Titles to Property.

I can assure Mr. Withy that as I read his pamphlets they raised a very rebellious spirit in me; and I think I am in that respect typical of every landowner in the Colony who has read his pamphlets or who may read them, and who has honestly page 2 bought and paid for his land, and holds a title to it ratified by the Government. And if Mr. Withy says that Government had no right to give me a title to my land, so as to ensure to me the value thereof—or, having done so, they have a right to take it back again after I have paid for it,—then, I say, they have just as much right to issue an order to every one in the Colony for every man, woman, and child to help themselves to anything they fancy, and that there would be no policeman to touch them, or any penalty following; for one would just be as right as the other—according to my ideas of right. Perhaps Mr. Withy will allow me to have my own ideas, although he denies me the right to my own property.

Or, if Mr. Withy has shares in companies or consols, it would be equally right for Government—the representatives of the people—to say that these are the only kinds of wealth from which we will draw for our requirements. I do not think Mr. Withy could even shew a New Zealand Government title to these forms of wealth; but he says they should be free from taxation. I will try and shew him later on why I think all wealth should be taxed, and in what form.