Items of Interest May 2, 1914 Issue

Items of Interest

At the invitation of the government, a parliamentary party, which included several members of the ministry, recently journeyed to Loxton, a township on the River Murray in South Australia, where three events which markedly illustrate the rapid development and settlement of the agricultural lands south of the river were celebrated. Chief of these events was the opening of a railway running to Loxton from Alawoona. Other lines already constructed will, it is anticipated, give rich returns. The new line to Loxton is twenty-two miles in length, and will serve an area of about two hundred and ninety-six thousand acres, most of which is good wheat-growing land. Second in importance to the railway was the opening of new waterworks designed to serve the town and surrounding districts. The third ceremony was the official opening of the new post-office, which has been erected at a cost of nearly two thousand pounds.

In the current issue of Land Values, the official organ in England of the movement for the taxation of land, appears a vigorous leading article dealing with Mr. Lloyd George's recent pronouncement on the subject at Glasgow.

The working men are ready, says the writer, for the chancellor of the exchequer to take as his text the statement he made at Glasgow,—that there is one great underlying principle of all sound land laws, namely, that the land in all countries exists for the benefit of all those who dwell therein, and that any privileges, rights, or interests attaching for the time being to the ownership of land that are inconsistent with this great right, ought, in the interests of the community, to be ruthlessly overridden. This, the writer declares, is a principle deep-rooted in the minds of the Scottish people. They are determined that the land shall be used for the equal benefit of all men.

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