WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 October 1920, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE NEW LAND BILE. MORE FREEHOLD. (Our Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, Oct. 18. The new. Land Bill, read a first time in the House of Reps on Friday, goes a. long way towards confirming tins iterated and reiterated prediction of tlie leaseholders that a'lien the freeholders got their way in Parliament, the national endowments would follow the Crown leases into the melting pot. Whether or not this is a good or an ill thing for the present generation and for posterity is a question on which there is a' wide difference of opinion, hut of the facts there can he no doubt. A clause of the Bill provides that the GovernorGeneral—which of course, mepns the Government—may from tmic to time, by proclamation declare that any unoccupied national endowment land, not exceeding in the aggregate 10,000 acres, shall cease to he national endowment land and shall lie set apart for settlement under the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act, or under the homestead provision of the Land Laws Amendment Act. GOING THE WHOLE HOG. The remnant of the old leasehold brigade in the House, the dozen stalwarts Who still hold to the faith of the late Sir John Mackenzie, insists that this is the beginning of the final disintegration of the national estate. They point to the subtlety with which the main clause towards this end is drafted. This clause, which the critics say serves the dual purpose of a salve to the conscience of the raiders and a blind to the raided, while providing that the Gover-nor-General’s proclamation must not include more than 10,000 acres, does not prevent a dozen or more proclamations being issued every day of the week and the whole of the endowments being alienated from their original purpose in a single year. Another clause provides that after the passing of the Bill no further endowments shall be created, so that the damage done with one hand will not ho repaired with the other. OTHER PROVISIONS.

Other clauses of the Bill are giving offence to the leasehold stalwarts and are likely to be strenuously opposed when the measure gets into committee. Provision is made for the sale by auction of limited areas of Crown land or of land of inferior quality deemed unsuitable for a separate holding. The present procedure in this respect the Minister deems to be cumbersome and expensive. The objections here are that the provisions will give an advantage to the wealthy man over the man of small means and that large areas of Crown Land will he alienated at much below their real value. Another clause prpvides that settement lands may he sold for cash or on deferred payments, a third clause revives the right to purchase the freehold of settlement land hold under lease in perpetuity, and a fourth extends this right to the hold j rs of renewable lease under the Ha .iraki Plains Act.

THE MINISTER’S CONTENTIONS. The Minister of Lands is little perturbed by the criticism that is being directed against his proposals to a large extent, he says, without a clear undor'standing of their purport. It is absolutely necessary, Mr Guthrie urges, to give the fullest possible encouragement to settlement and production and towards this end a choice of tenure will help enormously. Much of the national endowment land is now lying idle simply because it cannot he occupied with a prospect of acquiring the freehold, and to this extent it- is hindering rather than helping the purpose for which it was set aside. Then the Bill expressly provides that all money received from the sale of endowment land shall he paid into the National Endowment Account and used in precisely the same way as endowment revenue. The State will have the money in place of the land and in addition, will have the settlement and production which are so vital to‘its welfare.