The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1887. THE LAND ACQUISITION BILL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2563, 2 April 1887, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1887. THE LAND ACQUISITION BILL.

Wri published yesterday the defcailsof Mrßallance's land aqujsition bill. 1 As yet these are riot of much importance, because" there is a reasonable expectation -of .the principle of .the; Bill' 'being-. r'ejoote'il.% the Hou.se;.and if' this proves to be the.case, the mere details of the measure will be an unimportant •consideration. ; The main' principle- of the Bill is the absorption of freehold properties by the state,.the nationalisation of the laud. It matters little if iri;ptittiiig' : in the thin end of the wedge, the Government declare that they 'will' only" destroy 'freeholds texceedinga thousand'acres in area, and-thai they will only eat them, up to tlie extent of £50,000 per annum. Tlwnext step, if the thin edge is now lodged, will be to abolish freeholds exceeding a hundred acres, and in time, when the thick end of the wedgemakes its Way, freeholds, exceeding possibly. asiiigleacrewill.be annihilated. The proposal is the-firs't step towards nation-, arising the land of the colony, thelaat step willbe to strip the last freeholder iri-the colony of the .last acre he possesses. In' : the' 'sweet by-and-by every colonist 'who earns, hia living by 'farming or grazing will be a tenant of the Grown paying an annual rent to the-Government, and subject at all times to. liavo the conditions of his lease varied by a vote of a sovereign assembly. The measure is now sought to he carried by the votes of town members. The big' towns of the" colony are to dictate to the toilers in the-country how land is to be held and;, worked, ' The struggle now coming on is one between town and country, and evory man in this district who owns a freehold, however small, should resist to the utmost, the attempt that is now being made to destroy the terms upon which his holding rests. The question which the country has to decide is whether leaseholds are to be slowly but surely, substituted for freeholds throughout the length arid breadth of the land. Sir Robert Stout and Mr-Ballance are virtually pledged to; land nationalisa-. tion. That leap in the dark' from which'.even the democracy of the United States shrinks, .we are asked to ..take. . But .if the land owners of Now Zealand-are true to .themselves -they 'will .not allow this I pair of revolutionists, to dostroy the •jprosperity arid arrest : the progress of N'ew. Zealand; . Are the landowner's .o£;.the colony" to go ■ into bondage,,to the State at the bidding of the towns ?