HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 23, 11 August 1892, Page 2

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Wkllinqton, Aticust 9. Replying to Mr McGnire, the Hon. Mr Ballance said he was willing to refer to the Public Accounts Committee the claims of settlers within the New Plymouth Harbour rating area against the colony, and if honourable gentlemen were satis--1 lied with that reply he should move to i that effect. | Mr McGnire moved the adjournment of the House, and said the Premier's reply was a very unsatisfactory one. He suggested that a Commission be appointed to go into the whole question. ' The Hon. Mr Ballance said the Government bad never admitted, nor would they admit it now, that bondholders had any claim on the colony. After a discussion the subject was dropped. The interrupted debate on the motion of recision of the vote of censure passed on Mr Bryce was resumed by Mr W. P. Beeves. He moved an amendment that in view of the eminent services rendered to the colony by the undermentioned gentlemen, now no longer members of the House, it is not expedient to retain a permanent record of the votes of regret or censure passed at various times with respect to each of them for unparliamentary language used in the heat of debate or for disobedience to the Chair, and that this House, therefore, directs ■ that the entries in the journals — Messrs H. E. Curtis, Vincent Pyke, J. D. Ormond, W. Gisborne, Sir Julius Yogel, arid John Bryce— be expunged. The amendment was agreed to. The Hon. Mr McKenzie moved the second reading ot the Land Bill. He thought every person in the colony had a a perfect right to say under what laws the lands should be administered, and no particular class should have any right in that respect. It had been asserted that he was determined to do away with the freehold tenure, but all he asked for in the present Bill was that everyone could choose their own tenure. He had more than once stated publicly that he would be the last man to interfere with a Crown grant when once issued, but he contended he had a right to propose the terms on which land should be taken up in the future. The Bill allowed the cash system of purchase, occupation with the right of purchase, between 12 and 20 years and perpetual lease, and he intended moving in Committee, that lease, should be perpetual instead of 50 years only, allowing the Crown the right to say* that they Bhould not dispose of it to any person who already possessed too much land. The Bill was very near what the Bill of last session was, but one alteration was that they were going to deal with the Land Boards of the colony and make them elective. As to the one man-one-run system, he had provided that this could be done so long as small runs should not exceed 5000 acres and for large runs they should not exceed a carrying capacity of 20,000 sheepMr Rolleston congratulated the Hon Mr McKenzie as he had considerably modified some of the: provisions of the Bill. In his opinion the land question should not be made a partj question at all. It could not be to tbe advantage of settlement that speculators and monopolists were brought into com" petition with bona fide settlers, and the optional choice )f tenure proposed by the Minister was, to his mind, very mischievous. He had not much faith in the Hon Mr McKenzes professions about the freehold, as the Premier had frequently advocated the nationalisation of the land, and Ministerial utterances had been decidedly opposed to granting the freehold to perpetual leaseholds, which was altogether different from the perpetual lease system which he (Mr Rolleston) had instituted. Mr Hutchison (Waitotara) said they were told that the cash system was retained in this Bill, but what kind of cask system ; namely, that a man must pay the whole price of tbe land und get a receipt, but he could not get a Crown grant for seven years. The Minister for Public "Works said the man who bought land with borrowed money, simply put money in the pockets of the speculator, but by the perpetual lease little money was required, the improvements belonged to the lessee, who also had power of transfer. He challenged Mr G. Hutchison to prove that the Government during the recess had ever said that they were in favour of abolishing the freehold, either on the public platform or in answer to deputations, and he asked could the hon member show anything in the Bill relating to land nationalisation. Mr Bruce expressed himself as being in favour of ths spirit of the Bill as far as it went in preventing the acquisition of land in large quantities, but he objected to it on the ground that it did not give sufficient facilities for acquiring freehold, and also in regard to some of the regulations regarding residence. He contended that the regulations of the Minister for Lands would result in disaster to the small farmers. He also expressed the opinion that settlers would not be denied the privilege of freehold, and then moved as an amendment : " That, while in the opinion of this House the Land Bill contains some useful amendments in the existing law and should at an early date be read a second time, this House considers that the extent to which tbe Bill aims at restricting the freehold tenure is unsatisfactory, and calculated to be injurious to the best interests of settlement." The Hon Mr Fergus seconded. The Leader of the Opposition, in reply to the Premier, said he concurred with the amendment. The Premier said he accepted it as a motion traversing the policy of the Government. August 10. Kichardson resumed the debate .on the Lund Bill. He said tbe fresh tarn bad been given to the debate by the Premier deciding to accept Mr Bruoe's amendment as a no-confidence motion. The Premier might well have accepted that nmendment in a non-party spirit, as the Minister for Lands had stated the Government were not averse to freehold tenure. He quoted from returns to show that the figures quoted by the Hon. Mr McKenzie last night as to the number of selectors were not correct*. Ministers bad been crowing all over the country in the recess about tbe success of special settlements and jet the Crown lands report stated that settlement was being starved for want of ronding. He had no objection to tbe perpetual lease proposed by the minister, as long as the optional choice of tenure did not include caih. There should be two systems of per* petual lease one with the right to acquire the freehold and the other without that rigbt. The great blot in tbe Bill was the provision for special settlements. Mr Lawry spoke in favour of the Bill, Captain Russell condemned the proposal made by the Hon Mr McKenzie last night to grant perpetual lease m perpetuity at 4 per cent. He said that the Government had treated Mr Bruce's amendment as one of uo confidence because they were afraid to allow their supporters to express their honest opinion on this freehold question and wanted to force them into the Government lobby against their own convictions, Messrs T. Thompson, Buckland, Fish, Taylor, Scobie Mackenzie, Mackintosh, W. Hutchison, Buchanan, Blake, Roller ton. Duncan, R. Thompson, and Lake also spoke. The amendment was lost by 39 to 21. The Minister for Lands then replied to the criticisms passed on the Bill. The motion for the second reading of the Bill was theu put and carried on the voices, and the measure was referred to the Waste Lattde Committee.

■