The Wairarapa Daily THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1891.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3903, 3 September 1891, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1891.

The intricacies of the now Land Bill, with its endless and useless checks and contrivances, is a strong contrast to the sweet simplicity of the old time Provincial land laws. As a rule the more ingenuity there is displayed by a political party in constructing a land measure, the more loopholes are given for unscrupulous people to work points. The settlement accomplished under the Provincial rule was genuine and thorough. Much of that which we bave witnessed ot late years has been undeniably spurious. It would have been a splendid thing for the Colony if the vast bush areas of the Wajrarapa North and Pahiatua Counties could have been disposed of under the old Provincial system. Wa should have had halt a hundred surveyors laying ofi blocks and roads to supply the demand for sections j we should have Been sections sold at an. upset price of ten shillings an acre to genuine settlers, a sum that would have paid the (government for the cost of survey, and which would hav« been ample for the small settler to pay when he bought, not with the idea of speculation, but with the intention to fell the bush and to fence and clear it. Under the old system, the man who wanted land on which to establish himself, could get it at a fair price, without any lottery work or running about the country after speculative sites. A very large percentage of the settled land in the bush district has been taken up for speculative purposes only, and is in the market at fancy prices. This is the direct and legitimate outcome of the land fads of the past few years. The finishing touch is to be the practical confiscation of tfee freehold title. The ultimate aim and end of tljo Labour Party is undoubtedly the abolition of freeholds, but Mr Balance will only give it what it asks by instalments. Every session while tfoe Liberal Party remains in power wijl see a nail driven, into the coffin of the freehold title. | The freeholder is not to be strangled; right away, but the noose is now thrown round his neck and is to be gradually tightened, Mr Balance is breaking-in the good horse ,J freehold " afoßarey. He will tie up first one limb and then another till bis victim «an be thrown «md manacled. Perhaps then be *iU aU° w tne aoour P arty to step forward and draw a knife across the animal's throat.