LAND BILL---1913.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1851, 10 September 1913, Page 7

LAND BILL---1913.

FREEHOLD POLICY-EXTENDED, IMPORTANT CHANGES, v ACQUISITION OF-PRIVATE LANDS, CRUSHING AGGREGATION. V • Tho Land Bill, which presents tha second instalment of the Government's policy, was introduced in tho House of Representatives by tho Primo Minister' yesterday afternoon. Explaining tho more important features .of tho Bill,. Mr. Massey stated that Clause S amend- j ed tho provisions regarding remissions of rent to Crown tenants. Clause 10; provided for tho revaluation of blocks' on which the valuation was at present.' so high that settlers were unable to make ends meet. An interesting proposal embodied in Clause 18 was intended to benefit people who were at : present unable to go on tho land, but I. wero desirous of becoming settlers in" tho future. It was. provided tliat cucli; people might take lip Crown lands, pro- j i vided they satisfied a Land Board aa | to their b,oua-fides, and carried out doublo tho improvemcnta that would, ■under ordinary circumstances, bo required. In consideration of this, ex- ' omption- from residence would' bo granted for an extended term.

A Reservation of Minerals. Another clause was of great importance to tho Thames district. Undor tho existing law relating to tho Hauraki pastoral licenses, insufficient encouragemont was given to settlers' to make improvements. Some 250,000 or 300,000 acrcs wero in question, mostly pastoral country. It was fit to carry a shcop to tho acre, but was at present lying idle. Tonants on this land wero given tho option, in the Bill, of acquiring tha freehold, hut mineral rights were safeguarded. Mr. Witty; You aro not giving them tho minerals?-

Mi'. Massey: No; not at all. He continued that this point ought to ha looked into by Parliament. Tho pre-; sent position in regard to tho. ownership j of minerals was 'unsatisfactory. /Tlio clause under review provided that i£ at any timo minerals should bo .discover-! Ed 'on any section, tho land might be '' resumed by tho Crown for mining purposes. In such a caso compensation, would bo paid to tho tenant'in respect ) of surface rightsonly, "surface rights"to - includo improvements. Deferred Payment. Clause 35 of the. Bill amended tho provisions regarding deferred payment ■ in the Act tof last year. By that Act | land'was Raid for by ten payments ex-j tending over a period of nine _ year a. . Numbers of settlors had complained to! him that the ternr allowocl was too I short, and in the Bill it woo provided) that land might bo paid for in twenty/ payments over, a periodi of, 19 - years., llliiis; he thought, would not make any', difference to tho revenue derived by tho Crown from land sales, bccauso ho was quito satisfied that the concession'would | onablo a largo number of peoplo to go in for the freehold in addition to thosewho wero able to do so undor the present condition?. Roatilng Out-Dfstrlots, The roading of out-districts was dealt' with in- Clause 44. One of tlio_ drawbacks of somo settlers in out-districtß was that, while they contributed to the revenue of tho country in. paying interest, and, in somo instances, in pay-] ing off capital value, thoy had not been provided with reasonable road access, i Tho Bill provided that money contributed to tho revenue by such settlers should go towards making roads in their local districts. Pastoral Lands. The Bill oontaincd very importan' provisions with regard to pastora licenses. Lands held under pastotm licenses in Otago and elsewhere had, during recent years, become vory much' depreciated in value. Although tenants' wero -supposed to receive compensation for improvcmentSj they vory seldom re-1 ccivcd compensation for many of tine; improvements they effected. For in-/ st-wico, a rabbit fenco was not an provement under tho Act, and a man who orected a rabbit toice received no compensation for it oil terminating his lease. The Bill provided that tho\ sottler, at tho end of his term, should. / bo paid for all improvements of a | permanent and substantial character. Mr. Witty: Is it retroactive?' I Mr. Massey: No. A tenant, he add-| ed, would liavo tho right to take tho | land for a second term at a rental iixctt bv the board, or i», the event of its being docidod to subdivido tho nui, the' tenant would liavo the to take any, ono of the sections he might choose, at l the upset rental and for a term equal to that of his original license. Freehold of Settlement Lands. Crown tenants of settlement landa t were given the Tight.to acquire tho free-1 liold of-their sections. Tins had been promised last year, and the Government* was giving effect to its promise in the' Tho Minister for Lands wns authorised to raiso £500,000 for the acquisition of ' lands for settlement and \ £100,000. for tho purposo of roading.-i theso lands. 1

Buying Private Lands. A now departure and a yerv import-; ant one was contained in Clause oi. It referred to the taking of private lands , required for settlement and provided that tho Minister for Lands might, at j any time, by \ notice on writ-' inc. notify a landowner tliatj his land, or a portion of it, was required! for purposes of settlement. Aftei tho service of tho notico on the owner J I no notice requiring an inoreaso m valu-i ation should bo given by the owner nor j accepted by tho Valucr-Genoral. , Witllin six months of a landowner being no-/ tifiod by the Minister in this way an • owner must take ono of three courses. Ho must subdivjdo and open for sale in subdivisions tho land described m tlio notice, or submit tho land to the Government of tho day with a view to it 'being subdivided and sold, and tho proceeds 'handed to the owner. Failing one of these two things being done tho! land would be taken compulsorily under' tho provision of tho principal Act. •. Conditions of Subdivision. In tho event of an owner electing to himself subdivide his'lahd ho must carry out tho subdivision within, two years into areas, none of them exceeding tho maximum area permitted under Sectioii 97 of tho Laud Act, 1908. In subdivid-, ing his land tho owner must lay out,' construct, and dedicate roads as required by, the Public Works Act. 190S, to enable tho sale of such subdivisions. Within throe years of tho subdivision. the owner must causo tho subdivisions' to' be offered for salo; by public auction or private contract at reasonablo upset prices and upon reasonable tonus and conditions. Preventing Aggregation. ; There was another provision, also a now departure, with regard to aggregation of privately-owned land. This part of tho Act provided that tho term . owner meant tho beneficial owner of tho legal and equitable fee-simple, and further that if any land was owned jointly or in common by two 6r more per-, sons, each of tliom should bo deemed to jflw. ftWHOtvJ.L&n&jvould bo.deomod

