THE NATIVE OBSERVE AT GREYMOUTH.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1267, 21 August 1872, Page 2

THE N ATI VE OBSERVE AT GREYMOUTH.

MAJOR HEAPHY'S REPORT. We have already quoted from Major Heaphy's. report the history of .the ?ir r cumstancea 1 under which greater part of Greymouth' was made a Native Reserve. In the remaining part of his report Major Heaphy states the reasons for and against selling the same. He states the following as BEASOKS FOR SELLING- THE RESERVE. (a) Incentive to improvement of building, (b) Diminished cost of insurance, (c) Increased facility* of realising and raising money on household property, (d) Diminished rentalo. (c) Abolition of objectionable clauses in leases. (/) Transitory nature of present income. (a) All the buildings in Greymouth are of wood, or of wooden frame, and galvanised iron covering. It is very desirable that brick or stone should replace this material, both on sanitary grounds and for greater security against fire. It is not probable that brick or stone houses will be built on the short terms of the present leases. On all gold fields there is a great amount of social hurry, and the absence of a lasting tenure to land must tend to increase this. Nothing that could be done by the Government would conduce more to the benefit of the town, of Greymouth than the judicious conversion of the existing leases into absolute conveyances. (b) From, the statements of Messrs.* Perkins and Greenwood, it appears that the rates of insurance against fire in the town are :— For detached houses - 2£ per cent. ": „ houses onMawhera Quay - ■-- ■--• 7f „ i; „ hotel property -10 „ „ Mr Greenwood states that the losses by ' fire amounted, in 1869, to L 30,000,? and, again, in 1870, to LSOOO. Scarcely any of this loss of L3s,ooowas covered by insurance. Personß best qualified to form a reliable opinion state that there is no probability of any restrictions being placed against building with wood within the townwhilst the tenures are merely leasehold. (c) Legal men state that /much greater facility would exist for the mortgage and, sale of household property if the land were actually owned by the inhabitants. (d) The committee of leaseholders appointed to confer with me were of opinion that the sale of the land to the original tenants might result in a lowering of rent to the derivative tenant. I may state that only in one instance have I heard of a complaint of excessive first charge; The rates paid by the derivative tenants are, however, very high. The following case was not apparently considered an extreme one : — Mr W. S. Smith rents from the Native Trust the sections 213, 214, 214 a, comprising 4a. Or. 32p. at an annual rental of L2O. He occupies with his own villa residence the whole of 213 and a portion of 214 ; 'he sub-lets about one-third of the .whole, at an aggregate rental of LBO, and has still a piece .of vacant ground. It is proper to mention, however, that Mr Smith has laid out a considerable amount in the improvement of the roads about the property. I may here mention that the amount offered by Mr Smith for the fee-simple of these three sections is LBS, or about one year's income from his sub-lessees for the part let to therff. . : (c) The committee of leaseholders brought under notice the covenant, in the leases, not to assign or sub-let without permission, and the proviso by which the right of re-entry is given in .the ..event of the bankruptcy of the original tenant. They were of opinion thai these were unnecessary, and injurious to the property. Several others of the leaseholders drew my attention, to these clauses, stating that they cause the properties to be difficult; $q mortgage or sell , ; Tasked the opinions of the gentlenien named in the margin on the practical effect of these clauses. The written answers of Mr Davy and Messrs Hill and Son!, I append ; both are of-- opinion that the provisoes, are unusually stringent and depreciatory to the value of the property. Mr Perkins, conveyancer of Greymouth, was of the same opinion. : Mr Mackay states that inasmuch as the clauses give the lessor power to re-enter, but do not say that he shall do so, or that the lease shall necessarily be void, so the clauses are not- of a nature to be coinplained of — so I read his meaning — and further, that the provisoes were only intended to operate against persons acting in opposition- to the interest of the Trust. Mr Greenwood, collector of rents, states that no case has occurred of re-entry ;on these provisoes, and only one case of reentry for non-payment of rent. r \ From the result of other enquiries I find that such, clauses are generally introduced to protect the interests of ground landlords who are at the same time the owners of the housea or improvements on the land, and not of the lessor of the land, only, although that* may have been improved by public works to which the lessor contributed. I think it appears from the bulk of the. evidence that the assignment and bankruptcy clauses in the leases are unnecessary. . (/) Diminution of the total amount of rent resulting from a lower yield of gold is not, I think, so much to be feared as a falling off in consequence of injury to the town from the overflow of the river. This cause may at any time operate most seriously, noi only by diminishing the security and value of the land but in saddling it with constant expense. It indicates the propriety of converting the property into other securities, if it can be done without any large decrease of = revenue. REASONS AGAINST THE SALE. (g) Difficulty of mitigating the pressure on sub- tenants. ' (h) Lo«v rate offered for fee simple, (i) Objection of natives to the sale. Q) Difficulty of re-investment. (k) Prosperity of : district probably permanent. " (</) Mr Greenwood's case is not an unusual one, and will illustrate the position of many of the tenants. That gentleman states that he holds sections Nos 81, 149, 175, and 283, at a rent of L 39 a year, and that he sub-lets two out of the four sections, for LI 12 a year.

