The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1887. THE LAND RESUMPTION BILL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1515, 24 March 1887, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1887. THE LAND RESUMPTION BILL.

Very great interest attaches to the Bill which is m preparation by Mr Ballance to enable the acquisition of land for settlement m districts where there is no Crown land available for the purpose. According to the " Post," the following is a precis of the measure referred to : — " What the Eill proposes is that large estates may be occupied by associations, who, without the consent of owners, may acquire a certain area of the land at 10 per cent, upon the property-tax valuation. A certain percentage is to be paid down, and the rest remain over. The land owner is to be allowed to retain 1,000 acres^and his homestead is not to be touched. There will be Courts established to deal with certain questions arising out of the acquisition, and there will be Commissioners through whom the application for expropriation will be made." It will be observed that there is here no provision for the acquisition of land by the Crown direct, but it would appear from the " New Zealand Times" that the foregoing is only a sketch of a part of the Bill, or that Mr Ballance intends to bring forward asecond measure dealing with this point, that paper stating that it understands that " Mr Ballance is at present matura scheme — which has not yet been submitted to the Cabinet, and which it would therefore be improper to disclose just yet — which has for its object to facilitate the acquisition of suitable private lands by the Governmen without a heavy expenditure ot public money being involved." If Mf%allance can succeed m doing this, he will deserve the thanks of the country for solving one of the most important, and at the same time most difficult, questions of the day. He is thoroughly m earnest, and both papers agree that it his intention to pass the Bill if possible this session, and that if he does not succeed it will only be because the House or the Council rejects it, but the "Times" does not believe that there is any likelihood of " so serious a measure being passed by the present Parliament." It holds that "were it even to go through the Lower House, whjch is highly improbable, it would almost certainly be thrown out by the Legislative Council, if only on the perfectly justifiable ground that the country ought first to be consulted before bo large a new departure m regard to the law of real property as the virtual nationalisation of the land, jg

taken by the Legislature." That remains to be seen. Much will undoubtedly depend upon the exact shape which the proposals of the Bill, or Bills, assume, but m any case some measure m the direction proposed is an absolute necessity and will assuredly become law at no distant date.