CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9223, 22 June 1909, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

(To the Editor)

Sir, —Under the heading "The Land Policy" you published on Saturday a somewhat interesting account of an interview at Auckland between a "Herald" reporter and a Canadian. In this the following passage appears'"The Ministerial description of a freeholder as a criminal was pointed out to Mr Carew who replied ffiat a more blazing piece of impudence he had never heard in his life." As the referenca is evidently to mysslf, would you allow me to state that I hive described I either freeholder or leaseholder in the way stated. Among my best and most respected friends and supporters are plenty of freeholders.—l am, etc., A. W. HOGG. Wellington, June 19th, 1909. (Mr Hogg virtually states remarked in a leading article on Sat- , urday last. In his recent slpeech in the House, when he made reference to the land question, Mr Hogg, according to the "New Zealand Times," said:—"Why I am a land nationali iser? The leader of the Opposition asks me why do I believe in the leasehold rather than the freehold. It is because I have always regarded land monopoly as a crime, and I am' sorry it is not in the criminal code. A man who adds acre to acre, and farm to farm, and who goes in deliberately for aggregation, is starving the people around him, and he is essentially a criminal." It is only fair to Mr Hogg that it should be made clear that he was speak'ng of land monopolists not of land tenure. —Ed. W.A.)