CONCEDING THE FREEHOLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2572, 5 August 1909, Page 3

CONCEDING THE FREEHOLD.

THE GOVERNMENT’S NEW BILL. DR. FINDLAY IN SUPPORT. In the course of an interview on land tenure, in Christchurch, on Saturday, the Hon. Dr. Findlay, Attorney-Gen-eral, said: “AVo are making) a fetish of tenure, and placing that before the main purpose of the land for settlement policy*, the cardinal aim of which is not tenure, but close settlement. “AVe‘ought,” said the Minister “to he guided by that tenure which will most effectively promote close settlement and safeguard tlie permanent interests of the State. Aly view, therefore, is that in determining questions of tenure,■ it is its main purpose, and not its inherent quality, which ought to bo mainly considered. The Special 'Settlement Finance” Bill, which the Government intends to promote as vigorously as possible this year, is-ad-mittedly a concession to the freeholders, inasmuch as, under that Bill, settlers will get the freehold. The settlers do not purchase from the Crown, but directly from private vendors, and the State merely guarantees the whole of the purchase money. But, from one point of view, the State is really providing land. The ideal of the Bill is to make every man who wants land an active land agent himself for the purpose of getting a suitable area. An association of 10 or more men might arrange for the purchase of a suitable block of land from a large landowner, and the Crown, being satisfied with the proposed purchase and. subdivision, would facilitate the raising of the money, the settlers becoming primarily responsible for its repayment, and giving mortgages over their respective holdings to secure such repayment. In Denmark the subdivisions arc from eight acres upwards to about 250 acres. The Danish land system is a little complicated, but its chief feature is- the smallness of the subdivisions and the immense increase in productiveness of Danish lands during the last 35 years under the new class of peasant settlement. It is true that the peasant lias the freehold, and the latest return I saw showed that 186,000 of these small peasant freeholders are now making comfortable livings on areas from eight acres upwards. The State has, with great vigor, promoted this scheme of close settlement, largely assisting agriculture in all its branches, and the different' Stato agencies have enabled Danish butter and other farm products to hold the first place in the Old AVorld markets.

“What strikes the student of Denmark most,’’ continued Dr. Findlay, “is the absence of that haunting fear of socialism ' which seems to obsess Mr. Massey and some of liis friends. The State in Denmark has actively followed the scheme, as it deals with unemployment, careful classification being made between the unemployed and what I have called the unemployable. They have vigorous people, as is essential, and it would be idle to deny that their progress has been due as much to the thrift, industry, sobriety,, and determination of the people themselves, as to any, assistance given by tlie State. Tl,o crowning triumph of the system has not only been tlie checking of drift from country to town, but Mr. Aitkin, reviewing the history of Denmark for the last 40 years, fincls that the scheme has turned people back from the town to the country. Town dwellers are settling on small areas of Danish land. During this period the agricultural population of England has declined 50 per. cent., while the cities and towns now hold 75 per cent, of the whole population.”