The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, FEB. 21, 1891. Alterations of Land Laws

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 103, 21 February 1891, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, FEB. 21, 1891. Alterations of Land Laws

It is an indisputable fact that the s marvellous progress of settlement on Crown Lands in this part of the colony is largely due to a clause introduced in the conditions under which lands are leased of the right to acquire j the freehold. We quote the sail clause from the Crown .Lands Guide '. for January, 1891, published by the authority of the Hon. John McKen zie, Minister of Lands : — " Any lessee j holding land, outside, a proclaimed D goldfield or any education or endow ment reserve, shall "have the right of ~j purchase whenever he shall have fuli filled all the conditions of improve- .: ment, at the price fixed at the tim'u : when the lease is granted ; such price to be the capital value on which he , has paid rent at 5 per cent." Iv a i speech to a deputation made at Palm erston North, reported in our last a issue, Mr McKenzie sail his Government intended, if possible, to do away ; with the deferred payment system i, ] altogether, and continue the perpetual ' lease and cash systems, without giving ■ lessees the option to purchase. The objection he held to the purchasing 1 clause was that many people thereby | obtained Crown grants and sold their land to their neighbors, and so created ■ large estates. This is not very far \ seeing, because under the cash system, although no person can acquire for cash a greater area on application , than six hundred and forty acres of first-class land and two thousand acres a of second-class land in any one land district, it is not provided that after he has so acquired it that he may not " sell it to the adjoining land owners." We think that instead of Mr - McKenzie preventing the formation of large landed estates, he is doing | his best to encourage it. The pre- ® vention of farmers of small means . acquiring a title to the lands they c settle and occupy is a most unique _ way of stopping the rich man from buying up land. It is a passion in all men who claim to be freemen, to be freeholders of the soil they till. r They will submit to oppressive taxation, disastrous seasons, disease among their flocks anl herds, with the t slightest expressions of grumbling i discontent, so long as they have the I satisfaction of knowing that the land r is their own. They will improve it • in every possible way for their own i benefit ; and for the benefit of their families or successors, year after year adding to its value, by overcoming obstacles and removing difficulties, of which those who dwell in the towns have not the feeblest conception. It is the hope of owning the land ultimately that has induced so many to ■ take advantage of the system which as yet obtains, and undertake the cli arance and cultivation of the bush lands available, a task which requires more courage, energy, perseverance s and confidence in the future than any other pursuit in the world. To think that men with the qualities indicated • are going to waste their labor and • the best years of their lives on land from which they may be expelled at any time if a bad season put them behind in their rents, and to become the " tenants of the Stafr>," is a huge blunder, and goes far to prove that the liberalism of the Liberals is somewhat contradictory.