LAND SETTLEMENT

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 343, 18 February 1902, Page 3

LAND SETTLEMENT

In the course of a conversation with a leading official in the Lauds Department, the subject of the Kawhia Block, which is shortly to bo offered for settlement, came under"discussion. The official ridiculed the contention that the State should retain the fee simple to the land, and that tho Land for Settlement Act should be so amended as to vest the power of reduction or remission of rents in the hands of a board. “ That argument,” remarked the official, is a proof of the ignorance of the system ■ which prevails in ssme quarters. Without some inducements, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to get the right class of people to settle upon the lands. Take the case of a young man of 20 or 25, who pays high rental for land up to the age of 60. Is that a prospect which many men will caro to face ? Again, what a hard life is that of a settler with a wife and family who goes into the back blocks, far away from public roads, in order to carve oat a home in the bush. When a Crown tenant wants his rent reduced it is not dealt with by the Minister, it goes before the Land Board of the district, who make a report or recommendation to the Government on the case. The remission of rents must appear iu the Supplementary Estimates. The Rebate Bill proposed to encourage tenants to pay their rent promptly, in order to earn a discount. Tho power was taken out of the Minister’s hands and vested in those of the Commissioner of Crown Lands and the Receiver of Revenue, both being statutory officers.