EXTRACTS FROM "HANSARD."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1910, 4 August 1888, Page 3

EXTRACTS FROM "HANSARD."

FAIR RENT OF LAND BILL.

In the House on July 17th, on the motion for the committal of the Fair Bent of Land Bill,

Major Steward naid, — Before thia BUI goes into Committee, aa I said nothing about it oa the motion for the second reading, I -rise to offer a few remarks, pincipally to express my earnest hope lhat the Government will, m Committee, adhere m tbe main to the Bill as they themselves brought it down. My reason for saying that is that I find the Waste Lands Committep, to whom this Bill was referred, have struck out so large a por tion of it that it ia practically emasculated and that most of the benefits which would ha\ c been conferred upon the people of the colony by passing the Bill upon the lines proposed by the Government will be loal if tho ill advised amendments of tbe Wasto Lands Committee be adhered to; There have been laid on the table of the House during the b Bsioa papers relating to the education reserves of the colony, and by these it will be seen that no less than j,300,000 seres of land are locked op by these reserves, If to these be added the harbor endowments, municipal endowments, and other endowment reeerves, I shall be speaking withm the mark when I say that the total area of these reserves is eomething lika two million acres of land. Now, though we are m the habit of often talking of millions m tbis House — recently of millions of money rather than millions of acreB — perhaps it is not readily grasped by honorable members what a million of acres really meanß. For a moment let us consider the fact that these two millions of acrea would he equal to a block of land roughly, a hundred miles long by thirty mi Isb broad. That is the enormous area tho Waste Landa Committee propope to withdraw from the operation of this Bill ; and let me point out that, while among thoae endowment reserves are Borne of the beßt lands oE the colony, yet m respect of these lands, as of other*, the tenants have, m many cases m years past, covenanted to pay rents which have become wholly disproportionate to the amount that ia obtainable from the lands by the occupiers. I hold mmy hand a letter from a constituent of mine on the subject now before tbe House. Datiog from Makikihi, the 9th July, my correspondent wrltea to the following effoot :—

" I notice by the papers that the Waste Lands Committee have altered the Fair Rent BUI ao aa not to give any relief to education reserve tenants, 'the very people who need relief more than any body of tenants ln the colony or anywhere elae. The Canterbury College are the most arbitrary landlords 1 ever heard of. There ia no relief for a peraon holding a lease under that body save the Bankruptoy Court or olearlng out of the country, whioh a great many of their tenanta will have to do. I oan give you lustanoes where tenants have paid them hundreds of pounds, and have then asked the College authorities to canoel their leases ; but the latter have refused to do ao (threatening the tananta with legal proceedings) aa long aa they were possessed of a shilling. I oan alao give you an Inatauoe where the land leaaed wan partly taken away by a river, The tenants prayed for a concession for land taken but the College refused to listen to anything. In this district, where all the land adj o.nt to the railway belongs to that body, the people are In absolute penury through tbe dealings of the College authorities. There la no private owner of land who will allow hia tenants to be driven to bankruptcy for the want of me9ting them fairly : it would not be to his interest to do so. lean assure you that it ia the earnest doaire of the psople of this distriot that the Fair Rent Bill should pass, and that m auch a form aa to include under its operation lands belonging to publio bodieß. We therefore trust that you will use every means m your power to secure this-.'' vVhen I havo said that that body — the Board of Governors of the College— holds m Canterbury no leas than eighty six reservoe of rural lands, of acreages ranging f torn fifty acreß upwards, totalling up an acreage of twenty-five thousand acres, and that much of thin consists of some of the very beßt land m tho Provincial District of Canterbury, it will, I think, be admitted that I have a right to raise my proteßt on behalf of my constituents and others ogainat the propoaal of tho Waßte Landa Committee to give no relief to the tenants of such a body aa thia. The same thing applies to the tenants of other bodieß m other partß of this colony. When I say, as 1 oan Bay f that m Otago alone there are no loeb than something llko eight hundred thousand aores ex eluded by the proposals of the Waste Lands Committee from the operation of this Bill, and something like two hundred thousand acres m Canterbury, I think it will bo agreed that ie is a matter of the very highest importance that the Government should atick to the Bill as originally proposed, and endeavor to carry it through ion those lines. If they do bo they will have my most cordial support, and 1 hopp they will succeed m carrying it; and I aloo hope that m Committee honorable members will give favorable consideration to a proposal wbjoh I shall then make for {.he Insertion of an additional clause, or, rather, clauses, enabling the Fair-rent Court not only to fix the amount of rent In oertaln oases, but also to make partitions, if required of largo blocks of country, which may be out ap Into smaller holdings, and to fix the rent for eaoh subdivision. I have nothing more to say at the present stage of the matter, exoept to express the hope that other honorable members will aleo deolare their Intention of going Into Committee with the view of passing the Bill m muoh the same shape as tbat In whioh the Government brought it down*

Mr Valentine.— l have only a few worda to say — that I thoroughly agree with most of the remarks whioh fell frem the honorable member who last spoke. I oan assure you, Sir, that In the district whioh I represent there are a considerable number of people In a very similar position to that of the person the honorable gentleman h.s just referred to m his district. I, for one, will oordially support him In hip Bndeavors to have the struok-out clauses reinserted In the Bill.

Mr Walker. — 1 regret very muoh that the Waste Landa Committee has seen fit to reoommend the omission of tho most important parts of that measure, aud I trust the House will not indorsa their Botlon. The honorable member for Wal.cf.to said that was done with a sense of what might happen afterwards, I think, probably, the Committee were a Uttie too cautious, and that it would have boen better if they had boen boldor. There is no doubt that the reserves whioh the honorable member for Walmate alluded to are a very large proportion of the publio estate, and certainly require to be treated In some sqoh spirit as this BUI indicates. 1 should also lljte to nay a few words with regard to the management of these bodies, beoauao, m supporting tbe second reading, I was perhapa Induoed to say something m regard to one of those eduostlonal trusts more to illustratn my thoughts than with the endeavor to convey a charge of harsh treatment, I do not at all wish to Indicate that In my opinion ttfolje bodies have been harsher landlords than they were obliged to be. Thsy have responsibilities, and tb»» we io unable, as prlv.f G Uncords would have been, to meet the requlreinpnto qf the oase, and to tmti the' obligations of (be