HILLERSDEN STATE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1236, 19 September 1911, Page 3

HILLERSDEN STATE.

ITS ACQUISITION URGED. DEI't'TATfOX TO TIIE I'IUME ; M IXISTKI'. A deputation representing the Mairaw , Land and Railway League, which was introduced to the Primo Minister by Mr. : J. Puncan, M.T\, yesterday morning, ' urged the acquisition of the Ilillersden ■ Estate in Marlborough. The estate is held by trustees, and consists ot about 88,000 acres of freehold and a similar area of leasehold. It is situated about twentylive miles from Blenheim. Marlborough, it was stated, is suffering from the fact that large areas are held by a very few [ people—36s,ol)o acres held by eleven people —and it was argued by members ot the deputation that the law should be altered so as to limit the value of land held by on© person to .£50,000, after which amount the tax should be made much heavier than at present. The land could bo easily subdivided; at present it is being worked by a manager representing tortv-nine legatees—mostly absentees, to whom XIO.OOO ■ is sent out of the Dominion every year. • Only some nine of the legatees reside in 1 the Dominion. The deputation also urged ' the construction of a railway from Blenheim to the Hope railway, which would ; open up enormous areas for laud settlement, and could be made revenue-produc-ing in a very short time. It was alio stated that the goodwill of Crown leaseholds in Marlborough is being sold at threo times the original cost, and that there was every reason to anticipate a good demand for the land if the estate were acquired. It was thought that it could ha obtained for about .£IIO,OOO. The area held under lease from the Crown only brought in a rental of .£3OO a year ami carried 12,000 sheep, and when the leases fell in shortly the area would bo blocked from settlement through the fact that tho frontages were included in the freehold area. A member of the deputation who knows the country said the area would easily cut up into some fifty or sixty sections and carry a. large population. The Prime Minister's Reply, Tho Primo Minister stated that inquiries had been mado about the Hillcrsxlen Estate since tho matter was last mentioned to him, with the result that the price asked was found to be excessive from the point of view of those who would settle on tho land. This had prevented the Government taking action in the matter. He was anxious to have the estate cut rip, but it would not do for tho Government to pay a price that ivould mean imposing a tax upon the settlers that they ought not to be called upon to pay. There were people ivho were very ready to accuse the Govcrnnmt of paying excessive values, and the Government had to be oil its guard, and had been all along, in connection with that matter. He had known cases in. which tho Government had been asked to pay .£lO an acre more than an estate was worth. If the Government had yielded, and settlers had taken up tho land on that valuation, and bad seasons had come, the Government would quickly have been accused of doing something it ought not to .have done. Landowners had placed values on their lands far beyond tho working values, and that had been a deterrent to tho Government acquiring land for that purpose. No doubt a change of system was necessary. It was perfectly well known that everything possible had been done by landowners to prevent land being acquired at a fair value. At one time landowners"put their valuations up to an amount which necessitated their paying high-rates, in order to deliberately prevent tho Government acquiring estates at all, and that was done under tho advice of well-known lawyers with a view to stopping the operation of the Land for Settlements Act. Then the Government altered tho system, and now it had to alter the system again. The Government, wanted to pay a fair value for the land, but .it was not warranted in paying excessive values, which would be against the interests of the settlers who went on to the land, and would render tho Government liablo to adverse criticism. It looked to him as though they must devise some system of acquiring estates at a fair value. The Government had had a good deal of difficulty about estate:, in Marlborough, owing to the fact that excessive prices wero asked, but ho would have further inquiries marie. Even when tho Government took estates compulsorily—and very few had been taken that way—dt was very difficult to get them at a fair value. The evidence of other owners wa> entirely on the sido of thos? who had to sell, anil all tho efforts wero directed towards extracting the highest price from the Government. As he had said, some change in the system was required. They must iiave laud for the people, and they wanted to prevent people paying exorbitant prices. In one instance tho Government was asked to acquire land at ,£lO an acre more than its value. In another case, in tho , North Island, he was urged to buy an estate which was; afterwards sole! at XU,OOO less than he was asked to pay. Tlu Giveinment was anxious to obtain land, but it was always being asked to pay more ttian it was worth. 110 thought ho was right in saying that the Government never had an estate offered at a price at which it could accept it. It had to do what was right to the people, and to protect tho Government itself against charges of carelessness. But he would have further inquiries made in this particular case.