BRYANT TENURE POPULAR

Chronicle (Levin), 31 August 1946, Page 2

BRYANT TENURE POPULAR

j BUT R.S.A. REAFFIRMS ITS ! OPPOSITION j The figureg relating to tenures ' chosen by ex-servicemen who have . been successful in ballots for Crown land have been released by the Minister of Lands (Mr. Skinner). They are: — Selected on renewable lease, 170; selected under agreement for sale and piirchase, 246. 'Th Minister said that to date 594 selections had been offered for ballot by the Lands and Survey Department, but in 178 cases the successful applicants had not yet been required to choose the tenux-e they preferred. Thcy were employed on wages in the meantime carrying out improvements necessary to successful individual occupation of their sections, and as soon as these were completed the | value of the sections would be deter- , mined and they would be asked what ( tenure they preferred. ' ' When one considers there are 246 '. Bryant tenures o.gainst 170 leaseholds, ; surely this is a no-confidence vote in leaseiiolds, ' ' stated Mr. D. V. Bryant, ongmator of the forni of restricted , freehold known as the Bryant Tenure, in Hastings when comnientmg upon the statenient of the Minister of ■ Kehabilitation, Mr. Skinner, regarding tenures given to ex-servicemen under rehaoilitation land settiement schemes. '-It's extraordinary how .many ex-sexwicemen havfe taxen the Bryant Tenure when there are so f6w properties available without the deposits demanded oy the G-overmnent in cases where values are above tne fixed iimit, ' ' he said, He added tnat he was sorry for the man who had to take a leasehold jnuch against his will because of tiiis fixed Iimit. He was more sorry, however, for the rdan who had to finance by borrowing to enable him to pay his deposit and so secure a Bryant Tenure of ireehold. Arising from a request of Waikato K.b.A. for a statement of the association 's pclicy on this issue, and a request from Mr. Bryant for the asso- . ciation's support for a campaign he is at present conducting, the fodowing report was prepared by the Lands Sub-Committee and adopted at its meeting on July 23: — The Bryant Tenure is an agreement for sale and purchase which on the representations of Mr. D. "V. Bryant, of Hamilton, the Governmcnt has agreoct to operate as an altcruative tenure to the 33 years' renewable lease for ex-servicemen taking up Crown lands. The N.Z.R.S.A. has never been in f avour of this tenure, and at the time of its adoption the Dominion president made this fact clear in the press and to local .branches. The tenure developed fxo.m tfiat adopted by the Waikato Land Settiement Society (of which Mr. Bryant was the founder), when it established men out of employment in slump years, on areas in the Waikato. At tho request of the society tne Government took over the development and settiement of much of tne society 's land just prior to the war. The legislative provision for the tenure is the Land Laws Axnendmsnt Act of 1938, and the main provision is in Section 19, which is to the efl'ect that, imless with thc prior consent of the Minister oi Lands, the occupier cannot alienate, mortgage, cliarge or lease the land or any part oi' the farm or estatc otherwise than by will, any right, title, estate or interest in the land whether legal or equitablc. It will bc recalled that in 1943 the R.S.A. conducted a campaign to have the right to acquire the freehold made part of the Land Settiement Scheme of the Reliabilitation Board, and it was at this stage that Mr. Bryant persuaded the Prime Minister to have the Bryant Tenure adopted as au alternative tenure to the leasehold. The Governmcnt took no notice of the R.S.A. 's objections and with the approaching General Election the campaign was discontinued in order not to embroil the association in a party political issue. HOW TENURE OPERATES It was very soon found that there were very great difficulties in the administrative and financing sides of the Bryant Tenure, and the Rehabilitation Board made it a compulsory provision of the choice of this tenure by a successful ballottee that he should immediately raise from the State Advances Corporation a Rebabilitation loan and pay off the whole of the loading. This did not relieve him of the "tags" of Section 19 (quoted above), though the title was immediately issued in his narne and an agreement for sale and purchase — is never drawn up or signed. A man can alter a renewable lease to a Bryant Tenure at any time after he has drawn a section provided he has not completed the signing of documeuts. As in a renewable lease — and underthe Government "s policy — the land itself (i.e., what is known as the Frarie value) cannot ever become the property of the ex-serviceman. ^ The j-iand Settiement Board decided" that the applicant for a Bryant Tenure should mak-e a cash deposit towards nis settiement under this tenure to fit in with the- general Rehabilitation farm finance provisions. This is limited at £500 (exeept only .in special circvunstances) , and the figure generally adopted to date is £300. This is in no measure a "set-off" against renewable lease, which is, in the case of a dairy farm, anything from £1000 to £1500,' and often higher. Deposits are also asked for in " * over-scale " leasehold properties, and in cases have gone as high as £1500 for larger sheep properties. It is estimated that in the North Island over 60 per cent. of thc men prefer the renewable lease, while in the Sbuth Island the proportion is very much larger. This assiimption is based on an examination of a number

of ballot entries. The operation and restrictions of the Land Saies Act have established a restriction on sale and stabilisation of price that the Bryant Tenure was designed to safeguard. The Association decided to inform the Waikato R.S.A. and Mr. Bryant that it re-affirms its opposition to the Bryant Tenure and that it cannot accept i± as ftn alternative to the Renewable Lease in the place of the policj'- affirmed at conference* to the press for the right to acquire the freehold of Crown leases.