SUBLIME IGNORANCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 16 January 1913, Page 4

SUBLIME IGNORANCE.

Some extraordinary individual in the South' 'lsland, (possessing • the isigniflcant name of "Sage," has been entertaining the readers of the Lyttelton Times with a disquisition on the land question. His deductions are so absolutely, erroneous as to -be- ludicrous. .. He states-, for instance, that there are 8500 lease-in-perpetuity holdings in New Zealand, and that if the selectors were to-convert into freehold and sell to the public, they would clear on .an average . £IOOO. Thus, ihe says, the Government isgiving to private persons £8,500,000 belonging to the public. Such reasoning as this is altogether too funny for words. What evidence have we that the holders of lease-in-perpetuity intend converting into freehold ? And, if they did convert, -what reason have wo to believe that the pro-fits would average £1000? And, if the profits did average £IOOO, who is .mom entitled to them tlia.n the man who lm>s occupied the land? To tsay that the Government is giving £8,500,000 to private, persons, is to trifle with the intelligence of the people. Of course, if 8500 lessees were to part with the goodwills of their leases at a profit of £IOOO each, the Government would he handing nothing over to private persons.