The Land Bill

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 28, 3 September 1891, Page 3

The Land Bill

The Land Bill has been amended by , reducing the value of the improvements required to be made on cash land before the issue of Crown grants, from 40s to 20s an acre for firsfc-class land, and from 20s to 10s for second-class land. This is one of the portions of the Bill that we have on several occasions drawn forcible attention to, and we are glad to see that the Minister of Lands has had the good sense to diminish the amount of the favour "which he proposed to confer on men with money. But though this small concession has beet* made, the vicious principle of the Bill still remains intact. No man can get his -Crown grant till seven years after he has paid the cash down for his land. Hence, he cannot raise the money on his holding to carry out the improvements required by law, for he has no title deeds, and therefore no security on which he could borrow, except at usurious rates. If poor men be foolish enough to indulge in the luxury of acquiring land for cash, they will be far more in the hands of the money-lenders than they would be under the present system. Instead of borrowing, as they would under the existing law, at moderate rates from respectable capitalists, they will have to place themselves in the hands of Shylocks, who will exact their pound of flesh regardless of all consequences. — Press,