GRAZING RUN TENANTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1232, 14 September 1911, Page 4

GRAZING RUN TENANTS.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE PRIME MINKTEE. The disabilities of tho holders of small grazing runs under the Rating Act' Amendment of last year was put before the Prime Minister by a deputation from Mankawalm which was introduced to Sir Joseph Ward by Mr. Edward Newman, M.1 , ., yesterday. Tho case for the deputation was stated in The Dominion of yesterday's date. Shortly stated, the Rating Amendment Act placed pastoral runs aud small grazing runs on tho same footing with regard t'o rating as other Innds—instead of bcinjj rated under a plan whereby "rateable value" meant "the sum which, invested at G per cent, would yield a yearly sum equal to the rent paid therefor by the tenant'," tho pastoral lands of tho Crown are now rated as if they were freehold land, on tho capital value. Tho rent, the original basis of rating, being a fixed quantity, the rates wero likewise fixed, but rating in tho capital value meant increases in the amount; of the rates corresponding to the increase in tho capital valuo of the lands. The principal speaker was Mr. A. C. Manningtou, who instanced various cases of hardship which had been .brought under his notice. It was stated that tho runholders were quito awaro of tho fact that their contributions to the local bodies were relatively small, compared with those of holders under other systems of tenure, but, it was contended, the Rating Act Amendment amounted, virtually, to a breach of contract between tho Crown and its tenants. . Tho Primo Minister, iii reply, said that tho reason for tho amending Act was tliat strong complaints had been made by local bodies that the conh'ibutions of small and large grazing-run leaseholders were inadequate. As t'o tho contention that a breach of agreement had been committed, it had to be remembered that there wero circumstances where tho continuance of an existing law might involve a real injustice to other people, and that tho removal of this injustice was the first duty of tho State, even if the alteration of tho law, which might bo necessary to attain that end, involved, inter alia, a modification of certain existing agreements. However, concluded the Prime Minister, tho representations of the deputation would receive his careful consideration.