The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1886. "CASTLES IN THE ARI."

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2238, 8 March 1886, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1886. "CASTLES IN THE ARI."

Sir George Grey hus made a speech at Auckland, and given the colonv another political programme,-:' During the recess the knight of Kawau has been building "castles in the air," and at length we are permitted to view the creations of his fertile brain, .He gives us, (is usual, a new. heaven ami a now earth, turning all existing institutions topsyturvy, and, ,33 it were, giving the colony a fresh start nnder now conditions. In the first instance : Sir George proposes to change New' Zealand frqru its .present condition as a county of freeholds into a.country of perpetual leases, This is a change, which is scarcely Jikelyfp be brought, about by the people now livjing in New Zealand. Just 11s Joseph Chamberlain promised the English laborer three acres and a cow, Sir George offers each of the settlers in this community a section of 160 acres at a low rental. Dwellers in cities, who do not understand the difficulty of making a livin« off land, may be fascinated with the idea of obtaining large sections on easy teinis, but even they must see that when the country is mapped out into 160 acre sections, and all of these allotments are taken up, the next step, on Sir George Grey's principle, will be to take the 160 acre Sections from them for re-subdivision among a hw thousand more radicals who will come at a later period on the scene. After once admitting the right of the 'State to resume the possession of the lands which it has sold, jys need not be surprised at anything which 1 njay follow, One parliament will grantlGOacren to; every adult voter in the; colony, and ; the next parliament may vote the bi« sections back again and substitute forty acre allotments, while a third might with equal facility appropriate the smaller sections, If wo once affirm the principle that the land which the State has sold can be taken back at the pleasure of the vendor, we shall have a land .revolution at every general electiqn in Zealand, and every prudent ( niaii' wjli leave the colony and take his .mpney wijjji .him at the' fi.rk.convenient,opnorjiinity" However.' we do not believe tjiat % |e,opJe; of New Zealand ; are foolish ,snoiign to'; follow Sir G.eqrge Qp&y in liis'proposed land reform, nor ar,e th.ey likely I to be enamoured of his idea of State lands bonds. Sir George Grey proposes to raise money without increasing our national debt, and is prepared to ; produce millions from nothing. But | \

■then the.niillions will be,paper money only, though this objection is obviated by the consideration that tie expects people to consider them worth the amount iu gold which is printed on them ; and if the foolish people wont do this, why it will be easy to pass ft law compelling them to take paper for their land, sheep, oxen, horses, and everything that is theirs, In nil these proposals there is a dishonest strain, and if there is one thing more than another that is ruining New Zealand, it is political dishonesty. When the Colony lias once sold a section of land to a man, it no longer has a moral right to resume the possession of that land, or even to threaten to deprive him of it, If the colony a few years ago had required the possession of, Kuwau, does any sane man think it would have obtained its wish against tho will of Sir George, Our great politicians are only willing to shed their brothers' blood! In New Zealand we did a dishonest thing when a land tax was first levied, Parliament had no right to collect a rental, and the tax was to all intents a rental, from lands which it had sold to men who. never dreamt that in acquiring their estates they would be subject to such a burden, Having, however, once committed ourselves to a dfehonest course, nothing now may. be deemed too hot or too heavy for our colonial statesmen. In the course of a few years even Fir George Grey's proposals may be accepted by the country, but there are a few intermediate stages in our downward course which will have to be taken before we shall be ripe for the abolition of freeholds and the introduction of paper bonds as a substU tute for pounds shillings and ponce,