OTAGO WASTE LANDS BILL.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 206, 21 October 1873, Page 7

OTAGO WASTE LANDS BILL.

d« aortonni htotbato Jo rfjtind m\S ni ,-ofa j ( ■Hh t Pro m Hmsard we:take<the:,following por. ( tioris bf' th& 'discussion" in l the Legislative j. ‘ ’Council upon the above Bilid-^br.-tT ! . The Hon.. Captain f innjpying the \ second reading of this‘Bill, 1 said 1 it was the annuyl.tribute which the -Province of Otago £ offered the Council., It was a yery .pimple and I harmless measure, and he, proposed, making £ it more so if the Council would allop it to be 1 read a second time. Last year they permitted the Province of Otago'to offer 30,000 i acres of land uhder a* System of deferred pay- r J ments ;.,bpt there had beery a-political crisis J in Otago, and the consequence was that those' blocks were not declared upon for.selection,; Only one block of 5000-acres was thrown open, and it,was all taken up in a short (jme. ■l' The present Bill-proposed tb 'ihc|eas(y‘'be area of ground to be open for selection, * it was proposed td throw open a number of 1 blocks in various parts of .the Province. The u .itotal, as, proposed, by the Bill, was 100,000 1 acres ; but: he, in Committee, wouJcPpfdpose 1 to cut that down to 40,000 acres, which would f be 10,000 acres more than last yeaftH That 1 Would, he thought, be quite sufficient for the 1 ■ doming year. ;H6 trusted that’the Council would ‘ allow the Bill to be read a : second ‘ time ; and he might,point out that it'would 3 be referred to the Waste .Lands Cpvnmittqe. [ The Hon. Colonel Whitmore intended to • move, as an, amendment, that the Bill : be ’ J read a second time that day six months, and i 1 by that time they would have had an opportunity of judging how far the Act now in force had been impeded in its operation by some of the chronic, squabbles, of the Otago Provincial Council, and whether or not it was ; .likely.to. be beneficial to the country,, | , 1 After a considerable debate,. au ■ - ; ‘ The Hon. Captain Fraser, in reply, said 1 that honourable gentlemen seetped to forgetthat this system of-deferred payments had ( been introduced hr all parts of the Colony : excepting Canterbury, where it Was attempted i to be brought into operation last year ; and 1 he believed that where it had been tried it 1 had , been found to work very well indeed. f It was rather hard'that his honourable friend ; Colonel Whitmore should have moved the amendment, and the Hon. Mr Stokes should f have seconded it, considering both honorable ( gentlemen came from a.Province where there 1 .Was not a single acre op,agricultm’ar : laTld:tQ : give to an emigrant. It was pot fair that ' they should wish to interfere wit.h a Province, like Otago, which was prepared riot only to : give the people living iu.it an opportunity of 1 Settling on the land, but also; to invite people. 1 from all parts of the Colony—from Hawke’s Bay and anywhere elser-tocgo, ami settle on, the land. . ~.=>: ■ . ■ The Hon. Mr Stokes said the .honorable gentleman was labouring under a false impres- ' sion; Immigrants introduced in+o Hawke’s : Bay could find laud to settle upon. The Hon, Captain Fraser : They gave them exactly what was objected to ip this Bill—land on deferred payments. They gave them special settlements, and not only let foreigners - have land oil deferred payments, btit gave 1 them food, medical attendance, and every : comfort. That Was what they did in Hawke’s Bay.' His honorable friend Colonel Brett last year was a “ cockatoo,” "and stood up for the rights of the people ; hut now he had become a squatter he had changed his tone. He was very sorry his honorable friend Dr Pollen should haye put on his centralising' spectacles to have found out the proviso in clause 47. Ho (Captain Fraser) was aware of the clause, but hardly expected the expo-., sure to come from the quarter in which it did. The Hon. Mr Campbell said no portion of the 30,000 acres under the old Act had been .opened up under the system of deferred payments. The honorable gentleman did not seem to understand what he was Saying. Five thousand acres had been opened up and sold. He believed the honorable gentleman was right in saying that the land Was worth from £B to £4 an acre, and he had seen a letter in Which it was stated that if 30,000 acres more were opened up, it would all be taken up in a few days.' The reason why it was desired to offer the land on deferred payments in Otago was, that they did not wish the poor man, who had been spoken of before the Council by an honorable gentleman. to compete with the capitalist. A gentleman had 400,000 acres adjoining his run, and the Government persuaded him to give up 2500 acres, and allow the people to settle Upon it, giving him compensation. : Well, what did that gentleman do ? He walked into the office and bought it all up himself, with the exception of 200 or 300 acres. It Was found absolutely necessary, for the protection of the poor man, to allow land to be ,! - taken up under a system of deferred payments, as there was such a grasping disposition on the part of snraeof the runholders. His honorable friend Mr Scotland said the other day that there was an objection in the Council to allow the poor man to settle on the land, and he (Captain Fraser) now saw that there was some reason in that remark. The only chance a poor man had to settle upon the land was Under a system of deferred payments ; and if they gave him land at £4 per acre, it would be a cheap bargain, because that land would pay back to the State at least £4 a year in taxes. He did not expect, when he undor'took the charge of this Bill,' tlfaTit would, pass through the Council. It. was all very well for honorable gentlemen to say that he should give reasons why it should become law ; he ftow gave thbse reasons,’ namely, that it was necessary to prevent the poor man from having to compete with the graspingrunholders, and he hoped his words would gdf all over the country when he said so. The

object of the Bill was to prevent the poor man from being crushed by the grasping runholders and .capitalists, He did not wish to see Otago hi the hands of half a dozeri individuals. He liked to see a Province with a bold yeomanry—-a'country’s pride. Where were;,they in Hawke’s Bay ? : That Province was simply one large run. The Hon. Mr Stokes hoped the honorable gentleqian would expirse him ,for saying that bold yeomanry would be found in as large or greater ’ proportion in Hawke’s Bay as in Otago. ■

■ On a division being taken, Colonel Whitmore’s amendment was carried by 25 to 3. The minority were, Captain Fraser, Mr Holmes, and Dr Follcn,