THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 1907. LAND LEGISLATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8468, 19 June 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 1907. LAND LEGISLATION.

It may'.be safely assumed that during the approaching session land legislation t of some description will be passed, but in view of the several and sudden alterations* which Mr McNab has made in his Bill since it was first introduced to the House, it would certainly be "jumping" to conclusions to take it for granted that the Bill in its latest revised form will become law. The Minister for Lands is evidently not at all adverse to making alterations. "Wise men change their minds sometimes," so the saying goes, but it is questionable whether it is indicative of wisdom on the part of a Minister of the Crown to be constantly changing his mind. "The Land Bill," or rather a Land Bill—its exact composition is not yet known—will be submitted to the House in three sections,' but they may be discussed as one measure. The Minister for Lands, according to latest information, has decided that the proper method by which to limit area is by an increase in the graduated land tax. So far as this particular'. point is concerned, we may remark that we have always urged that limitation should be effected per medium of a graduated tax, though we were somewhat startled when a contemporary informed us that fiuch a proposal, if made by a Minister of the Crown, would cause him to be hissed oft' the public platform. However, we are not specially interested in what fates befall Ministers. Our hope and interest is that Ministers will do what is right, or, at any rate, what they believe to be right, irrespective of personal consequences. We have not yet developed a high grade of politician in this country, but we believe that some day—and not far distant—we shall do so, as has been done in may another land. But to come back to the question of limitation of area by means of a graduated tax; it is in every way a legitimate form of taxation, it will have the desired effect if applied properly, and it is the easiest method by which the Government can deal with the land monopoly difficulty, while—and it is a most important fact to observe —a reasonable increase in the graduated land tax will not effect secun-

ties, or, in other words, cannot cause ) a financial panic as was very naturally feared when Mr McNab brought forward hit; original limitation proposals. In the revised land policy there are two features with which we agree, viz., the limitation proposal, and doing away with the 999 years' lease; the former is as desirable and necessary as the latter is absurd. The great "bone," however, that freeholders have "to pick" with the Government is that wherever the Bill refers to land tenure it is a leaseholders' or land nationalists' measure pure and simple. Where is the optional tenure? There is no provision for ieaso-in-perpetuity tenants to acquire the freehold. They may do (under the Bill) all sorts of things; yes, anything, practically, except acquire the fee simple of their holdings. Then the endowment proposals are simply land nationalising propositions. There is no necessity for the State to endow itself with its own land. There are two matters in connection with the land that the State should regard as being of paramount importance, viz., that it is utilised in such a way that is to the greatest possible advantage of the body politic, and that the occupiers of the land hold their respective lands under the best form of tenure that can .be devised, and that form of tenure is the freehold, because the freehold tenure, or lease with the right of purchase, stimulates production. As a matter of fact, it may be said that there is no such tenure as an absolute freehold, for no land can be held free, or apart from the State —all land is subject to taxation accoi'ding to the will of the people. If Mr McNab "knocked on the head" the endowment proposals, and was willing that all "waste" Crown lands should be leased with the right of purchase, and give to lease-in-per-petuity tenants the right to acquire the freehold, he would, in our opinion, be submitting an excellent measure for the approval of Parliament.