THE NEW LAND ACT.
Unquestionably the most important measure of ihe recent session is the Land Act Amendment. Act, which introduces some new and most desirable - improvements upon previous legisla--3 tion. It's cential features are the right r to selectors to free choice of system of J tenure, the classification of the land 1 into first and second-class, and the reduction of price and the extension of tbe area of holdings of second-class I land. Hitherto it has been a common i cause of complaint that although a wide variety of tenures and conditions of tenure, from freehold to perpetual 1 lease, was provided for, the choice of \ system really rested with the Minister or with the Land Board, and not with the selector, that is to say, that only one particular system was applied to one particular block of country, the result being that the selector under a given system was only able to select out of such lands as were opened to selection under that system, while the Minister was enabled to give undue prominence to such system as he himself preferred, to the neglect and starvation of others. As for example, the last administration favored the perpetual lease, and the best of the land was restricted to that tenure to the discouragement of freebold for cash, or upon deferred payment. The new Act changes all that, and henceforth all Crown lands pro claimed open for disposal, can be either bought for cash or upon deferred payment, or can be taken up upon perpetual lease according to the desire and convenience of the selector. This has long been manifestly desirable, and if Mr Richardson never achieve anything further, the carrying of this one great reform will, for all time, place him m the first rank of New Zealand statesmen. Again, it is wisely provided that the selector need not wait fot survey, but can select before survey, if he so desires, so that all lands proclaimed open for disposal are at once available for selection without the necessity of having to await the convenience of the Survey Department. The provisions for classisfication and for the extension of area of holdings of second,-class lands are identical with those which were carried m the House of Representatives, upon the motion of Major Steward, m 1885, and were contained m the Bill of that year, as sent up to the Upper Chamber. There they were struck out, and formed i one of the subjects of conference be- 1 tween the two Houses, but were, with < other matters of difference, sacrificed to j save the Bill. We are very pleased to ' see them restored and made law mMr ' Richardson's Act. They provide that ] before notifying lands as open for ' selection, the Governor is to require 1 from the Surveyor-General a report « m accordance with which the land { is to be classified as of the J first or second* class as the case may J be. Thereupon the Governor is to fix \ the price at which the land shall be j open for selection, which price is not f to be less than twenty shillings per acre m the case of first-class, nor less than ten m the case of secondclass land, saving only m Nelson,* Marlborough and Wellington, where the minimum price of second-class land is fixed at five shillings per acre. It is provided that no person may purchase for cash m any one land district a greater area than 640 acres of land oi the first class, but the maximum area m the case of second-class land is very - wisely extended to 2000 acres, being the same area as proposed m the rejected clauses of 1885 before referred to. Hitherto, for the want of such a provision as this, the taking up of land m Canterbury for hill farms, or as they I have been termed " mutton-farms " has been a practical impossibility, for under previous legislation a holding of 1500 or 2000 acres could only be acquired for cash by a payment of £z per acre, involving an outlay for land alone of to while if it was desired to take up the land under the deferred-payment system, the upset { price was 50s per acre, and the area of • each holding was restricted to the ludicrously insufficiently acreage of 320 acres-=-balf a square mile. Under 1 the new Act second-class land proclaimed open for selection at 10s par y acre for cash can be taken up on ° deferred payment at las 66. per acre, l payable m instalments of xs 3d per a acre per annum during a period often years, at the expiration of which the \ holding becomes an absolute freehold. c . Henceforth, therefore, instead of having J to pay down to acquire a 2000 acre block of such land, the purchaser can acquire such a property * by an annual payment for ten years of * per annum. This will present , the opportunity to hundreds of farmers' sons, thrifty ploughmen and shepherds Jj who have saved a few hundred pounds each to establish homes for themselves, c and will, we are persuaded, do more to further the profitable settlement of the * country than any measure which bas , ever been passed by the Legislature. c The conditions of improvement with ] regard to these larger holdings of second-class lands have also been necessarily modified, those applying to 320-acre holdings of agricultural land * being manifestly unsuitable. Here , again the proposals of 1885 have been reproduced ; the selector (instead of £ the requirements of the old Act) being * required to effect substantial improvements during the first year of his ( tenure to tbe value of ten per cent of * the price of the land — equal to is 3d : an acre m the case of land bought at ' 12s 6d, or £i2s m the gross m respect ! of a 2000-acre holding — during the second year to the value of a further . 10 per cent, and within six years from ] the date of his license or lease to the ( value of 10 per cent more, or 30 per 3 cent m all. These conditions are ' exceedingly liberal and easy of fulfilment, and we hope that no time will ] be lost m proclaiming as large an area as possible of second class land open ior selection, as we feel sure that the opportunity will at once be eagerly i availed ot. We heartily congratulate ! Mr Richardson upon bis Bill, which 1 will be welcomed as the largest measure < f reform m our land legislation ever passed by the Legislature.
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Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1732, 5 January 1888, Page 3
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1,090THE NEW LAND ACT. Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1732, 5 January 1888, Page 3
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