THE LAND BILL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1898, 5 November 1913, Page 8

THE LAND BILL.

PASSES THIRD READING; CHEVIOT LANDS. The Hon. H. D. BELL moved that the Land Laws Amendment Bill be recommitted for tho purposo of adding o. new clause. Ho said he proposed to ask the Council to agree to tho addition of a new clause dealing with tho Cheviot settlement lands. The Prime Minister had stated, ho said, that tho purchasing provisions of the Bill did not affbet Cheviot "lands, but somo doubt had arisen as to whether this was indeed tho case, .and the clause was being added for tho purpose of making it quite clear that the Cheviot lands could not be purchased, under tho Bill when it became law.. If,"however, the Council refused to add the new.clause, ho believed it was still fairly clear-that tho purchasing provisions of the Bill did not apply to Cheviot. •

The Hon. J.' RIGG moved that in addition a now clauso bo added to repeal certaiu provisions of the Lands for Settlement Act, 1908, dealing with the compulsory acquisition of private holdings. There seemed to bo a disposition, ho said, 'to treat the large land-owner very gently. The provisions to which ho took exception wer'e those permitting owners to put their own value on their holdings,- provided they paid land tax on that value. This, Mr. Rigg urged, made it easy for the wealthy man either to hold his land or to get more than ■his due if tho land should be takqp. Tho Hon.; H. D. BELL opposed the amendment. 'Ho said that the abolition of this provision would take away from the landowner the measure of protection he now had, and would give tho Government a power that would amount to confiscation.

The Hon. J. ANSTEY urged that tho Chovibt tenants ought to have the samo right of purchase as tho ordinary holders of small grazing runs. He opposed Mr. Rigg's amendment, on the ground that- the repeal of the subsidiary roll provisions would leave open tho possibility of some land being taken at very much below their value. The amendment was defeated, and tho' Bill was.recommitted on Mr. Bell's motion. The new clause was added to the Bill. No Laments for the Leasehold. The-Hon:' H. D. BELL then moved the third reading of the Bill. All that tho Council had added to the > Bill in Committee, ho said, was not matter of nearly so great importance as tho matter already in tho Bill at the second reading. Ho did not, therefore, wish to speak -at any longth iu support of. the third reading. . Tho Hon. J. ANSTEY protested against the passage of the Bill, saying that he believed it would lead to absentee occupation of the land. - Tho Hon. K. A. LOUGHNAN said that as a leaseholder he'was not greatly perturbed by the grant of the freehold, for, after all, ife- was no new thing in the land laws'of the country. For tho first 15 years of the Liberal regim.e there had been no such thing as leasehold. Thero had been three tenures— casE freehold, deferred freehold, and a freehold iu disguise—tlio 991) years lease. Under all these tenuie3 everything in the nature, of unearned increr ment liaH been given away. Sell tho Endowments.■ The Hon. O. SAMUEL offered to the Government his most • hearty congratulations' for the progress they had made iu reforming tho land lawß of the country . As ono who always had approved of the option of the freehold being given to. tho tenants of the Crown, ho viewed tho passage of tho Bill with satisfaction, but it did not go far enough. Ho would never bo content until the tenants of endowment lands were, given tho right of freehold. For thoso endowments were endowments only in name', and- they had been so named by the placing of a kind of tapu on a certain amount of land then remaining unsold. ' The Government in power must have realised that the country would not long support their leasehold policy, and they sought to roserve all the unsold Crown lands from sale. y

