Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-05
:N E w ZEAL An b
HOW TT PREVENTS THE BUILD
ING UP OF ENORMOUS FORTUNES
Nobody In the Country Wants for
Food or Clothing-Plenty Of
Work-No Tramps.

Florence Finch Kelly, In the Independent.
have just returned from an extended
trip through New Zealand. and in all the
time I was there did not see, in city,
town or country. a single person who did
not have enough to eat and to wear. plenty
Of work at good pay and the will to do IT,
There are no beggars. there are no tramps
there are practically no unemployed, and
there are no big fortunes. There Is prob
ably no one in the island whose wealth
exceeds million dollars. and those whose
possessions amount to that are very few
When the liberal government came into
power fifteen years ago the colony was In
very bad way. There were big landed
estates and absentee owners, SO that most
of the wealth produced in the islands went
overseas Consequently industry had come
to a standstill. and most of the working
men had no work. Those who could get
enough money together to pay their passage
were leaving by the shipload. and those who
could not were being cared for by the gov
eminent in shelter sheds and soup kitch-
ems. Since those days the created wealth
of the colony has increased by fl22,oo0.oOo,
and there is no reason to suppose that II
the government had not interfered with
the commercial laws of gravity a large part
of that wealth would not have gone into
the building up Of big fortunes and COM
mercial bodies more powerful than the
government.
Bought Big Estates.
One of the first things the liberal govern
ment did was to inaugurate the policy OF
the bursting up Of the big landed estates.
These have been bought-compulsorily II
the owners were unwilling to sell-divided
into small holdings and leased to actual set
tiers. In this way the government has re-
! sumed over 100000 acres. The leasehold
tenure for 800 years of these lands, and
also of unimproved corn lands, and a fiat
rental Of 4 per cent on the unimproved
valuation made 1t possible for any man, no
matter how poor to establish himself on
farm. Then the government went Into the
business of loaning money and advanced TO
the settler at per cent interest, reducible
to AZ by prompt payment, the money need
ed to get himself started and make his i'm
provements The government labor depart
ment was run In cooperation with this
land policy, and it made every effort to help
the unemployed to get on the land. The
secretary of the labor department told me
that he has put no less than ten thousand
men on the land who otherwise could have
done no better than to drift along on the
periIous edge Of day labor. to fall into dire
straits at the first calamity. This policy
has made them Independent. prosperous
farmers, producers of wealth for them
selves and the colony.
For some years the long term lease was
the favorite form of land tenure, but there
is now strong and growing sentiment In
favor of the freehold. and 1t Is probable
that the government will soon grant the
right of purchase to all leaseholders; but 1t
Is determined that this shall not result In
segregation of land into large holdings.
Keeping theeiand as widely distributed as
possible among the people is one of the
means by which 1t controls the distribution
of wealth. There is already restriction
upon the number of acres that may be &C
quired by either lease or purchase from the
crown. To forestall the danger of the build
ing up of large estates which will come
with the extension of the freehold the gov
eminent proposes to limit the amount OF
land that can be held by one person, by
whatever title, or however acquired. The
law, which the government expects to en-
act at the next session of parliament, will
not affect existing titles, but will make
invalid the title to any land in excess Of
probably. 5000 acres, which any one person
may attempt to acquire.
Systems of Taxation
Most systems of taxation are devised
for the purpose of providing revenue. but
1t is characteristic of re New Zealand idea
of tho functions and purnoSeS of tyoyern-