The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1886. MR BALLANCE'S NEW BILL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2452, 15 November 1886, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1886. MR BALLANCE'S NEW BILL.

It is said that Mr Ballance is really and truly engaged in preparing a Bill for the expropriation of large estates, and we are pleased to hear that he has the courago of his convictions, A Bill of this kind ought to upset a stronger Ministry than that of which he is a member, and the measure now in course of preparation may be useful from this, point of view—out of evil may come good! We presume the Premier is a consenting party to the introduction into our little political world of the Ballance bantling. He will hardly be an enthusiasts admirer of it because when he became Sir Robert Stout he put a new garment 07er his old Radical coat, and we begin to regard him as a promising Conservative. We do not know if Sir Julius Vogel has been consulted on the expropriation scheme, It is right in the teeth of his past expressed utterances, and if he is to ba one of bis sponsors he will require to turn his garment inside out, The prinoiple that the State may for certain public pur-

poses resume the possession of private estates, is practically admitted by the numerous purchases which have been made for the construction of public railways, and baa been emphasised by the Stark purchase, but the further application of the principle in the direction proposed by Mr Ballance is an absurdity in the present condition of New Zealand. When it is understood by the public in New Zealand it will be scouted from one end of the colony to the other. It appears feasible that if Brown has too much land and Jones has none the State does a good thing in arranging for Jones to obtain a slice of the big estate of Brown, but if by and by when Jones has settled on bis land, planted it and made it his home and the apple of his eye, what will he say if he in his turn is called upon to give up a portion of his farm to Robinson. Will he have Brown's land on the understanding that he is liable some day to have to share with Robinson'l What Mr Balance's new Bill means in tampering with the security of landed estate ir. the colony, and by doing this he is reducing the Belling value of every acre in New Zealand. The people ot this colony won't Btand this, and Mr Ballance, if he fancies that they will, is simply running his head against a stone.fence. The fraud and chicanery incidental to a scheme of expropriation would deter any man but a fanatic from attempting to carry it out. We could not.,trust even a Conservative Ministry to carry an expropriation scheme without' putting money directly or indirectly into the pockets of their friends, and as far as trustworthiness goes a Conservative Ministry is infinitely preferable to a Radical Cabinet, We do not mean to say that the instinct of honesty is not alive within the breasts of Mr Ballance and his colleagues, but they have a fearful crowd of hungry followers at their heels who must be fed, and who are always worrying their leaders for moutbfuls, An expropriation scheme would be a rich banquet for these gentry, and however reluctant the Ministry might be to let them devour the public estate, thoy would be simply torn to pieces if they resisted their importunities.