Schemes that have Failed.

Why had all these betterment and other schemes failed to give satisfaction? It was quite clear that they had not given satisfaction. The reason was that they only dabbled about on the surface, and had not gone to the root of the matter. It was like pruning the branches instead of cutting off the tap-root. (Applause.) The perpetual lease system had almost opened the eyes of the people to see the whole thing, and that was some twenty years ago. It avoided demanding payment from men before they settled on the land, and provided for re-valuations after a certain period of years. He considered that the perpetual lease system was a very liberal one, though it was brought in by Mr. Rolleston, who was looked upon by some people us the head and front of the Tory party in New Zealand. In reality there was no such thing as a Tory party in this country, the only question being as to the various degrees of Liberalism. Twenty years ago Mr. Rolleston was liberal enough as regards the general interests of the people to see that the perpetual lease system was desirable.