WANTED—A LAND POLICY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10243, 20 May 1911, Page 4

WANTED—A LAND POLICY.

Why is it that, in a country with millions upon millions of acres of un- | oocupiied lands, it is so difficult for people to get, a few hundred acres upon which ft© isefttle ? Why is land bo dear in -the Dominion ? And why bis it that people are leaving our shores for Australia and elsewhere at a time .when it is being declared that the Government is doing its utmosrt to settle people on the laud P These iand allied questions are loudly calling for ian answer; and, so far, no answer is forthcoming, save such as •ape tainted with the detestable elime loff party polities. It is surely time Ifor the Farmers' Union, in all its (branches, to inquire into this iniiporttiamt imatter from a non-partisan and ] iexpert (standpoint, with a view to | .suggesting a remedy for the deplor- | able state of tilings. The evidence is j ia<scumulating beyond all possibility iof contradiction that conditions in ithe Dominion are discouraging to genuine would-'be settlers. One such,, who was among 145 steerage passengers who left for Sydney the other day, -without return tickets, said in reply -to a question— ' 'Why am I going lawiay? Because, being ia competent farmer, and with a little oapital, lam tired of working. for another iman without a reasonable hope of obtaining landi of 'my own. Why don't they open up the land ? Surely ithere is enough to go round without ffchat gambling 'system of balloting. A. imlan may wait for years for t(h© chance icrf working this own section, and /then find himself ju&t as far from his desire as wlhen he started." , Ac-cording to the Auckland Herald, these views were borne out by ".many other emigrants" on board the Maheno.