FINANCIAL STABILITY
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR, It is necessary, more especially in these times of bitter controversy, to remember that
1. Whatever the currency, however high the tariff walls, there can be no trade of any description without the occupation of land.
S. All payments necessary to secure tenure for the occupation of land form a tariff, not only on trade, but also on life itself.
3. As things are, this universal tariff varies with people's ability to pay, the only check on its increase being that, when the occupation of particular sites becomes a public necessity, their price is limited to the highest figures obtainable from private individuals or companies.
4. Under our existing laws, there is no other limit to the prices which can be placed on land, and consequently to the growth of this, the first tariff on the people's activities.
5. This ever-growing imposition can be abolished by gradually transferring rates and taxes from the improvement and occupation of property to the owners of occupied and unoccupied sites. 6. The value of these sites can be ascertained at any moment, with greater ease and exactness than the value of anything else, for land can neither be hidden nor removed, and, consequently, rates and taxes levied on its value can be collected with certainty and at the minimum of expense.
Our first duty, both as individuals and as a nation, is to insure financial stability. This demands conscientious con- sideration of the above stated verifiable facts.—I sun,
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