It does not appear from any of the arguments brought' forward how such sub-tenants could derive^ a benefit from the tenant-in-chief becoming ihe owner of

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the land. It is true, he might extend the term of their leases, but the Governor do that equally, if the wisdom of such a course were to be manifest. The present tenant-in-chief would have to pay interest fot the money required to purchase the freehold, or, what comes to the same thing, to. forego the receipt of interest, if he have the mon^y in hand. |In a gold-field town like Greymouth money is so valuable for the purpose of ordinary business that high, rates, of interest would directly or indirectly affect the purchases, and very few would, I think, elect to pay a reasonable sum for the freehold when a small annual payment, like that of Mr Smith or Mr Greenwood's, yields at present so large a return,. with improvements on the ground^ rendering that return atecure. -\,f! Where the tenants have built costly houses, or are carrying on a large and profitable business, they undoubtedly wish to purchase, and it is desirable that they, should be enabled to do so. at a fair price. I do not, However, think .that ;he desire is very strong to purchase in the parts of the town remote from the centre of traffic, at Mawhera Quay. It will be observed that many of the tenants-in-chief have taken the precaution to abbreviate Bomewhat the term for . which they have sub-let the land ; so that for a Bmall period before the lease falls in to the trust, and after the occupation of the sub-tenant, the property shall revert to them. By this they may be in a position to profit by any act of grace, on the part of the trust, in granting a' renewal of the lease. ; v "V ' The committee of leaseholders in their letter of January 15th, " suggest that in case of a sale, a condition should be inserted extending the right of the subtenants to a sub-lease of forty-five years." This is well meaning ; but it is rently overlooking the fact that the original tenants would be much leu^^ clined .to purchase if hampered withT^L a condition, and that the amount to "be realised would be less in proportion.' (h) The approximate selling value of the portion of the reserve now let is esti--1 mated by Mr Mackay at L 20.000. I estimate it as considerably more valuable. The sum of L 37,500 would be necessary to be raised to give L3OOO (the present net income) at .8 per cent.; the sum of L 42,857 for same amount at 7 per cent. The unoccupied part of the reservecannot be taken into account in the present consideration; any revenue ever to be obtained from it would not bear exclusively on either side ,of the , argument . : At 2\ years' purchase (or rent) the amount to be annually realised, at .8 per cent, would be L 60 0; at 3 years' purchase it would be L 72 0; as against L3OOO, the present net revenue.* . -•• . In 10 out of 9,9 proposals made to purchase the rate offered is about %\ years, purchase. In 44 out of 99 proposals the rate is . about 3 years' purchase. I ajn not disposed to attach weight to. these offers as indicating the. rate that really would be paid, as I doubt|whether the amounts were fixed spontaneously. I think, rather, that for the freehold of the land along Mawhera Quay and in the adjacent streets fair and reasonable prices would be given. In support of the reasonableness of the low rate offered it is stated that all value attaching to the property, beyond the sum of L4B per acre, is the result of the expenditure of the tenants themselves,, either upon the land or 'on the protective or other public works. I ''■ This is scarcely the case, as the trust, in addition to the cost, of surveys, had, before February, 1872, contributed the sum of L 750 to public works, and this year for public works, L 1555 7s 2d. I have never before, known it to be urged that 2b or three years' purchase was a sufficient price for the fee simple, because houses had been built on the land by the tenant, and I do not think it can be considered a valid reason. I (?) The resident natives participating * in the revenue derived from the ygaerpe . are adverse to the idea of a saje. Some who. were present at the discussion of the subject had come so far as from Bruce Bay, and all appeared much interested. <q Inia, their spokesman, said, "In their minds it was fixed, the present order and system had only been arrived at after considerable time, and they did not want ' to see it changed,'' In respect to longer leases being granted, he said, " The white people get a lease at a small rent from the Commissioner, then they let itait a higher rent, then again at a higher to anotherj and so on* . And .how do we gain? If longer leases were granted the price might still be increasing, but not for us;* .■■?- Notwithstanding the opinion of the natives it might be judicious to sell portions of the reserve, from time to time, if a sufficient price were offered— *one thai would yield a permanent revenue equal to, or not much less, than the present rental. " v '..... The argument advanced by the committee, to the effect that the natives are not justly entitled to the enjoyment of the increased value that has accrued to the property from the colonising energy of the European settlers, is ; not, , J , think, a sound one.' The farther position, that if " ten years ago the proceeds were nob essentially necessary for the welfare of ♦he natives, much less ought it to be so now that their numbers seem to have greatly diminished"-~this appears to bo equally unsound. If these reserves had been made by the grace of the Government, out 1 of Crown land for the benefit of natives generally, the arguments would have had some force, but in. the present case (and in that at Arahura) the lands are exceptions to the territory sold td the Queen, and the deed before quoted shows not only that no payment wa3 made for them, but that at the time of the sale it was thought proper to record the fact of the absence of such payment. Mr John White has kindly .furnished me with a very close translation of the text of that part of the deed— it is as follows : — "Nevertheless there are other pieces of land for us contained within these lands. Also, the lands (marked) A and B are those lands. They were not alienated." , 4 0) The difficulty of securing a suitable investment of money realised by the sale 1 must be considered.- In a case of trust funds, the purchase of bank, gas, or in

lurance companies Btock would be more appropriate. Mortgages would not yield more than seven or eight per cent for a permanence. Investment in land is of uncertain profit Both of these modes of using the money would require constant supervision, and one of the advantages set forth as likely the avoidance of the cost of administration. These are important but not insuperable objections to the sale. (it) There appear fair reasons for believing that the existing state of prosperity in Greymouth is likely to continue. The customs' revenue is undoubtedly fluctuating, and the yield of gold (alluvial) has fallen off, but the evidence of the existence of deep leads is such, I think, as to warrant the degree of confidence which appears to subsist in the place. The discovery of gold in its matrix in the interior ranges indicates that permanent mining industries will be developed, of which Greymouth must be one of the centres.