The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3071, 22 March 1892, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Equal and eiact lustice to all men, O? whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. ~TVESDAyTmaRCH 22, 1892. « The last instalment of the report of Mr McKonvde's speech, at Tβ Aroha has reached us. * Wo note that ho has devoted a good deal of breath aud time to traversing articles which have appeared in these columns. In tho first paragraph he was dreadfully severe upon us, in order that we may not be chargeable with the same offence which ho has committed, of tittompting to convey a falso impression by seizing on a paragraph which was only used incidentally, we quote him as re- i ported: —"Ho had noticed in a newspaper published in the Waikato (tho name of which he had novor hoard before coming into the district) a leading article in which it was stated that as the law of primogeniture did not obtain in tho country, all those large tracts of land nov,- in the possession of individuals, would in the course of na-

turo bo cut up and divided amongst thochildroniuulgriindchildron of tho present owners. Now he (Mr McKcnzic) would point out th.it it was not so much tho individual holders of land objected to, as the large companies and banking institutions, They did not die. The individual shareholders in a company might die, but their shares passed into other hands, and the company still went on in its increasing monopoly. The law of primogeniture had no effect upon it. He (Mr McKenzie) would advise the editor of the paper referred to to look that subject up ar/ain and write another article upon it." We feel deeply hurt that Mr McKenzio should only have learnt of our existence since he came into the district, but the consideration of the fact that he may have read, but has certainly never benefited by the writing of a single political authority, will no doubt in time enable us to recover our equanimity. We can a fiord to be absent from the mind of this great administrator, there being such excellent company without the pale. The intention was to convey the false impression that we were favourable to the holding of vast estates, and thus detract from the value of our opinions on other questions. The allusion by us to the fact of the non-existence of the primogeniture law was in a congratulatory sense, and Mr McKenzie, if he can understand English, and read the whole article, was perfectly aware of the fact. As regards the companies holding land, Mr McKenzie knows as well as we that with one or two exceptions the i a v,na Koon -frm-fid unon them.

land has been torcea upon mem, and with regard to one, that It was formed for the sole purpose of relieving another institution of the incubus and disposing of the land : so taken over at the earliest possible date. We have times out _of number pointed out that legislation should make the holding of unimproved estates as onerous an undertaking as possible. The imposition of an uniform tax on unimproved values would have this effect, and no man would have just cause to complain. The manner in which Mr McKenzie i alludes to the next question he dealt with gives the impression that the mental effort of casting reflections upon us had been too much for him. In reference to Crown lands, ho told his audience he had advanced views ; he did not enlighten them in any way as to what they were. "If he studied his own comfort and that, of his familv he would keep them to himself." His domestic happiness evidently had first place in his mind. If the truth were known, he has got the tip from the Premier not to be guilty of the indiscretion of expressing his opinion, as he did to his constituents in Otago, when he said: "As a farmer he know what was wanted and would bo no party to preventing •any man getting his freehold. The next paragraph goes to prove that ho was either insincere to his constituents or to his audience at TeAroha. Hβ said : "If he had his own way he would not part with another acre of land in New Zealand." On the first; occasion McKenzie spoke, on the second, McKenzie perverted by Ballauce. The people have good reason to apply the expression of the old patriarch, "The voice is Jacob's vnlna I™t t.hfi hands are the hands

voice out tne nanus uru mo uawa of Esau." In advocating the perpetual leasehold system, Mr McKenzie urged in its favour that the Government would be a lenient landlord. This is one of the most telling arguments against the principle. Undue power rests in the hands of the Ministry of the day, and there is danger that the " colour " of the individual would assure him leniency or harshness. No Government has a right to be lenient, as it can only be so at the expense of the taxpayers, whose interests it is their primary duty to consider. Unless all discretionary power is taken from the Ministry scandals and injustice will most certainly result, and such a cast iron rule would lead fco many cases of hardship which very few landlords would inflict. It is tolerably certain also that political agitation will eventually compel the granting of freeholds. The same argument to the Land Revaluation Bill which was thrown out by the Council. In fact its introduction was a bid for political support from those affected ; if not of the " right colour " already to change them to the desired hue. As regards the Land for Settlement Bill, very little opposition to this need be anticipated, it is only in isolated cases that landholders would not be glad to sell at full valuation of their land and improvements with 5 per cent, added, this is so at this end of the colony at any rate. It will be within the memory of our

readers that we some little time u back quoted a statement from the g Wellington Post to the effect that the Government were not entitled & to take credit for the number of Jj settlers nominally put upon the p land by means of Associations, as t many of these men had not occu- t pied'the land which fell to their lot. v and had forfeited the sum paid to * ensure membership and the chance rj of a choice section. Mr McKenzie C says there is very little in the j; charge and instanced one or two s cases where the statement did not 1 hold good. He did not, however, t take the trouble to explain how $ much constitutes " little" in his < estimation. The fact remains that whatever number constitutes " little " has to be deducted from the t number he takes credit for. He ] states, in order, in a left handed , way to refute the accusation, that tho 'Post is the most unreliable : paper in the colony. That paper is • more than able to defend itself, but, j on Mr McKenzie's own showing, its unreliability in this case is sub- 1 ject to the discount of his " little." ; The Post gave no numbers neither ; does the Minister for Lands. He paraded his two birds with the \

brightest plumage and asks us to 1 accept them as a sample of the whole. In the face of his being unable to emphathically deny the statement of our contemporary we ( - refuseto do so, or to withdraw one word of our comments on the abuses of the system. What a struggle it was on the part of the Minister to point out that the regulations do not provide for a lottery. Nobody said { they did, but the fact remains that , the associates have by that means i decided the matter amongst themselves. The division rested with them, and as all were on equal terms, how else in the nam© ot fortune were they to do so. It would be some satisfaction to the 1 public if Mr McKenzie will tell how many associates are in his estimamation a " little." He could enbody the statement in one of the stump speeches which he is about to deliver at the expense of the colony. If we have been misled, we only wish that this is the case, we will withdraw our remark and give full publicity to his explanation. That made at Te Aroha was a shuffle pure and simple.