Page 3 Advertisements Column 2

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1416, 25 November 1886, Page 3

; buy to st 11 again, speculating upon the chances of obtaining an advance; and consequently those landowners who possess land (which is too often mortgaged up to, and sometimes in excess of, its real productive value) are irretrievably ruined in the wave of 1 depression which must inevitably follow j any speculative advance in the value of land, causing as it does its price to overpass the limit at which it can be profitably utilised. When this takes place laborers are thrown out of employment until the value of land is adjusted by falling to its normal value, when it can be advantageously worked for productive purposes. This is what is taking place in Otago and Canterbury af tlie present time,” The question, therefore, we have to answer (says Mr Park) is :—“ Why is it that with so much land lying waste, and so many men able and willing to occupy it if they can get it on remunerative terms, there is so much destitution and depression, so many breadwinners out of employment? The answer is, that over-speculation in land, and not overproduction, has prevented our being able to withstand the strain occasioned by our limited staple exports having become temporarily depressed. The value of freehold property has been too high to enable its being profitably worked for productive purposes, and the terms upon which waste lands of the Crown can be procured, are such as to pi event the laboring classes occupying it.” The remedy lie proposes is that we should nationalise the remainder of the Crown estate, and devise some scheme by which the people, especially the working classes, will be induced to accept leaseholds instead of freeholds, for he argues that “ we started badly when we disposed of the fee simple of our Crown lands,” yet that “ it is not too late to recover our position if we will only take a common sense view of the position, and boldly and resolutely set to work to remedy the harm that has already been done, and cease pursuing a course winch must ultimately place us in a position similar to that of other countries where the land is owned by a very small minority of the people, where, as rent rises wages fall, and where the people are driven from their homes into the gutter, in order that the all mighty landlord may increase the size of his deer parks.” Roughly sketched the policy which Mr Park advocates is that blocks of 'suitable land should be thrown open for settlement under perpetual lease upon liberal terms, and that settlers should not only be placed upon the land but that “ their holdings should be improved by the State so as to enable them to earn a livelihood from the land from the day that they obtain their leases.” Follow'ing is the pith of the scheme proposed : (i) Blocks of the best obtainable Crown lands in each provincial district should be set aside for settlement under the perpetual leasing system, without the right ot purchase at any future date, and information as to position, quality, etc., of the land freely advertised. (2) Persons desirous of taking up land in any ot these blocks should imimate their desire to the proper authorities, giving full information as to the purposes to which they intend to apply the land, together with the quantity required, which, in no case, should exceed 150 ( acres of first-class land, or 300 acres ■ of second-class land. (3) After the selector has received an intimation that a section has been allot'ed to him, he will immediately furnish to the Government, certified by a Crow T n lands ranger, or other qualified officer, an estimate of the cost of clearing, fencing, and necessary buildings, the amount to be so expended being limited to, say, per acre. (4) Where the selector oesires to follow any special profession such as gardening, orchard planting, he. p growing, vine growing, or any such calling, necessitating extra outlay, the area of his selection shall be limited to, say, 50 acres, but the amount to be expended may exceed the limit named in the preceding section. (5) After the applicant’s selection has been granted, and the expenditure necessary to make it reproductive agreed upon, the selector shall, within a given time, commence to clear and prepare his leasehold for the purpose for which it is required. (6) The Government shall pay (on the production of ranger’s certificate) for the improvements periodically, as the work progresses. (7) When all the improvements agreed upon have been completed (or previously, if the land has been rendered sufficiently reproductive). the selector shall be granted a perpetual lease of his holding, subject to re-valuation every fourteen years. (S) The value of the land shall be assessed in the first instance at £1 per acre for hiss-class land, and per acre for second class land as its original value, with the cost of improvements added thereto : thus, if per acre bad been expended on the holding of first-class land, the assessment shall be at the rate of £5 per acre, and the lessee charged by the State on that valuation at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum.” With regard to clauses five and six, which he describes as really the essence of his proposals, Mr Park says :—“ These clauses provide that the selector shall be paid by the State f or his improvements as they progress up to the specified limit. I cannot lay too much stress upon this concession being granted. The Legislature has abeady virtually admitted the justness of the principle of paying for improvements, and all I ask is that the payment shall be made immediately the work is performed, instead of compelling the pioneer settler (who has to bear the brunt of the day) to wait for a period of thirty years before getting a refund of his expenditure, and then only on giving up his holding. The State could lose nothing by adopting this suggestion, because the rent paid by the tenant would be 5 per cent, per annum on the amount expended, excluding the original value of the land, which would, of couise, be added. The rent, therefore, would give an ample return for the State outlay. Thousands who now cannot settle on the land because they are not capitalists would gladly do so if the means of subsistence for them and their families yvhile they are subduing the wilderness, were guaranteed in the manner which I have indicated. This L practically what Sir Julius Vogel piopised dong for the Mnall freehold farmers; the only difference being that under the system advocated by me the State would be the landlord, and would retain control over the expenditure, so that anything