Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/95

 enable Government to seize a farmer’s land at their own valuation, and at any time they choose, provided his acreage exceeds an arbitrary limit (shrinking as time goes on). There is no security for the large farmer. His enterprise is stultified, he has no inducement to forward improvement. He is robbed of ambition, and fives from day to day awaiting the mandate which shall take away his possessions and give them to another. Thus, in a British colony, is our boasted “British fair play” carried out. What does the prospect look like for the prosperity of a country, which chokes the prosperity of its most useful inhabitants? Where will our ablest and most enterprising young farmers go who have seen their fathers despoiled? The answer is obvious—almost anywhere beyond New Zealand where property is sacred. Their choice is a large one.

Now, the question may be asked:—“What was the nature of the inducements held out to the pioneers to buy land in New Zealand?” The inducements were a solemn compact with the Home Government whereby they were assured freehold possession for all time for the sum of £2 per acre; security