to bo acquired by way of aggregation within the meaning of this section of tho Act when any person became the owner thereof who was already the owner of any other land. Further, wlion any person became the owner at one and the' same time of two pieces of land previously owned by different persons, each of these pieces of land would be deemed to have been acquired by way of aggregation. In making this provision he was not thinking of cases in which it was in the interests of the State and of individuals that owners should be allowed to.purchaso adjoining land. He knew of hundreds of such cases and did not proposo to interfere with them. x • • Drastic Proposals. The Bill provided that tho Minfster might require tlio Board of Land Purchase f Commissioners to report to him upen tho circumstances of any case of aggregation and as to the suitability of the land for acquisition by the Crown. Tho board, after giving the owner of the land a reasonable opportunity of being heard, would then report to tho Minister its ..opinion upon the matter soreferred. .If . the board reported that, ill its opinion, such aggregation was contrary to tho public interest in' respect "of the close settlement of land, and that the .land . or. any part of it was .'suitably,,for acquisition by the Crown, then the Minister might recommend the Government to take the land by procla'.mation- Compensation would be paid by the Crown in the-manner provided by the Public Works Act, 1908. "There is the' provision," said Mr. Massey; ""it has given, me, and those who have worked with me in.preparing this Bill, a great deal of thought, and I believe that it is. a satisfactory provision." - V,. Limitation Difficulties. . The Prime Minister went on to remark that some difficulties had arisen under the operation of the limitation clause. Numerous deputations had waited iipon ■him', ,and had stated that the financial institutions .of the .country .would.not; lend to owners of land to ( which the; limitation provisions ;'of thejAct of last year applied. In connection with the clause dealing with aggregation, it was provided that tho owners should be given a period pf two'years, in which to dispose of their land, before the limitation clause applied. ' In concluding, Mr. Massey said ithat lie did not pretend that the Bill was perfect, and was quite willing to receive ■suggestions from, honourable members. He would accept amendments from all Tnnnrl the House if lie considered that they were in the . right' direction. He ,was convinced that when'the Bill reached the Statute Book it would be a valuable addition to the legislation of this Country. Mr. Davey: Do you propose to take agricultural - and pastoral land under the Public Works Act?

. Mr. Massey said that' compensation .would be. paid imdpr that Act. ■ Mr. R. W. Snjitli: Is there nothing "there for grazing run holders? Mr. Massey said that there was quite a: lot. He was giving grazing run holders the right to renew their leases. Also foe was putting the '85 men in the same n'tion as the '92 men were placed in year.'. Most' of ' the' grazing runs ''■were National Endowment lands, and ' nine out of ten of them came within the limitation provisions: Occupiers of' . other grazing runs would have the right to acquire the freehold at the original value;' Provision had not been made in this Bill for the case of a number of grazing run tenants at.Ohakune, but they had not been overlooked. Provision will he made for them in the' Was-hing-up Bill. (Hear, heari) POINTS FROM THE BILL. - I-.;,:: For the purposes of , the limitation clauses ofthe Land Act, 1908, la.nd held by a company of less than 20 Elhare-. holders shall bo deemed to he held in common by every member of the company, and land held l by any member of the company shall be deemed to be held by the" company." Every person acquiring on allotment mcler the Act who. disposes of it by Wimment or sub-lease sihall be disualified for seven yea,rs . unless the o,ird otherwise determines from aciiiring any Crown or settlement Lands offered for sale by auction lider Section 123 of the-Land; Act, 190S; arid not-soM, shall for sis months afterwards bo open for sale at the upset price at, which they, wore offered at /amotion.. i

/ Where a leaso or license under Part 3 i of tho Land Act, 1903, is forfeited, the . lessee shall, unless the board' determines ! otherwise, be disqualified for seven I years from acquiring any Crown or settlement lands.

Where Grown laud is exchanged for land privately owned, the differenco to 'be paid or received in cash may .bo 25 l»r qent. of the value of the Crown land so ern.nted instead of 10 rx>r cent, as nrovidedi in tho Land Act, 1908. Tho reservation may be lifted from ' areas of national endowment land, orovided that areas of ordinary Grown land :of approximately enunl value are pro- ! claimed national endowment land in lieu thereof. Any. difference in value is to | be paid out of tiho Land for Settlements into the 'National Endowment t'Account, or vice versa, 'as .the case may • reou-ire. '-l , ; ' ■ Timber standing on Crown'land may lie disposed of in the same manner as if it were within a State forest.! Tho reservation' .of land ' within ft. kauri gum reserve may ;l)c;,lifted." All moneys received after the passage of the Act, from the sale, lease, 'or other disoosal of North Island Trunk railway..endowment lands shall be .deemed ttf : be land' revenue.^ When tenants of settlement lands elect to acquire the freehold, the price is to be determined as follows: —A new valuation shall he made under the provisions, of. the Valuation of Act, 1908. "From this amount shall be deducted the value of improvements effected by the lessee. The result will bo the present capital value. It is in no case to bo less than the original capital value. The amount /by which the present capital value exceeds the original capital value being ascertained,- an actuarial computation shall be made of tho present value of such excess. The amount, if any, shall bo added to the •original capital value, --and.; the .result -shall bo the price".''"""'"' "