Breaking Up of the Large Estates,

and, consequently, a great increase in the number of small holdings, for it would pay the large owners better to sub-divide and sell than to hold.

Consider what would be the effect around this city. My proposition is that, going North to Henderson, the passenger fares should be is first, and 8d. second-class; and going South to page 65 Manurewa, the same fares. Now, if this were so, and goods freights were dealt with in the same manner, do you not think that all the land within that circle of 30 miles would be minutely subdivided and occupied, instead of being, as a great deal of it is now, a howling waste, a very "Whau?" Would not land for 150 miles away be available for dairy, market garden, and orchard supplies? Would not commercial prosperity be greatly increased? Would not the cost of living be greatly cheapened? Should we not all be able to enjoy many comforts that are now only luxuries for the rich? Would not knowledge be increased? Would not the health of the community be improved, and should we not enjoy a far larger amount of social intercourse and happiness?

We have quite recently been given at our very doors a striking illustration of how the regulation of transit charges can be made to affect social position.

Freight on coal for a 65 mile distance has been reduced 4d. per ton. It will be interesting to trace out what will certainly be the result of this reduction.

The alteration was made some time ago, but the price of coal to all ordinary consumers remains the same. Does any one imagine for one moment that it will lead to an increased production? And if it does not lead to increased production, it must lead to loss of revenue, and that loss must be made good by taxation in some other direction.

Who then benefits? Simply the coal owners and those large buyers who can purchase at the pit's mouth and freight a train themselves.

To a householder using 12 tons of coal per annum, this means 4s. additional taxation. It may not be very much to him, but to the coal owner, the hundreds of thousands of fourpences mean a vast deal; they add greatly to his wealth, and thus elevate him in the social scale at the expense of the community generally.