PARLIAMENT IN SESSION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 10, 7 October 1907, Page 6

PARLIAMENT IN SESSION.

4. SPECIAL' REPORTS 'AND '.GENERAL- POLITICAL NEWS,

TOE LAND BILL' <h- —— . BiiCOND HEADING CARRIED. THE MINISTER'S REPLY TO CRITICISM. The debate oil tho second reading of ilio Hon. R. M'Nab's Land Laws 'Amendment. Bill was continuod in.tho Eariy hours of Saturday morning after The Dominion went to press; There were only-about twenty members in "> the Chamber, and after two o'clock halfi of them wero asleep most of the tune. Mos.t of the speakers occupied < their full half-hour in 1 delivering , .iddresses, that had evidently been pre pared for a larger audience. - I ', Trie Word socialist. I .. Mr. Hauari, (Invc'rcargill) . depre- . * cated what he described as. an attempt :to block progress ,by using the word, Socialist as a contemptuous epithet, i If tho leasehold advocates wore Socia- - lists, so also were . private landlords who leased their land whenever' sucli a course was moro, advantageous to • them than selling it. '. Mr. l'"ield (Otaki) said the Bill was a fair compromise between leasehold : and, freehold principles, but as an ardent freeholder lie would still endeavour to sccuro tho option of the freehold. Mr. Rutherford (Hurunui) said there' was a very- grqat difference between taking up ordinary Crown ' land and taking up partly-improved'farms under the Lands for Settlement Act. Settlers of the: former class deserved special •< . consideration. He approved of., the clause giving preference. at land ballots. The optional system had his strong support... . 1 . Mr. Wilford enlarged upon tho advantages of freehold, both in the public interests /. an,d:. that of, tho individual - Bettler. ;Ho buttressed his arguments . : ! Tvith'statistics of the progress of G«r- '.:•/;. many , under a freehold- system. \• He ■ suggested that in view, of the , clause; VV making the taxation value ■ of the . : land the basis of tbo price to, be paid ■ on its. compulsory acquirement, facilities should bo given to landowners to have increased values put upon their . land. - - • ; -, ■ ' . - : Too Fatigued. Mr. Remington expressed surpriso • and sbme indignation at tho action of , the Governriieut in forcing members to .debate such an important Bill at a time, when thoy were; too fatigued to'do it justice.. Ho himself felt physically un- . able to say as much on the subject as -ho wished to. 1 He was in favour of the freehold being given at the original valuo with reasoriable limitations." - I - Mr. J. C.;, Thomson endorsed Mr. > . Remington's protest against "the conations under which members were compoll<4 to debate the Bill. He s&id ho - believed tho tendency of the time • was towards freehold. The Minister's Reply. -The Hon. R. M'Nab m.replying did ■ not occnpy his full half-hour, resuming his seat at the sound of the five 'minutes bell. It was then 3.30 a.m. In his' opening remarks Mr. M'Nab said/ that ho should have directed at-. V.' \tentionmore than'he did at-the time • of moving tho second reading of the ■ Bill, to tho work of the Lands Committee' in connection with tho mea'si ' ure. His experience of private com- •••.. mttees extended over ; something like , twelvo sessions, but he : had-~never; known better work done than in'this case. Knowing the unsolfish' work in the select committco of members who' held, very, strong'views on this_question, he felt very' confident in approaching the committeo stages of the BQl.' Ho felt that tho samo sentiment which was so strongly evidenced in the select committee would, be; present in ■ the House in eudeavouring to provide 'a. thoroughly good measure. He returned thanks to,the committee. Replying to criticisms, ho said that the .member, for .Wallace' had asked if the ttovcrnment: intended to ;do anything in /the . Bill.-relating to educational leases that were falling out.' He (the ■ Minister) was. not, at liberty to say, .what had transpired in the Lands Comtv; . .' jnittee, but the whole question of on'dowments for primary and secondary educational endowments was receiving full .attention, and/he hoped to intimate at no distant date what'ehanges * the Government proposed to introduce. . It was- possifilo that some clauses deali ing witii the disposal of these , lands, and the future administration of. tho endowments might appear in'the En-' tlowment Bill. The Minister, thought that, under the system proposed in the Bill, a tenant would have a better , - v \ .imethod of receiving the value of his improvements than under the old way of having to depend on his successor, v 'The Crown took all the risks. Reply- .: ing to Mr. Fisher, he said that the ; • 'optional system only related to part 3 ; of the Act of 1892, and thero wero > , iuindreds of thousands of acres to como under other parts of the Act. The 'optional • system . only related to so'. //, . much of the lands as may bo disposed of under part 3. To show to what ox.teiit land in the different portions of the -country came under, the optional ■ -, -tenure, he said that in 1905 133,104 acres were disposed of, in 1906 132, 1483, and in 1907 161,867 acres. So that compared with tho total areas that ' passed through the control,, of the Land Boards and were disposed of to tenants' (including in tho general term -"tenants," the holders of small grazing runs, pastoral leases, and miscellaneous they would seo the area of land 'that came under part 3 was only' a mere bagatelle cornered,' with the ,total. They were rapidly approaching , - -the ■ time when under the present land , laws; there would bo no optional teni. ' ( ure in 'parts of the country. In WestJand,'for three years, thero had been none at all; in Otago and Canterbury jtho amount, dropped down last year to acres in each province; and from l.lis own investigation, though the inI'clieations wero not very apparent, . J,there would be no extensive increase iof tho area to bo disposed of./, flhe Bill Read. _ 02ie Bill ' was then read a second time by 38 votes-to 9. Tho mombers .... against the' Bill were Messrs. Hardy, Harris, Malcolm; Major, Honsfton, Mander, Okoy, Massoy, -and Lang.