LAND SETTLEMENT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2495, 7 May 1909, Page 6

LAND SETTLEMENT.

RENTAL VALUES.

A QUESTION FOR THE WORKERS

Mr T. E. Taylor, M.P., lias sent the following letter to the Premier: Right Hon. iSir J. G. Ward, Minister •of Lands, Wellington. Dear Sir, —As one of the early advocates of the movement responsible for the attempt to improve the conditions of the average worker by means of the erection of workers’ dwellings., I wish to ask your ■consideration of some suggestions relating to the above question. I do not think many people will contend that t\4 erection of a comparatively lew .workers’ dwellings in various parts has in any degree affected reductions in tho burden of rent which the wage-earn-ing'class have to pay for dwellings. Personally, I do not believe that the experiment of erecting workers’ dwellings within or near the city boundaries has conferred any advantage at all, except to the handful of people who have secured the properties. _ If it was within the hounds of possibility that the Government would enter into the matter of house erection on a scale sufficiently large to really influence the volume of rent paid in the colony,, the movement represented by wliat is luiown aft “workers’ dwellings*’ wou.d be an important one; but I see nothing to justify any such effect being made by the Government. Meanwhile I believe that there are methods capab o .of adoption by the Government which would, if carefully carried out, not only reduce the amount, of„rent paid by a very largo number of workers, but would simultaneously confer upon tho general community very solid advantages. One of the factors making for its” disappointment and fai.ure in connection avith the city or suburban workers’ dwelling scheme is the excessive price of land. Ido not know, whether the cost of erecting a building is much less to the Government than it would he if carried out under ordinary conditions bv private individuals, but I do know that the interest upon the proportion of the total cost repiesentod by land value in itself forms a heavy annual tax to the worker. I feel sure that anv solid reduction in the rent tax -now' falling upon the earnings or the working class will have to be sought oy -an earnest effort to establish rural settlement. Tiie recent annual report or the Lands Department to-day is entirely hostile to tho village settlement svsteni, formerly so warmly advocated tv the late Hon. W. Rollestion. I have always felt that the village settlement system contained very many elements, the adoption of which arc essential to the prosperity not only of the farming class but of the city population as well. I do however, pro--nose to deal in detail with the village settlement aspect of tho land question just now. What I want to urge is that the question of rent as it affects the city dweller should he seriously attacked, combined with the possibilities connected with our railway system and the erection of workers dwellings upon rural lands. Whilst city and suburban land values are so abnormally high, the bulk of the lands within a few miles of the centres of population remain steadily at a value representing their productive powers. Lands of from iair to first-class quality may be purchased iu considerable area within h«tlr an hour’s railway journey or tho cities at one-tenth or oven less than one-tenth or the sum demanded for suburban lands. The utilisation of these lower priced lands at various points upon our rail-v.-av line, where frequent train service can be established to connect tho settlements with the centres, seems to me to be the onlv possible present method by which considerable reductions in rent onn be secured lor the working classes. If tho workers’ dwelling experiment was carried out in connection with lands so situated, not only would the burden of rent bo reduced, but very many hundreds of workmen would gladly exchange the precarious living now cai ned in connection with city occupations for the less exacting and much more .independent existence possible it their labor can be wholly or partia.ly employed upon live to ten acres of land within easy reach of a big centre. There would not be the same liability of lands adjacent to such workers’ settlements upon rural areas acquiring abnormal values, as will always be the case in cities and suburbs. At the present time the workers in the cities, are not able to practically use tho railways of this colony as an adjunct to tlicir employment. This is due to the fact that no definite attempt his ever been made to convert the railways within a few miles of each centre of population into a vehicle for encouraging rural residence. The needs of the workers arc almost entirely catered for by the tramway system of the colony. If the minds of the official heads of the Railway Department are not progressive enough to permit them considering a proposal 'for making the railways serve the industrial needs of the cities, some effort should be made to make the official minds more progressive. Whilst there is a grave risk of fluctuations in the valuations of city and suburban lands tion altogether as a basis for workers’ dwellings erected upon such lands, there would be much less ri.sk of such a contingency if the dwellings were erected upon lauds the value of which represent their productive* peve- Land at £4O an acre is a lifferont prey edition altogether as a basis for workers’ rentals from lands valued at £4OO to .£OOO an acre. i. do- not know uhat the attitude of the Country l?nrhy_niay he towards a. suggestion of this nature, but it seems to me that the Liberal Party might very easily dig its - grave if it gets into the habit of playing up to those who are, from an economic standpoint, its inevitable foes. It would he well if the Liberal Party could win the approval for all its proposals and actions of the Conservative interests of the country, but its best work, during tho past sixteen years lias been accomplished when it boldly endeavored to do justice to the general interests without seeking unduly to placate class prejudice,, it will be within your memory that public confidence in. the Liberal Party was stronger fifteen years ago than it appears to be at the .present time, judging by the results of the last cec-tion. It was just at that time, fifteen years ago, when the Liberal Party was most definite in its proposals for reform, ft may be true that this country is rifor a period of legislative rest, bub I cannot believe that rest in either private or-public life can, at any time, he a .substitute or more beneficial than reasonable activity. I sincere’y hope that the Lands Department in your hands will lie made an instrument for securing closer settlement upon a large scale, and for furthering -the interests of the wage-earning class in the direction I have just .suggested. —I have the honor 'to be, ft?r, yrurs .faithfully, T. E. Taylor.