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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 78

The Earth Hunger

The Earth Hunger.

They realised all this, and what he was submitting to them was eloquently reflected in the fact of the hunger for land for settlement, which pervaded the whole colony at the present hour. Six hundred persons applied for one selection in the North Island the other day, and for another 400 applications were sent in. They must get the land for these landless people, and they would get it—the only question was by what method. They were told the best scheme—and he would call their special attention to it, because he claimed to be able to speak with more experience than many—Was to sell the freehold to all the Crown tenants, and with the money got from them they would so into the market and buy more estates for closer settlement. That was a mischievous proposal. Its first effect would be to still further increase the price of the lands of the country. In five years they had spent £8,000,000 on public works. This had been spent in the different districts, and they would find, if they carefully looked at it, that it had largely had the effect of increasing the value of the targe holdings in Hawke's Bay and elsewhere. He did not say it had not improved the value of the smaller holdings, but as the larger owner had the larger page 12 holding he was proportionately benefited. On the purchase of lands they had spent £5,000.000. on advances to settlers £5,000,000; total, £18,000,000. All this had the effect, in addition to other reasons—this was not the only one—of increasing the price of land which the Government had sought to buy. Suppose this country were owned by a private individual—supposing that one of them was wealthy enough to own the whole country, and he was running it as an intelligent manager of a huge estate, would he leave immense areas, such as they found in Hawke's Bay and in other parts of the colony—areas tapped and served by railways, and roads and all the other public conveniences—would he leave that either partially, imperfectly, or wholly unused, and send men and women back to other parts which in winter were wholly inccessible? Certainly not. He would settle the parts accessible by railways first, and allow the more remote parts to come into settlement in good time. We had to limit the large estates, both as regards the present and the future. Two ways were suggested. First, there was the ho Land Bill proposal re all excess over £50,000 unimproved value as regarded the present, and as regarded the future the £15,000 limitation. There was also the other proposal to deal with the aggregation of estates by means of the Graduated Land Tax. He had no doubt as a lawyer that the Land Bill, in so far as it provided for these limitations, was liable to evasion It was difficult to frame a law which some, other lawyer would not find a way through. It might, be that the Graduated Land Tax would escape this liability to evasion, but it was a question of attaining the end, not a question of the means to attain it, that mattered.