HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1723, 30 November 1887, Page 3

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

TUKSDAT— NOVBMBBK 29.

The House met at 2.30 p.m. QUESTIONS.

Replying to questions it w»s stated that the Naval and Military Settlers Land Bill would be brought In thia session ; thftt no complaints had been received by ibe Surrey Departments respecting the passing of the work do no by village ■ettlers, and miking payment for the same before the arrival of the village steward ; that the reduotlon of future judges' salaries would receive consideration with Other retrenchment proposals ; that the intentions of Government with respect to the North Island trunk line would be explained m the Fublio "Works Statement ; that the proposals relating to the permanent artillery and the volunteer force would be explained In the Defenoe estimates ; that it waa customary to allow draughtsmen In the Survey Department to undertake private work after office hours, and to discontinue the praotioe would lead to much Inconvenience ; that it was lnpossible to tax foreign bondholder?, if It were not Government would be glad to do co j that the question of supervision of egress from churches, theatres, etc, wai one for munleipal authortfes, but Government would give Instructions m the matter ; that preoedenoe of Parliamentary business would be considered during the reoess with a view to make it more businesslike, quicker, and more nieful. THE LIN9 ACT. The Bon Mr Richardson moved the ■eeond reading of the Land Act Amend* mentßlll, wbioh he explained was brongbt In by Government m order to meet the necessities of the oolony m regard to land settlement. He referred to the various systems which had been brought into force with results not altogether satisfactory. At present there were 14,000,009 «orei of open and 6,000,000 acreß of bush land open for settlement. Latterly the lands had been so administered as to diseoirsge cash purchasers, and the mistake was cften made of placing people on land without capital of any kind. To these causes he thought many of the unemployed were due. The four prlnoipal feature! In the Bill were that the choioe of tenure was left to selectors ; the land waa to be classified ; the abolition of waste land boards ; and relief to existing settlers. From a monetary point of view the perpetual lease system was the best, but it was completely overshadowed by the desire to seoure freeholds. Not more than 640 seres of first class and 2000 acres of second class land could be purchased, and this would avert the possibility of large holdings. The cost of land boards lest year was £2210, which Government thought too much. Their duties were to be performed by the Commissioners of Crown Lands. The Bill also dealt with land belonging to endowed bodies. Di Hodgkinson agreed with the Bill except the abolition of land boards Mr Mackenzie ( Waihemo) said that the Bill upset the whole of the land legislation which the Premier's late col'eague, Mr Rolleßton, had brought into effect. He advised the House to look carefully into the various clauses, and it would be found that they were sacrificing the future to present necessities, Practically the Bill meant tbat more money was to be obtained for public lands tban m the pa.Bt, for rhongh the selector was supposed to choose his owp tenure, the whole aim of the Minister of L&ndg was evidently to encourage cash purchases. The debate was interrupted by the 5.30 Adjournment. lhe House resumed at 7.30 p.m. TALIDATION WfcL. The Public Proclamation Validation Bill, to enable the date of the Mayora) •lection at Dunedin to be altered was passed through its remaining stages, THE LAN» SILL. Mr Mackenzie resumed the debate on the Land Bill. He criticised each clause, and raised various objections to some of the ohanges proposed m the existing Act. He averred tbat the measure favoured dammylsm and urged the Minister to keep the land boards and make them eleotlve. Mr Valentine was satisfied with the Bill as a. whole, wbioh refleoted great credit on the Minister of Lands. He thought it a pity that the honorable gentleman had not gone still further, and abolished commissioners of school land endowments. The land legislation of the late Government had dono exceeding harm, and it was high time a remedy was applied. Village settlements would never be a success while they were planted so far from commerlcal centres. He hoped to see the Bill amended m the, direction of disposing 1 of land by ballot instead of a*uotlon. }5.t B,uch»nan also congratulated Mr Richardson on his wotk, aod prophesied tbat it would most with general acceptance throughout the colony. . In answer to Mr Mackenzie ha pointed out that all the liberal provisions of the existing Act wonld be still available under this measure. He knew for a fact that many settlers had been driven from the colony because they could not get land cm deferred payment or perpetual lease. Now it was proposed to allow them to select their own tenure. He had not quite made up his mind as to the wisdom of abolishing lands boardß, for he was afraid it would throw too muoh power into the hands of the Minister of the day.

M? DnjMiji bold that oonnty councils should be given powef to ol^sify land a'nd> In fact do a great deal of work now done by land boards, the abolition of which he agreedwith,

Mr Co wan gave a general approval of the Bill, and commended the desire of the Minister to relieve settlers, bat he would pot l'lp to see land boajda disappear. &jr £osndowments,' his own opinion' was t^ey had not been judiciously mansged, »pd he therefore agreed with the proposed ohange. Me Seymour Intended to support the seoond reading because the good m tho Bill predominated over the bad. He hoped to see the clause relative to the Und boards exercise m Committee, and suggested that if payment to members Here stopped they would get just as good men.

Mr Beetham thought the Waste Lands — .... ww nuum uaa ie neceeßary to make some tmendmsnts In the BUI, but on the whole.it was a businesslike production. He thought the proposal to' opon the lands to sale bafore survey » wloe one, for big tint; wwy double fettleri

I had to be refused land because the survey stuff could not overtake their work. The 1 minimum price of land m Wellington district had been fixed too high. He disagreed with the limitation of purchasable quantity of first class land to 640 acres, nnd also thought the land should be divided into three classes instead of two. It would bo moat unwise to abolish the land board system altogether, but It ought to be made partly eloctive. M»jor Steward considered the Bill a distinot improvement on the present Act with the exception of the clause relating to land hoard?. Sir Julius Yogel thought it meant neither more nor less than a forced sale of Crown lands, and would tend to increase rather than diminish the size of holdings. The result would be a war between the landed and the landless classes, and m the end a very severe graduated land tax. Dummyiem would be concealed only by the thinnest veil, as a man could make a purchase m each survey district. He would be able to Becure as muoh as 100,000 aores m all. They had for some years beon going m tho direction of conserving the land for purposes of settlement and population, and it seemed to him that they were now about to undo all the good that had been done by the last two Governments. Under clause 3 a large quantity of pastoral land m Canterbury, the leases of which would shortly fall m, could be bought for 10s an acre, though thia land eight years ago had been withdrawn from sale on the ground that it was worth more than the statutory price of £2 per acre. The abolition of waste lands hoards was a piece of centralisation which wonld not be acceptable to the colony. In other respects tbe Bill was an objectionable one as favoring speculation, and he hoped to see it very materially altered by the Waste Land Committee. Mr Fisher denied that there was any attempt to force sales. Government only desired to see the land pay for the administration of tbe law relating to it. During Sir Jalius Vogel's term of office the result had been a defiolenoy, and they were trying to remedy this. He quoted Sir Julius Vagel's Ashburton speech to show that he had changed his views abont the land legislation of the paßt few years siaoe leaving the Government benches. The whole of his remarks were dictated by hostility to the Government. Mr Seddon, m the course of a lengthy speech, opposed the Bill, and moved It be read that day six months. Mr Taylor said that, with the exception of fixing the prioe, all that was sought by this Bill oould be effected under the present Act. Mr Guinness moved the adjournment of the debate. Government opposed the motion, and on a division tho ayes were 6, and the noes 38. | At half- past two the second reading i was carried by 34 to 4, and the Bill waß referred to the Waste Lands Committee. Tho House then rose.