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EDUCATION.—THE LAND.

(To the Editor of the EVENING bTAB.) Sib, —Law should be the perfection of wisdom, and it would be so if founded on equity, reason, and philosophy, and.even then men will always hare feelings of compassion unknown to the,lair. The 'land laws, however, are based,only upon might, and were made, and in their own interest, by great land owners, who, ignoring divine authority, the people's will, and the principle that the land —if the property of any—is the property of all, assumed the right to make a constitution, which, however, has not the force of equitable right. The law, therefore, that contradicts the principles we hare demonstrated, originated with the land mohopolists themselves, who had no more right to make such laws than I or my readers to make laws in our own favor. The landed estates of New Zealand, whoever holds them—Governors, members of Parliament, runholders, gentlemen, or jobbers, land sharks or monopolists—are the common property of every individual man. The present land laws are only the expression of the will of the monopolists, and not a revelation of eternal equity. The people are compelled to -acknowledge them because .the makers, have the power to enforce the lair so that their pretended legal right is merely towright of the strongest to do what they like.v Might is the onls£sight of~£j^Jk|tyfiy grabbers—they haveJn««!Bght }^P^oj^ equity; their es&|^re^t^ie^p%^iljri:€ and the ptfbtftrtW"nation, or the nation « servants, have a right to dispossess them of their lands whenever they see fit! They have a right to make laws to divide and lease the lands at pleasure- They have a right to tax and enfore cultivation, to graduate the taxes according to richness or advantanges of situation., The land is common property. It is the people's, the people at large, and the people only have a right to the soil. The people have a paramount and absolute .right to the land. No man, however, should have a right to do what he liked ."with, his land. He would not have a right to appropriate to himself the whole of his. produce; a portion would be yielded for the expenses of Government. He would, not have a right to. set the wood or the crops on fire, if it jeopardised his neighbour's wood or crops. He would not have a- right to grow thistles or other noxious things that would injure his neighbour, but he would have a right to use it in the way he thought best if he did not interfere with', or injure the rights or interests of his neighbour. It is the people's inherent right to control any individual who interferes with the comfort and well-being of others, whether that interference comes through ignorance or wickedness, and whether it involves national or individual rights. The doctrine that men have a right to more land than they can cultivate, or choose to cultivate, or need for their support, while others have not sufficient for their exist* ence, and that they have a right;to do what they like with their land, amounts logically to the effect that one; man or class of men has or have a right to starve, banish, and destroy their innocent fellowmen. It amounts to this, that the few have a right to starve, banish, and murder the many ; but the doctrine is false, there is no such right; the right so-called is a grevious, a revolting wrong.; 'These doctrines are not new ; they are as old as the eternal hills. Those who know them best, for sinister purposes, keep themselves silent and the people in ignorance. Englishmen as a rule do not understand the land question. Even Mr Gladstone, the best English statesman of modern times, is himself only js, recent convert to the principles he is advocating, and has come to the conclusion set forth in my letters slowly and even reluctantly. The first public note here upon this important question was sounded,some few months since by a humble but able thinker, Mr J. D. Hurley, at a meeting of Sir George Grey's, from whom he received a. very sympathetic reply to:;a question upon the subject, and let not ambition mock or grandeur smile at instruction iv social questions from lowly worth, pregnant perhaps with celestial fire. It is not to be wondered at that the public whose minds travel more slowly than the thinkers, and who are not urged on by a sense of responsibility,-are ; still in a considerable state of twilight. Itw satisfactory, however, to observe that withm

a few weeks influential societies have been formed, able books have been written, and public opinion concentrated upon this subject. The principles of policy have no higher bases than experience, and ajl the rights of property can only be justified on the ground that they conduce to • the public good.—l am, &c, Bon Ami.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THS18810910.2.3

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3963, 10 September 1881, Page 1

Word count
Tapeke kupu
808

EDUCATION.—THE LAND. Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3963, 10 September 1881, Page 1

EDUCATION.—THE LAND. Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3963, 10 September 1881, Page 1

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