The Hon. SIR WILLIAM HALL. JONES said he was .disappointed with the speech of tho Hon. 0. Samuel. It was during his short term of office that a Bill was printed allocating the endowments to definite purposes, education, old ago pensions, and hospitals and charitable aid. He would still like to see our endowments allocated to specific purposes. He believed that the 'leasehold system had been carried through satisfactorily in tho years before he had left the Dominion, but for all that ho'had no regrets over the abandonment of the 099 years' lease, and lie had welcomed the introduction of the rcnewablo leaso. The fact was, however, that of the land policy, which he aiid others had supported in another placo, plank after plank had been thrown overboard. He was disappointed also to find members who had supported the leasehold policy in tho past now. helping to put the freehold policy through. i Where Is the<Country Colng? One other'feature of the'' Bill to which he desil-ed to refer was that empowering the Government to borrow £600,000. Ho knew that this was no now power, and that it was necessary that the Government should have it. But on tho general question of borrowing he could not tell where tho country was going to. Ho was glad to see tho Government retain this borrowing power, :but he would beg of tho honourable gentlemen and his colleagues to seo that the authority here given was used with all judgment and care, especially at a timo like this whoil land values wero too high. Some of them. had heard tho .phrase applied to our borrowing—"onougli to mako,a sane man pause." Ho believed these were tho words used by Mr. Ballance many years ago, but our borrowing in recent years had been something he could not understand. And this section of tho Dill had gone through the Council without, he believed, ono singlo word reforring to it! Did honourablo members realiso where they wero getting to? —that during tho last five years thero had been more money borrowed and our debt increased by a larger amount than during tlie whole of tlie fifteen years of tho Ballanco and Soddon Governments.

Mr. Jcnkinson: Hear, hear.

Sir William Hall-Jones: "iloar, hear" says the honourable gentleman. But wliat has ho been doing since this has been going on to stop borrowing?

Mr. Jenkihson: Tell us how yoli can stop it.

Sir William Hall-Jones said 'borrowing must not be stopped until tho condition of -tho country was such that it could go on without outsido aid, but thero was a difference between the reasonable borrowing of former years and tho reckless borrowing of more recent times. Facts and a Prediction. "Wo havo got to rcduco tho volume of our borrowing," ho said._ "Wo bave seen what tho London money market can stand. Wo havo seen thero something very liko a strike in regard to underwriting. There are thoso among tho financial people in London who resent Now.Zealand coining so frequently on the market, but you will always get in London what money you require providing it is a reasonable amount. Do honourable members realiso this? —Tako your Year Book of-last year and you will find that between 1891 and 1912 the debt increased by forty-five millions. How many hero have taken tho trouble to work out what has been paid in interest in that time ? They will find it is over forty millions. You are paying £3,300,000 a year in interest. But I venture to make this prediction—that allowing for tho liabilities which had to bo taken over by the present Government when they came into office, when tho end of their terms comes, you will find tho debt will not have increased per annum as much as we at present have to pay for interest. I will pay the .present Government that compliment, because I see signs of what I believe to bo an improvement in bringing things within reasonable bounds. To ston borrowing would be madness, would hring about stagnation that we could not get oyer for years, and they are doing the right .thing in tapering off, and bringing things within a compass that will be right ami f? 00( l f° r this country! I shall bo very glad to help the Government, or any Government, in bringing about such a change." . Referring especially to the Bill, he said that ho had found in it many good points, and ho would support it. 1 1 ' Well Spent?— Not All. The Hon. J. E. JENKINSON admitted that the country had been borrowing too heavily, but he said the Council had certainly protested against borrowing. Tho hon. gentleman,had omitted to say, however, that much of the money had been borrowed for reproductive purposes, and it had been ■ well spent. Sir William Hall-Jones: Not allj oertainly not all. The Hon. H. D. BELL said he did not agree with what tho Hon... 0. Samuel 6aid about the National Endowments. He thanked members for their assistance in putting tho Bill through. The Bill was read a third timo on the voices. , i , ACCOUNTANTS BILL. The New Zealand Society of Accountants Amendment Bill was read a second timo. The Hon. H. D. BELL said that ,the reason for tho passage of the Bill was that tho society wished it to bo made impossible for members to resign from tho society in order to escape punishment by tho society for professional misdemeanours. The Council rose at 4.10 p.m.