CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2458, 22 November 1886, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

e EXPROPRIATION. TO THE EWTOK. \| Sir,—Having read the recent correspondence arising out of Mr Ballance's speech at Masterton. now that the first outburst of indignation has subsided, I will, witli your permission, review. the subject of expropriation from what I take to be Mr Ballance's own standpoint. Mr Hawkins' outspoken strictures are fair enough in thoir way, and from his standpoint no exception can be taken to them if the old doctrine of " mourn and tuum" still hold its own. Mr Hawkins and the rest of his class, which includes all who have honestly acquired property in land, claim indisputable right of possession, so long as they pay the legalized taxes thereon. Mr Hawkins probably goes further, and is backed up by a little sentiment, such as that attracted by the glowing colorß in which Now Zealand was painted by ■ authorised agents, he was I induced to break up his home in the old country to.becomo a landed settler here. Possibly like the majority of his fellowsottlers, he has had children born to him in his new home, that there are ties and association m connection therewith, far dearer to him, than money's worth. Presumably he bought his land as a provision for his family, and having acquired it in a legitimate way, nothing m his experience, nothing in modern hißtory justified a doubt in his mind as to the permanent security of his tenure. Mr Hawkins and his co-settlers havo built their castles on sandy formations of" the thoughts of yesterday." Whereas Mr Uallanco rears his tower on tho rock of the "thoughts of to-day," and expetes to hoist his flag on the developing staff of the thoughts of to-morrow." Progress is his motto, manhood suffrage his might; office is his opportunity, and from this stand point I propose to demolish.Mr Hawkins and property Owners in general. I have no intention of wounding Mr Hawkins' feelings. I believe him to be not only a man ot kindly and amiable disposition, actuated by a high sonse of duty to his family, to his fellow Bottlers in his adopted country, one whose soul rebels j against all that ib dishonorable and unjust and 1 mav add that is un-English, but Mr Hawkins belongs to tho old school of morality and is so thoroughly imbrued with the principles of the thoughts of yesterday that he cannot rise to the occasion and cast them off for the thought* of to-day, Mr Hawkins cites the case of Naboth tho Jezreelite, who was expropriated of his vineyard, as a striking parallel of what thosottlers who have improved their lands may expect at the hands of Mr Ballance. But what of •that, it is practical results, not sentiment or morality that lie looks to in the present day. Mr Hawkins might as well have taken up tho " Nemises" of the story and tried to frighten Mr Ballance by reminding that Mrs Ahab took an enforced header out of an upstairs window and went to the dogs, Of course there was somo blood-letting on the occasion, probably will be again under similar provocation, but the inexorable fact remained, Naboth did not get back his vineyard, and somebody divided the fruits of his labor. Mr Hawkins in tho same letter referring to expropriation says "it is a proposal utterly uncalled for, totally unjußtifiablo," lam surprised that ho did not fortify these assertions by reference to Mr Stout's speech at Napier, in which he told his audience that there were forty millions of acreß of unalienated land in New Zealand. Let me remind Mr Hawkins of tho" proverb whicli says that necessity has no law, and further that necessity is not unfrequently the creature of tho brain of a colonial minister. I would like to know how Mr Hawkins would dispose of the necessity that is steadily and convincingly looming up on all sides of the ministry of tho day, that they must be prepared with somo attractive policy as an advance guard to the next general election. Vogel and his borrowing gambling policy aro played out. The tox-payer can stand no more, and the English capitalists aro becoming suspicious of their securities, Borrowing with its attendant bribing, and lavish expenditure must stop, and that soon. How then is that multitude of mouths to be stopped, that the public works policy has shmatated ever to clamour for more. I repeat how is provision to be made for the speculator, the gambler and the spend-thrift, tho drunkard and tho dissolute, theidlo and improvidont, the lazy and the loafer, the camp-followers of the public works scheme, and who contribute so largely to the army of agitators, It iB not to be expected that men who have never worked for their living will take to it simply because the exigency of tho State demand tho sacrifice. Nor is it reasonable to suppose that men who havo been accustomed to the high pay generated by the Public Works Office will abate their demands for no better reason than that the prices of produco no longer enablo employers to pay the wages of more prosperous times. If the English capitalist will no longer supply the needful, he must perforce look at home and dovise other meanß. Mr Ballance's fertile brain and plastic principles are equal to the occasion, and liko a certain steward of old, who foreaoeinghe might be turned out of his stewardship, made friends beforehand with his Lord 1 ! tenants, and what more natural, taking tho political