Lands for Settlement.

Then people said the Government had done a grand thing in the Lands for Settlement Act. He recognised the right of the State, in the interests of the people, if land was required for settlement, to resume private lands. He laid down that position 20 years ago and he was not in the habit of going back on the past like some people. (' Oh.') The difference between the present Government and those who had opposed them was twofold—the latter said if a graduated tax was put on the people who had large blocks they would soon be willing to sell and cub them up into smaller sections. This had been proved conclusively by the fact that the Government had been offered about eight times the quantity of land they wished to buy from private owners. Secondly, those who had opposed the Government said if they required the land it should be taken by a judicial tribunal, and politics and colour should have no part in the matter at all. (Applause.) The blocks that had been taken had been dismal failures. The Pomahaka block did not pay more than one per cent. on the money paid for it, and more than half was lying unoccupied. The Studholm Junction village settlement was called Strugglers' Flat, because the people could not make a living out of it. Another large estate in Marlborough had been a huge failure And did the people know what they had to pay for lands for settlement? Bonds, say, at 3½ per cent. were issued; these bonds were lifted by some Government department; the money was obtained from this department, and the vendor put the sovereigns in his pocket. Then these bonds were token to the 'fat man' in London, and he became practically the owner of the land. He held the bonds and the Government collected the rent for him, and he paid neither income tax or Customs duty. Talk about absentee landlords in Ireland; and yet there were people who threw their hats in the air and thought these were glorious measures for the good of the colony.