THE LAND BILL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2214, 18 October 1907, Page 3

THE LAND BILL.

AMENDMENTS IN COMMITTEE

Frcss Association.

Tho House resumed at 7.30. Clause 01C.—The Board may Horn time to time, subject to the of tho Minister, sot apart areas o rural land and declare the .same .avail able for occupation without payment, but subject to a condition as to cultivation aiul residence. 1 is provided that the Board shall publicly notify the opening or suui lands, and that the area a 10-wcd to he selected by each person of tl o age of IS years and upwards shall not exceed 200 acres, and for person*, under IS years 00 acres. It is provided also that the total quantity selected bv any one family or number of persons forming olio household shall not exceed 500 acres. Residence is to be compulsory, and shall commence in tho case of bush lands within one year, and in the ease of open lands within six months after the application is approved by the Board, such residence to be continuous for seven years. A dwelling ol a permanent nature to be erected within IS months; one-fourteenth of the area of open land and onc-twenty-fifith of bush land to he cultivated' each year, so that at the end of seven years one-half of the open land and one-fourth of the bush land lie under cultivation. Selections are to lie forfeited if the conditions are ■not complied with, and selectors are to pay the cost of survey. Mr. McNab, in reply to, Mr. Parat.il, said the clause referred to Maoris as well as Europeans. There was no distinction made. In supporting the clause he said it would e iicourage settlers to apply for the poorer lands in Nortli-east Auckland, which could not be profitably worked if a. large price had to be paid. Mr. Duncan, in supporting the clause of which he is tho author, said it would be better to have poorer lands taken up than let them run to waste.

Air. Massey said the clause was tho best proposal that the late Minister for Lands had over made. It was a proposal that lie (Mr. Massey) had advocated for a long time. lit would enablo the poorer gum-digger to take up lands which were practically given over to noxious weeds. The country would benefit by getting good settlers, who would be able to make portion of their living by gumdigging on the lands in the North of Auckland. Hr. Flatman contended that poor land was not tho place to put poor people on. Mr. Witty, in supporting the clause, said there were thousands of acres ill tlie North he would not lrave ■as a gift if he had to reside there. However, they were, he thought, suitable for gum-diggers to settle on. Ho added that there were roads passing through these lands, so that they would not cost much for ro.iding. Mr. Hogg said lie should imagine they could not offer anything worse to a poor man than poor land. He thought that those who managed to survive until they got the freehold would find themselves in the moneylenders’ hands. In his opinion the arid lands of North Auckland were not fit for settlement. Mr. Duncan said that if some such clause' was not agreed to certainly the lands would he idle for ever. Mr. Herries said Sir George Grey, Mr. John Ballance. and the late Mr. Seddon had advocated this system, and the Land Boards should be given tlie opportunity to try these lands bv throwing them open for selection. WELLINGTON, Oct. 17.

The clause was rejected by 36 to 25, Clause 62 passed unamended. Subclause 62, providing for a 33 years’ tenure witli perpetual right of renewal for successive terms of 33 years was passed, and sub-section 3 was amended to fix 41 per cent as tho rental on the capital value. Mr. McNab moved a new clause, in substitution of clause 66, whicliprovides (1) that in pursuance of any requisition gazetted after the lastday of March, 1908, no compensation shall he payable to any person by reason of taking such land (coriipulsorily) other than compensation assessed and determined in accordance with the provisions of this section, (2) compensation shall be separately assessed in respect of the unimproved value of the land and improvements, (3) unimproved value shall bo deemed to be the amount assessed in tlie district valuation roll in force under the Land Valuation Act, 1896, at the time when the requisition or taking land is gazetted, (4) if the land taken or part thereof is not separately valued, but is only part of a larger area so valued, the part so taken shall be deemed a proportion of the valuation of the larger area as the Com t determines, (5) the value of improvements shall be assessed as at +lie date of gazettin D the requisition, (6) in every case there shall he added to the tota am-oun-t payable an respect ot mum proved value a further sum calculati follows- (a) Not exceeding £SO 000, a percentage of 10 per cent, thereof ; (b). exceeding £50,000, a percentage of 10 per cent, in respect of £SO 000 and of 5 per cent, in respect of residue; (7) the owner of 'anv estate or interest separately valued in tlie valuation roll may intimate to the Valuer-General that lie requires tho valuation to be .increased, -and the Valuer-General shall insert tlie increased valuation on the subsidiary roll; (8) every such notice to he given either in the month of March or within one iiionth after the Valuer-General notifies the revision of valuation; (9) no requisition for taking land to be gazetted at any time within one month -after the date of the Valuer-General s notice of revision ; GO) "Movements and unimproved value ito ■ have-the same meanings .as undei the ' alii a t.irm Land Act Amendment Act, 1900- (11) when the valuation roll contains separate valuations m respect of separate interests of two ot more persons, the value of such land shall be deemed the aggregate amount of such separate valuations; (12) in every case tihere shall bo auelect to tho total amount of compensation payable .a. sum equal to 2,- per cent, by way of compensation for compulsory taking and for any loss incurred thereby. . Mr. McNab, -in explaining the clause, said it was desired to give owners of land tho right to raise their valuations to any extent they pleased, and the valuation so placed upon the land would be accepted by the Government in -acquiring the land under compulsory powers. Hie improvements would he valued separately, and the land tax would he paid on tho owner's own valuation. Mr. Massey condemned the proposal and moved to-strike out the first part of tho original clause as a prior amendment. After a long debate Mr. Ma-ssoj & amendment was negatived by 4o to 21. Other amendments were negatived, anil tlie debate on the Minister’s proposal is proceeding.