THE LAND BILL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2584, 5 October 1915, Page 9

THE LAND BILL

ALMOST UNCONTENTIOUS

A DEPARTMENTAL MEASURE

The Right Hon. W F. MASSEY (Prime Minister) moved the second reading of the Land Laws Amendment "Bill, which he said was mainly a departmental one.. There .w.ors fllauses dealimi

'with, soldiers who desiredl to take up land, and those soldiers who had l Crown land. .The Bill, lie thought, woiild not prove to be contentious. He explained the effect of : the olauses in detail. One of the | new' clauses had to. do with tho possible 'establishment of the wood pulp industry'in New Zealand 1 . The industry had never vet'been.established in the Dominion, but a. company had been'' formed and was negotiating with the Government for a block of forest land on the West Coast. There wore defects -in the existing law, However, which the' Bill sought to rectify. Another clause was intended to check aggregation by men acquiring by purchase .areas of: land adjacent to their own through their wives or other members of their families. • This} method of evading the present" prohibition bf_ aggregation would be mado impossible in future. Some time ago a clause was inserted in a Land Bill. providing for the revaluation of Crown tenants' lends. The object. of this was to reduce the burden on a. number of settlers whose areas had been grossly over-u allied. In some cases the lands were over-valuedl by as much .as 40 per cent. At that time he had thought that.the.State had better face a financial loss rather than lose good settlers," but now the worst of tho difficulty had been - got over, and it was time to take action to protect the State,: especially in view of the possibilities .of a slump. A proposal in the Bill provided .that if a man succeeded in liaving his: value reduced and subsequently sold his land at a price abov> • that reduced value he was required to make a refund to the Government of the . money the'payment of' which lie escaped by the reduction .of his rent.; A clause in the Bill .which might. _be contentious ' was ■ that 1 dealing with, gold fields" leases. Two years ago he had introduced a Bill to gtvo to holders of mining lands in the Hauraki Peninsula, tlie rigljt' to acquire the freehold. He had been' asked to. give to the holders of similar leases on "the West Coast a. like privilege, ijnd clauses were inserted in the Bill with this object. .The clauses' were inserted in. fulfilment of ti promise; he would not press them, and, the House oould do exactly as it pleased with'lJhem. He explained again ithe proposals in the Bill providing legislative machinery for enabling soldiers to acquire 'laud, eveu whilo absent on service/ ', ■ " v . '

'Mr. 'G. WITTY (Riccarton) said he thought it .was a . pity that contentious clauses, had been introduced into the Bill. He 'ivould oppose ;the granting of the freehold to'lessees of'mining lands'. The Hon; W. D.- S. MACDONALD did not approve of the clauses in the Bill relating;;to 'revaluation of, lands held under'lease from the Crown. No man could, have his land revalued until he had:been three years in occupation, but he could purchase the froehold. at tie; end of six years of ' occupation, and if land increased in value ' after tho Crown had reduced the valuation the tenant ■ would not ! sell at the higher price until after his ■ six years' term had expired, and then he could purchase the'; freehold. The Bill would be no;. protection to the State, and he asked the. Prime Minister to have the' olause examined carefully before passing it, .because he thought it was 'unjust to Crown tenants. He disapproved strongly of the pastoral lease tenuro, and Jie thought that soon the Government would abolish this tenure and give longer term leases to tenants. • The Hon. D. BTJDDO , (Kaiapoi) thought that it was high, time they had : .a consolidation of the Land Law Amendments.' '

1l A ss ?}'' I Propose to instruct the Crown Law Office to.. construct a consolidation during the recess. ■ Mr. BUDDO said that every consideration should be given to men occupying some of the State land j the State was really indebted to them for occupying the land, ; and: their tenures should be as wido as possible. The land would otherwise become unoccupied and a. place for noxious weeds Jnd vermin. As to the men who had gone to front, they should have preference of 'somo kind, and ho hoped the Minister would see that the clause in the Bill was no empty offer. / lr

Mr. J. ANSTEY (Waitaki) said! that in his opinion the provision for revaluation of rural Crown lands was the best thing in the Bill. >

Mr. R. SCOTT (Ofcago Central) said that the clause providing land for soldiers' was most important. He held that young men who had gone to the front should have the same privileges in regard to Crown lands a 6 those who stayed at home. / ■ • ' '

Mr. H. G. ELL (Ohristchu'rch South) considered that tho clauses relating to the fee simple of land were most contentious, and: should' not have been introduced. He urged the Minister to drop the clausos, for if they were insisted on there was bound to bo protracted delay. .. .

The Bill was read a second time withous further discussion. KAURI CUM INDUSTRY. The 'Kauri Gum Industry Amendment Bill was put through Committee with a minor amendment, rea<l a third time, and passed. The House rose at 0.40 a.m. till 2.30 p.m. to-day.