THE CLOVEN HOOF.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8867, 30 October 1907, Page 4

THE CLOVEN HOOF.

Dr. Findlay, Attorney-General, in moving the second reading of the Land Laws Amendment Bill in the Legislative Council, yesterday, displayed the cloven hoof of the leasehold fiend under the cloak of freehold concessions granted by the government in its land measures. He said the government had done its best on the (and legislation question, and, reading between the lines, it would appear that he meant the best it could do just now in the matter of abolishing the freehold altogether in favour of the leasehold. Further strides, he declared, would have to be made in the future. There can be little doubt as to the intended direction of these "further strides;" and it will be for those interested in the welfare of settlement in the dominion to see that those further strides are checked. Fortunately, before any additional step can be taken, a general election must intervene, and time will be afforded for organisation against any attempt in the future to further curtail the freehold and extend the leasehold principle to the detriment of the community generally. When Dr. Findlay says the government has set to work determinedly and honestly to do what was best in the interests o£ the masses, he may be honest in his belief, but the settlers and the vain seekers after land in the dominion will have their doubts upon the subject.