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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 71

The Profits of the Landowners

The Profits of the Landowners.

[unclear: The] give an idea of the extent to which this [unclear: ed] of thing had grown in New Zealand, he [unclear: ould] refer to a few figures taken from the [unclear: public] records of the colony. Now, some [unclear: 3,000,000] of money had been received by [unclear: the] state in New Zealand in the way of pre-[unclear: ns] given by the people for the right to [unclear: tle] upon the land—£13,000,000 of money. In 1891, the assessment taken for the land tax showed the value of this same freehold land, exclusive of improvements, was close upon £76,000,000. This was nearly six times as much as the amount originally paid. That is to say, that while a short time ago they celebrated the jubilee of the colony, the value of the freehold land had increased by six times. Some two years ago they did not know these figures—of the £76,000,000—and their best thanks were due to Mr. Ballance for making this knowledge possible. He (Mr Withy) would have upon different occasions to criticise the administration of Mr. Ballance rather severely, and therefore he was the more pleased to give him credit where credit was rightfully due to him. For his action in this matter he deserved the thanks of the whole community. The £13,000,090 represented the value of the land, exclusive of all improvements, and that value now stood at £70,000,000. Who owned that value? None but the land owners, for the landless people clearly owned nothing of it. There-fore, it would be seen that the difference between the £13.000,000 and the £76,000,000—that is, £63,000,000—had all been poured into the pockets of the successive gererations of land-owners that had come down to the present time. The landless people got none of this; indeed, it was quite impossible that they should get any.