THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'OLOCK P.M. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1879.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3355, 23 September 1879, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'OLOCK P.M. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1879.

In the United Kingdom one of the most important questions afc present agitating" the public mind is the land question. Through the feudal system of years, the people who till the soil are being driven to rain, and the landlords do not appear to recognise the signs of the times. Let us look away from Great Britain and what do we find. The peasant owneri of Germany, of Belgium, of France, and of Holland are prosperous, frugal, and independant, while the tenant farmers of the three kingdoms are straggling with difficulties all their lives—combatting actual dangers or apprehending those to come. If the rank and fileof the people—the bone and sinew of any country— the agricultural and industrial classes are to be free, independent and prosperous, the arbitrary power of Ihe land monopolists must cease, and be satisfactorily dealt with by making the tenant the owner of his own farm. Territorial influence where it exists must be eradicated, and it is all important that in a new colony such influence shall not be allowed to take root. Sir George Grey in his recent speeches alluded to the bright clauses of the Land Act, which were introduced forthepurpose of enabling tenants in Ireland to become owners of their farms, but these provisions, through the hostility of the Courts, and the redtapeism of the Board of Works hare been practically inoperative, causing many noble specimens of humanity in the face of great agricultural depression to toil on like slaves, denying themselves the luxuries, and barely obtaining the necessaries of life, in order that they might meet the demands of an exorbitant rent roll. Sir George Grey well knows the abject misery, and the evil - and injurious effects of landlordism. He saw .it where he was cradled on the Hertford estate in Ulster, an estate having a rental of £100,000 annually, yet the late Marquis of Hertford, during a long life, only visited the source of such vast income three times, and then only to dictate how an enslaved tenantry should vote at pending elections. Sir George knows all this, and knows as surely as history repeats itself that the same intolerable state of things would be enacted here if the land-holding aristocracy could only manage to obtain the same standing and power. It is this knowledge, and the desire to avert the evil effects of it, and to lay the foundation of New Zealand's happiness and future greatness, which makes the-old man powerful tp combat and successfully grapple with the power and schemes of the land sharks of this colony. A check must be put on the land monopoly. Its exiitence is inconsistent with the (WQfi of the commonwealth. The good of the people is the highest rule, and the r iutefjesj; of the few must always yield to the well-being of the many. Peasant proprietorship is the ultimate .as.*^ only solution of the difficuUies'whicii at present surround and ■retard the progress of the polony,. It i« forithat at the present juncture

a liberal and hearty support has been accorded to the Grey Administration, and the people of this community should take care that no politician will havo their sympathy unless he is prepared to assist the Government in tho policy of opening up the lands for the people. We do not wish to set class against clas3 ; we do not advocate that capital and labor should not go hand and hand; we need not war to awaken human energy. There is as vast scope for courage and magnanimity in blessing as in destroying mankind. The condition of the human race offers inexhaustible objects for enterprise, fortitude, magnanimity. In relieving the wants and sorrows of a people, in reclaiming uncultivated territory, in extending the boundg of kno ledge, in diffusing the spirit of freedom, how much may be dared, how much endured i Our Premier is a high-minded man, and philanthrophy invites men of high miuds to services which demand the most intense and elevated, and adventurous activity.