THE NECESSITY FOR A LAND POLICY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9130, 1 July 1908, Page 5

THE NECESSITY FOR A LAND POLICY.

QUEENSLAND SHOWING US THE " WAY.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, — It could hardly have been with feelings of satisfaction that the citizens of Masterton listened to Mr Hogg's address, a few evenings aco. The same old gag about land mrvirpoiy, and how to settle the capitalist, winch we have heard for the last eighteen years, until at last it has become a weary monotony. No wonder the large landed proprietor has come tu regard Mr Hogg as their bi 3 st and safest friend. Notwithstanding all his loud talk, his mean attempt to rob the Farmers' Union of its oft reaped advocacy of limitation of area, with very bail grac« from Mr Hogg; but his blind boast of what the Government have succeeded in accomplishing by the passage of the Land the Land Tax Act, and the Endowment Act, is about the best of all. One would imagine the land question, the grett o.uestion of this Dominion, was settled for good and all, and that all we had to do was to apply for a piece of land and get it. Notwithstanding the fact, that whenever a piece of land of good quality, and otherwise suitable for close settlement, has been thrown open for selection, it has been rushed by, in many cases, hundreds of applicants, and at the same time freehold small farms have simply, by the keen competition for them, been forced up in value until at last, even with the good prices that have been ruling for our produce of late years, only leaves a bare living over and above the interest on the purchase money. Indeed, if the farmer allowed himself and his family a reasonable wage he could not make ends meet. In the face of this what is the rising generation of farmers' sons and others, who may desire to gc upon the .land, to do? The prospect Lefore them is not very encouraging; for them to go upon the land, even with a fair amount of capital, must mean a life long struggle with a heavy mortgage. Has the time come then when our resources of land available for settlement has become a thing of the past? Judging by the result of our land legislation, and what is of more importance, the fact that a steady stream of our settlers' have been leaving our shores en route for Queensland; and we know from the preparations that; are being made that for ,the one leaving now there will be teri leaving in a year's time. In face of the dire consequence to this coun- ' try, it is well worth wh'le inquiring into the cause. Th« chief reason given by many is that recent legisation has made capital invested in land unsafe, meaning Mr Hogg's boasted Land Tax Act. Thid, of course, appeals to men with money, but there are many leaving, and hundreds preparing to folluw who are not capitalists, or, at most, have only a small amount of money. The reason assigned by many of these is that they want to get on the land, but they must have a secure tenure. They cannot pay the cash, but they will not take a 66 or a 33 years lease from the Government in this country. The prospect of slaveing their lives out in the back-blocks of this country, with years of bad roads, or ro roads, , except on paper and promises, with all the attendant misery, and all for a leasehold, which, at the end of a lifetime, instead of going to the pioneer's children, the greater portion of the value at least reverts to the State. This is not good enough, and the.sons of our farmers (themselves probably pioneers) prefer to leave our shores to assist to make a great State of Queensland. But I might ask, what is the special draw to Queensland to our sturdy farmers sons, "the finest sample of manhood in the world," so, at least, the Queensland people say, who are getting them? Nothing more or leas than the splendid land policy introduced by the Liberal Government~of that State of recent years; a great Lands for Settlement Act to a certain extent, on similar lines ta our own little experiment. The vast estates of the Darling Downs and other portions of the country are being bought up by the Government, roaded and rail-roaded by the State, and is then offeied to the public on a deferred payment syscem something like the system that did so much good here in the settlement of our bush country, and at the end of a few years the settler gets his Crown grant. The reason the people of Queensland are so anxious at the present time to get their fine country settled is not hard to find. It is the nearest portion of Australia to the Orient, where, the teeming millions are looking with hungry eyes at the vast unpeopled expanse of Australia, and the Queenslanders fully realise that unless they can get their lands occupied by a sturdy yeoman peasantry the mighty human flood of Asia must eventually burst through every obstacle, and pom like a mighty deluge over their line but unpeopled country, sweeping away, before their all con-, quering march.every relic of the occupation by the Anglo-Saxon race. This then is the all important reason why Queensland is making such an effort to draw away the best of our manhood. But what is our position? Are we so secure that we can afford to see them go without a feeling of regret? Why, our pontion is far worse than Queensland's, because has the rest of Australia tu draw upon for support and assistance, while we are isolated by 1,200 miles of ocean, which it might be impossible, if once I he sheltering arm of the British Navy was with- . drawn, to cross. We have a country almost as large as Japan, but much more capable of carrying a greater population, as it is more fertile and vastly richer in mineral resources; but with a population about, equal to one of Japan's second-rate cities. In fact, our isolation, and our want of population, and the fact that this is without doubt the finest prize under the sun for any people to possess, must ever be a temptation in the eyes of Orientals to attack • us. It is true we have got a Lands for Settlement Act for the purpose

nf buying up large 'estates for closer settlement, but as Mr Swinlourn, the Minister for Land in Victoria, pointed out, we had got , nearly to the end of our tether, as the money we borrowed for this purpose became a fixed debt upon the country, and money-lenders in England became the real landlord and our system in consequence was unequal to the demand made upon' ■ it. He proposed for Victoria to adopt the policy of Queensland, as he could see no reason why the people of Victoria should leave it while 1,000 men held over 10,000,000 acres of land. The position of Victoria is also our position even to a greater extent, because we have still many million acres of unoccupied native land that could and ought to be made available for settlement, in addition to which there are some two million acres leased by the natives in large blocks. There is one such block in the vicinity of Masterton, which if cut up for' close settlement would provide farms for a considerable number of farmer?, and add greatly to the trade of Masterton; but when it comes to large freehold estates, whyVictoria is not in it with New Zealand.

In the Wairarapa and the Hawke's Hay Province 230 men hold more land than the whole area of one of the smaller European Kingdoms, and, the splendid country through which it is proposed to run the railway to Waipukurau is, if taken in hand by the Government, and settled on the same plan that Queensland is settling her large estates, capable of supplying land to all who require it. If this was only done there would be no need for anyone to leave our shores in

search of land; and where there is now the stillness of a wilderness, towns and townships would spring into existence , and Masterton, the

Natural centre for all this fine coun-

try, would be a city of such proportions as are never dreamt of by her citizens of to-day. And it must

be remembered that where the farmer goes the artisan must follow, and if the drain is to continue to Queensland, others must follow or face

starvation here. Surely it is time

then we threw overboard the false

doctrines of Socialism, /as it is

preached to-daj, which if persisted in can oniy have thes effect of handing over this line country, the

greatest prize ever' bestowed upon our people, to a people of an alien

race. The £en ral election is drawing near, and surely in Masterton a man can be found who is willing to advocate and support a sound and progressive land settlement policy. We have had enough of screaching

against capitalists and lard monopoly and the tawdry garments of Socialism. It is / only offering stones

while we ask' for bread. We want the land for our p jople to settle upon, eo that our sons and daughters can remain and make an honest living in their own native land, and at the same time make New Zealand the stout and stuHy Britain of the 1 Pacific?—l am, etc.,

PKO3RESS