110,000 acres. Now sir, 1 know of my owu knowledge (as the lawyers say) that these three great estates only employ about thirty men each all the vear round, except at shearing time. They are all locked up, and I could name scores more, and yet you talk about British farmers coming to invest their capital and experience here. Do you think that the owners of the great estates in New Zealand would be content to assess their agricultural land at £lO an acre and lease those lands in farms of 500 to 1000 acres at 5 per cent., take a back ?eat themselves, and see the farmers put the profits in their pockets, clear of banks, loan companies, commission agents, et hoc genus homo ? No, sir, there is not a man in New Zealand, who is a large landowner, that knows how to be a lord of the manor, and until you can mss a Land Bill which will force the srreat landowners of this colony to cultivate, lease, or sell, you may sigh in vain for English

farmers, who have an idea that if wheat is only 3s a bushel, they want tlie 3a without having - to divide amongst a lot of middle men."

■Glenmark is, for the most part, splendid land, and it is really shocking that one old man, who has never distinguished himself as a public benefactor in any way, should be allowed to hinder the progress of the colony by locking up such a large area. It is plain, from the facts we have given, that the new taxation will not compel these people to cut up their estates, and that consequently some other method must be adopted. We have all along urged on the Government that to compel owners to lease the land in small areas is the best way to deal with them, but the Hon. Mr McKenzie prefers a system suggested by himself. With that system we shall deal in a future issue.

ENGLISH ELECTIONS,

The date of the general elections is apparently drawing near, and both parties are preparing for the fray. The Tories appear to be frightened of the result. Lord Salisbury has been raising the "No Popery" cry, and endeavoring to arouse the worst passions of the people. This is a sign of weakness, but he is a bigot of the first water by nature, and that may have something to do with it. The "No Popery" cry comes with a very bad grace from Lord Salisbury, as during his Premiership he has frequently sought the assistance of the Pope to govern Ireland, but of course Tory consistency is a thing which no one would be so foolish as to look for. The result of the Kossendale election was a big blow to the Tories. For that seat the Unionist leader, Lord Hartington, sat, until his father died and gave him a seat in the House of Lords. The result of the election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of the Marquis of Hartington was that a Home Euler was elected by a large majority; and yet, though this ' is ominous, we are not at all satisfied that the Liberals will win in the coming contest. The split in the ranks of the Irish Nationalists will be a source of weakness to them, but this, in our opinion, is not the worst thing they will have to contend with. It is absolutely certain that the Labor Party will run candidates of their own in many constituencies, and if the Gladstonians contest such seats votes will be split and Conservatives will be elected. This is the greatest source of danger to the Liberal cause in England, and unless we make a great mistake mischief will come of it. England is not like the colonies ; the gap between the classes there is wider than here, and many English Liberals would rather vote for a Tory than for a working man. The working men of England will make a great mistake if they attempt to contest many seats, but so far as we can see it is their determination to do so. Tom Mann and Ben Tillett have recently been lecturing them on this subject, and urging that the Liberals never did anything for the working man. There is a great deal of truth in the accusation ; hitherto Liberalism did not extend its beneficial influence to the laboring classes, except in an indirect way, but now that the majority of laborers have votes they may expect more consideration. It does not appear to us that the time has arrived yet when they can rely on sending representatives of labor to Parliament, and consequently we are afraid they will split votes and place themselves for another seven years under Tory rule.