LAND PURCHASE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1514, 9 August 1912, Page 2

LAND PURCHASE.

REFORM GOVERNMENT'S POLICY. SOME BUSH EXCHANGES. The member for Hawke's 15ay, Mr. H. M. Campbell, indulged in some playful reproaches of tho late Government on Wednesday in discussing a question of bis which hnd been answered. Important policy questions wero subsequently introduced into the debate. Mr. Campbell asked the Minister for Lands, (l) Whether the Government have purchased the Uiuuhaki Mock in Hawke's ■liny; and, if so, for what purpose; (2) whether various prices wero paid, and, if so, why; and (3) whether the land was valued in one or. moro blocks before purchase for land-tax purposes?

' And the Minister replied: The Governj meat has purchased the Oinahaki Block ' for settlement purposes. If the honourable member moves for a return the informalinn he requires will bo supplied. ' Mr. Campbell wanted to know lor what | purpose the Omahaki Estate had been ' bought. The estate had some blackberries ' nn it, and some rabbits, and a few doer, but very few sheep. Tho sheep. seemed all.to have gone, and tho rabbits and '. the deer wero migrating to a more generous soil. The blackberries alone stayed there, and he suggested jocularly that thero might be a lucrative new industry established there if a jam faeton- were opened on tho estate. He also condemned the purchase of the Tongoio Estate. - Mr. ,T. Vigor-Brown (Napier) said that tho settlers on the Tongoio Estate referred to by Mr. Campbell were perfectly satisfied. Ono man, who was a little weakminded when he first went there, had drowned himself. Mr. G. Hunter (Waipawa) said that ho wished to refer to a statement made by Mr. Brown that one settler on the Tongoio Estate was'weak-minded before he went there. There was 'nd foundation for any statement of tho kind. He (Mr. Hunter) had. himself employed tho man for some years. ■ MV. Brown accepted the correction. •Mr. G. N. Pearce (Pntea) averred that people had been employed at a wage of 9s. per day to pick blackberries on tho Omahaki Estate. So far as he know one section on .the estate was at present vacant. ~ Mr. Brown said .that every section on the estate was now occupied. Mr. G. W. Forbes (Hurtinui) defended the purchase of tho estate. Ho understood that the men' on the Land Purchase Board were capable and trustworthy men, and, if not, it was timo they were SC Mr. P :L.'''?£' Isitt (Christchurch North) said that the complaints made about the. purchase of the estate > were aspersions against the Under-Secretary for the Department and other reputable people.. It was, he declared, part and parcel of the policy of slander against which he had always protested. Mr E. P. Leo (Oatnaru) said he. did not want' to accuse tho late Government of making purchases for political purposes, but ho maintained that land was sometimes purchased at more than its real value. Ho instanced the Eldcrslie Estate (near Oamaru) at approximately .£25 per acre when tho • land was really worth about .£ls per acre. The purchase had been mndo by ill-advised people, and was a bad purchase. The local valuer had not been consulted before tho values were assessed.. . ' , , , , Sir Joseph Ward said it was absolutely contrary to fact that .£25 an aero had been given for Eldcrslie. Tho price paid was ,£2O an acre. Another Land Purchase Board and its valuers valued the land at i! 23 an acre. In addition 100 acres, valued at. from .£23 to .£27 had been secured without paying extra for it. His Government had never put any pressure, whatever upon the Land Purchase Board in connection with the purchase of estates and the estates acquired had been largely purchased from political opponents of the late Government. He understood threo Blderslie sections. had not been taken up becauso of the loading for roading. , ■ ■ Mr. Massey: What about the other loading? . , Sir Joseph Ward: What other loading?. Mr. Massey: I'll tell you presently. Sir Joseph Ward added that Parliament should rise up against the Government purchasing any estates at all, and instead of an imaginary increase in the graduated land tax they should put .an additional 25 per cent on largo landed estates. That was tho only way they could bring about quick purchase and prevent tho increase that was going on in the value of lands for settlement. People were being called upon to pay more for tho laud than they could make out of 'it. '•'■ Tho Hon. W. F. Massey (Prime Minister) referred to tho extraordinary speech delivered by tho late Minister for Lands. If there was ono point in the policy of tho Ward Government of which they boasted and upon which they claimed tho support of the electors it was tho Land for Settlement policy. Now, that after-, noon "Sir Joseph Ward had told them that it was wrong—that' it should bo stopped, that it should not be continued. He had condemned his own land policy and the policy of . the Government of w;hich he had been a member for-"21 years. -

Sir Joseph Ward: I did not. The Prime Minister said that what tlio lion, gentleman had said was that ho 'would not purchase any mora land under the Land for Settlement Act.' What had he (Sir Joseph Ward) suggested instead? A policy of cto'nfiscation. Tho present Government .would not pursue a policy of confiscation. The Land for Settlement policy would be continued on proper lines. The House.would be given an opportunity of amending the Land for. Settlement Act so as to make it more useful and ■so that the acquisition of land would cost the Government very little. Sir Joseph Ward:'l don't think that is possible all tho same. Tho Prime Minister said that his Bill would demonstrate the possibility. Tho member for Awarua had said that his Government refrained from taking part of Eldcrslio because an amount,of ,£6OOO was wanted for rending. As a former Minister for Lands, tho' lion, gentleman must know that.so. Inrgo a sum as .EGOOO was not wanted to-road an estate of 1000 acres in North. Otago or in Canterbury. The Prime Minister went on to state that tho late Government had given 'a rebate of ten per cent, on the rent payable by Crown tenants, but that the amount of tho rebate' had been .made up by adding ten per cont. to the capital valuo of tho land. '.'•.. Sir Joseph Ward: Do you say that that was done by Act? Mr. Massey said that if had been dono by order of (ho Government—by regulation—and was being done up; to'the present moment, . He only learned about it on becoming Minister for Lands. The Hon. F. M. B.'Fisher: You would never Jiave learned about if. if vou had not got there. Mr. Massey stated that half a million acres of land were at present on offer to the Government. * Mr. R. M'Konzic: At a price! •Mr. Ma«-ey said that only (hat day one of the.largest.blocks of land in the country had' lieen offered to him for. settlement, no hud referred the offer to tho Land 'Purchase Board. " Sir Joseph Ward complained that tho Prime Minister had not referred to what he had said. What had.been done by for-' mer Administrations was on- record, and could speak for itself. What he had said was that as a result of the appreciation in the prices l of land the time was coming when the Government would havo. to stop purchasing largo holdings, and resort instead to a 25 per cent, increase in the graduated tax on large holdings. Hundreds of thousands of acres had been offered to the former Government at a prohibitive price.

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