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Introductory.

he following articles, now reprinted, I contributed to the Dunedin "Echo" in 1882, in which paper they were published on the respective dates at the head of each article. They set forth, without unnecessary detail, a plan for the Nationalization of the Land of the Colony: Crown Lands, Reserves, Native Lands, and Private Lands. The reason for writing the articles at the time was this : I thought the theory had been sufficiently discussed and expounded, and that the time had arrived for a practical proposal to embody the principles in legislation.

The "Echo" was then being edited by my friend Sir Robert Stout, who had long been the ablest and most eloquent advocate of the Nationalization of the Land in the Colony, and I considered it appropriate that the contributions should be published under the auspices of one who had done so much to educate the public mind on the question.

I have thought the present time not inopportune to bring before the public a plan by which Nationalization might be obtained. The questions of Land Policy and Administration are receiving much attention at the hands of candidates for the Assembly, and it will be noticed that there is even more than the customary ad-captandum statements about the "inborn predilection for a freehold." The chorus on this very point might argue a reaction from the time, not long since, when the head of a Ministry (the Hon. Major Atkinson) found himself "in search of a better title than a freehold"—when the system of Perpetual Lease appeared to have for its most formidable opponents some venerable gentlemen in our "House of Lords." The reaction, I believe, will not last; having served an electioneering purpose, "the freehold sentiment" will die away in the presence of the hard logic of facts.

The Colony will be roused from its slumbers when it has come to realise the small quantity of arable land, as public estate, which is left; and politicians may then begin to feel that they have duties which transcend the mere exigencies of the hour. The Land Laws of the Colony are very far from having reached finality, if ever a perfect system can be found; but the page 4 ownership of the laud by the State—with the consequent regulation of tenure, and conditions tending to promote at the same time the welfare of the tenant and maintain the interests of the community—seems the only final solution of the agrarian problem. Sentiments change, and the time is not far distant when the cultivator of the soil, as distinguished from the speculator, will only ask himself the question, Are the conditions favourable to success? Indeed, it may be said that this question is now being asked every day in some part of the Colony, and that the answer is most frequently in favour of perpetual lease.

The republication of these articles has a secondary purpose to serve, and will afford a vindication of the position, that the claim so often heard on the part of members of the Government of 1882—that that Government was the originator of the perpetual leasing system—is not well founded. The first intimation of intended legislation in that direction was contained in the Governor's speech, which was delivered on the 19th May, 1882. Now, the second article, which might really have served as instructions to the Parliamentary draftsman, was published on the 22nd April, 1882. The then Minister of Lands (the Hon. Mr. Rolleston) was, I am informed on good authority, a constant reader of the "Echo," and must therefore have seen the plan some time before his measure was announced in the Speech.

The priority of publication always decides claims of this kind, whatever they may be worth. The honour, however, of boldly bringing down a measure of so startling a character and carrying it through the Legislature, even in abridged form, remains to the Ministry of that time, and I have no wish to see it withheld or obscured.

I have a word to add on the work of Colonization.

The settlement of the Crown Lands has been revolutionised by the development of the Special Settlement clauses of the Land Act, especially in relation to the system of Village Homesteads. There have always been many advocates in the Colony for employing labour to prepare farms for sale and occupation, The essential feature of the Village Homestead system is that the owner prepares and makes his own home, receiving advances on which he pays interest; the security to the State being the land and improvements. It will thus be seen that those who advocate "giving the land away" would destroy the system at once, by destroying the security. The failure of small settlements hitherto has arisen from the following causes :—The freehold system, leading to consolidation of properties and to mortgages at high rates of interest; want of outside employment; isolation of the settlers from markets and from each other; inferior quality of the soil; want of capital to make a start. Reverse these conditions, and prosperity will take the place of failure. The undoubted progress of the village settlements which have already been founded, is due to the correction of the defects page 5 which attended previous movements of the kind. The system affords the only hope of the country carrying a large and well-to-do population, and of providing relief of the chronic congestion of labour in the towns. When the Road Board—which is the true unit of rural self-government—receives the whole of this rent for the most important of local-governing functions (road-making), the "freehold sentiment" and the "quit-rent" craze will vanish, and the expansion of the Village Homestead system will go on while any available land remains.

The legislation of the last three years shows a marked progress in the direction indicated in these articles, and though modifications in the detail have of course taken place, the end has ever been kept in view. "The Land Act, 1885," and "The Native Land Administration Act, 1886," may be compared, in the light of Nationalization, with previous legislation, and with the principles contained in this pamphlet. The Land Acquisition Bill introduced last session deals with an important part of the subject, and may be considered in relation to the resumption of private land.

The Village Homestead and Farm Homestead Regulations are published herewith for general information and criticism, and to invite inquiry.

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