situation into consideration, for a situation of the Ballanco progress school, than to invite those who have not to aid and abet him in expropriating the property of those who have. Mr Ballance has no anxiety for the thrifty, the industrious, the energetic, for honest enterprise, and, least of all, for capitalists. They are undemonstrative, plodding, lawabiding people, who if overtaken by reverses; misfortune, bad crops, or low pnceß, or any of the ills that flesh jb heir to, try and try again; they plod on in their persevering way; they love industry, utility, or work. Then why should not Mr Ballanco turn to political account this enormous factor ready to his hand, by expropriating the fruit of their labors for distribution among that large class whose support it is bo important to secure? Wo were told in our youth to take example from the bees, and learned our lesson by the light of the thoughts of yesterday, that it was the industry of the working bees that we were to emulate; but it lias fallen to the honor of Mr Ballance and a Wellington jury to expose this old fallacy andby the light of theprogressivothoughts of to-day to teach people that it is the drones thatare to beadmiredand imitated, who have only to buzz loud enough, and open their mouths sufficiently wide to get all the honey they require, without contributing to its manufacture. What can be plainer that the progressive views of Mr Ballance are rapidly gaining grouud than the verdicts recently arrived at by a Wellington jury in certain cbbus of embezzlement of bank property. In the

teeth of the clearest and moßt overwhelming evidence put before them - Ifeby link, with that acumen and preciMi that left no loop-hole for doubt- of the guilt of accused, the jury acquitted him, mat the money belonged "to the Bank, that the accused possessed himself- of' It to the prejudice of the rightful owneri ■ there was no doubt in the minds "WmX ' one who heard or read the proceedinl' ; 5 •"' "'"■' but what of that ? The poor fello^effid'V- V " money, and'if he expropriated whattdiild 1 * jury with progressive principles of" the thoughts of to-day" do hut applaud the act by their verdict. Judge Richmond, ■ who belongs to the Hawkins school,' appears to have been greatly distreiaedat what he terms a miscarriage of justice by the utter disregard evinced by the jury for all that he had learned to hold most sacred, and in horror he told them they had been made fools of. Never was a judge more mistaken in his A'i ' life. It was exactly the other way \ ; about. It was the Court that were " made fools of. Poor old Judge, 1 suppose i some allowance is to be made for his age 1 the principle of rectitude ingrained into his nature, and the administration of his i office now becoming obsolete. I wonder > if ho knew that the Bible, that good old > book that he revered with the ,M memory othis mothor, had been banisnel' . from our schools. If he did know it, then ■ he should not have been surprised thatevidence, morality and justice were not to stand in tho way when tho opportunity, offered of giving practical effect to the , ' progressive views of the thoughts of i to-day, and giving a fillip to that unwritten law which bids fair to mark Mr' i Ballanco as the most promising colonial i statesman of his day. The friends of I progress will doubtless be gratified to learn that in recognition of his distinguished services in the cause of i expropriation, it h proposed to give the.' 1 foreman of the jury referred to a seat in ■ tho Upper House with tho portfolio of ' . Minister of Justice, when a bill will bo • introduced having for its object, the r 1 absorption by Government of all profits i over and above a certain rate to be ' fixed by statute. This bill will at » first be applied only to Banks, Insurance ■ Companies, and Mercantile ventures,. but i its principlo will be of such a compreheni sive character that every industry can J readily be brought within its operation. > Till the act is fairly acclimatized, only a ■ moderate proportion of netfc profits will • be absorbed, but with the great popularity which is anticipated for this Act, it is 3 intended to mako its provisions elastic, 1 that all nott profits above a very low rate ■ per coiit will becomo tho property ofjgjhe s Government, and pass into the Trealfy. ■ It is expected that the revenue derivable i from this source will be bo large as to J enable the Government to give liberal E annual assistance, by quarterly payments, i to small settlers, taking up expropriated a land, and who from any cause may be t unablo to make it pay to their satisfaction, r It is confidently hoped that by tins liberal f policy the falling off in the consumption I of spirituous liquor and tobacco, which is i such a conspicuous feature in tho Customs lh ■ > return will be more than counteracted, f That the Government will havo to faco s opposition is only to bo expected, and i, that there will be a little bluster from s capitalists, about carrying off their o money bags is but natural. What if they ■j- do? A State Bank with an unlimited 'f paper _ currency constituted a legal ;t tender is the prompt resource, and if the t English capitalist does not ontor into the o spirit of the new regime, repudiation is d the word and the natural goal of the ■ expropriation policy, -shadowed forth by' i the thoughts of to-morrow. d Yours, etc. jk 8 ApproprutioW