A Gradual Reform.

He (Mr. Withy) maintained the reform could only be brought about gradually. No single-taxer had ever proposed it should be brought about suddenly. They were represented by their opponents as wishing to have some sudden change, also that they intended to turn the people off the land and take it away from them. Taking the value of the laud over a series of years was a different thing to taking the land or pushing a man off it. And that was just what single-taxers wanted to stop. They objected to the existing system as not [unclear: only] turning a lot of people off the laud, by [unclear: its] falling into the hands of the banks and [unclear: the] mortgagees, but preventing others from getting on it. They wanted to keep men on the land who under the present system would go to recruit the ranks of those who were competing constantly for employment. The transition period was always a period of difficulty. There was no question about it, that during the 18 years that this scheme would take to be effective, there would be some hardship. It was utterly impossible it could be otherwise. But look at the hardship of continuing as we are. Again, the hardship would be very much less than if the scheme were delayed 50 years. Had it been adopted 20 years ago it would have been very much easier than it would be even now. Let them go to England and propose to carry it out there now, with its enormous vested interests and its 40,000,000 of inhabitants. Why, the work in New Zealand, if it was a desirable work, and it depended upon the electors to decide whether it was a desirable work, was a mere "flea-bite" to what it would be in the older countries, or to what it would be in 50 years' time in New Zealand. There was a point oil which the opponents of the single tax were very loth to give them credit. In proposing to take the ground rent, single-taxers proposed to remit all other taxation. The ground rent was about £3,000,000 a-year, taxation in New Zealand was about £2,500,000, so that the total burden of the colony was £5.500,000 a-year. The single-taxers proposed to gradually sweep away the whole of the two and a-half millions of taxation, and only leave the one charge of ground rent, and instead of allowing that to go into the pockets of private individuals, to trans-fer it to the uses of the whole community. (Applause.)