THE NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT AND THE GENERAL STRIKE.
[To en. Ezeeos or era ••Sears000x."] Saa,—Referring to the letter from "E. M. H." in your last issue and the action of the farmers in support of the Government, I am thereby strongly reminded of a conver- sation I had with a prominent New Zealand business man whom it was my privilege to entertain when be visited this country two years ago. In reply to my inquiry as to the progress of Socialism in the Colony, and its future effects, be said he felt no uneasiness, as the fever bad abated, and the land system, by which farms were held on leases from the Government, with the view of increment value accruing to the community, had proved a complete failure. The tenants did not build, drain, reclaim, or sink capital or labour beyond the necessities of the moment. Consequently the farmers had been made freeholders, buying their farms, as the Irish tenants are doing, by a series of fixed pay- ments. The result had been an industrial and political revolution: the farms were being worked and developed at high pressure, and the farmers and their families had become more conservative in their political views. These are the men, apparently, who have now come to the rescue of the Government no effectively. Is not this good evidence an to the magic of ownership P Another important matter he mentioned was that compulsory military service had been adopted, and that a few years would see New Zealand in possession of a citizen army of two hundred thousand men; this, too, with a total white population of only one million or thereabout,—I am, Sir, &c., R. BRIDGER. 51 Hatnakm Square, Birkenhead.
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