A LETTER TO MY PALS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3017, 14 November 1891, Page 2

A LETTER TO MY PALS.

[by PERMISSION 01' THE EDITOR. 1 My Routy Pals, —Did yer see the news in The Waikato Times last Thursday. One of them there provident coves has been and bought some laud and paid £'S a foot for it; and I expecks he will havo the bloomin' cheek to think as how this land will in futechure belong to himself and his family. Wot a ridiklous idea, ain't it? But yer all knows when we happen to be hauled up afore the beak for helpin' a pal to shy clear of the stone jug by takin' some of the boodle, that the beak tells us how we are just as guilty as the chap wot ackchually cracked the crib. Well the chap as bought the land is just as bad as the chap wot sold it to him, every bit, and to think that one chap should make a rise and not think of sharin' the shiners has caused a lot of talk amongst us pals, I can tell yer, and some of us have already turned a deep envious greon. We ain't goin' to stand by without tryin' to get some of the boodle. When we gets our own way, we will make the chap wot bought the land smoke, I can tell yer. One of our pals once wont into figgers, and lie says we have only to put a land tax of 5 ppr cent, on, and we will have enulf mouey to pay our anual bills for interest, etc.; but another figgering cove named Quid Nunc showed as how it would take 15 per cent. Now if we take it half way between these two and make it 10 per cent, the chap wot bought the land will have to pay u* a nice little lob as blackmail, won't he ? £30 a year from a man for using what ho has paid for is not to be sneezed at, I can tell yer, 'spesherly by way of a start I Some of our pals wot ain't got no land, but wot thinks a lot—of themselves and other things—tells us it's quite fair, the fact of a man having bought a thing don't pervent chaps of our purfeshun nicking it when we havn a mind todo it And when yer come to look at it it do seem strange as how we never thought 011 it afore. Land is a thing wot a fellow can't prig in the ordinary way, and why should we not be able to collar its rent, same as we can crack a crib or pick a pocket? Why should land be allowed this privilidge of exempshun from our dcpurdashuns, and us poor chaps not be allowed to make a haul out of it same as other propitty? Surely, no one will argue it is more criminal to steal land than to crack cribs or pick pockets! I can't see the diif'rence — can you, pals? Then this Gover'ment we have got now, boys—and it's a real good Gover'ment too—is goin' to make the robbery of land values legal by Act of Parlyment, and put it in the Statoot Book. My eye, pals, we are goin' to have a doocid good time Boon, and be able to satisfy our envious grudge against them there provident coves wot works, and who looks down on us coves wot thinks work a bloomin' stale game and would like to make ourselves better off by plunderin' them as have put by sumthink for what they calls a rainy day. But we have got a Gover'ment uow wot is goin' toencouridgeus poor chaps a bit. We ain't had much encouridgement aforo, geodnoss known; and they've been mighty quick a-runnin' of us in whenever they got a chants. But the Govor'ment wots in now simperthises with us in our dangerous callin', and 1 expecka when we have nicked all tho land, thoy will bring in a bill to make it safo for us to collar anythin' without runnin' tho chants of havin' a hole drilled in our heads by some feller with a revolver. We will then be able to pop our bludgeons, our jemmies, and our dark lantern*, and do our burglin' armed with a Actor Pirlvnont uniler the ppi'tec'ion of •h'i pßrtic". Then, my >1 ly nals, w- c iii I ,k'- ; ■I way r il! fur' tifr 'Piiirf ; and in tli»-in 1 u time le 1 or ni e »hree cheer* for • h-» Gmt-' innnt.—Your.-, etc., Wr i.i'M Stkks. An Advanced Libetui.