THE ROYALTIES QUESTION

Hokitika Guardian, 15 June 1929, Page 7

THE ROYALTIES QUESTION

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The Westland County Council has addressed tiie following letter to the Mon. Commissioner of .State Forest, m iaspect to the royalties:— lion. Sir, —I am directed to thank you for your letter of the 1-1 til May ,i; tliu sao.ect of payment of Timber itoy.iities to Lms council, and appreciating your closing paragraph, the Council desires to place before yon some aspei ts u! the general position which it is hoped will engage yot'r favourable consideration.

itega ruing tlie icvenne, it is noticeal.il-? that tiie receipts of the Council have increased ol late, and ovoj a period when production in this County was lower than heretofore. There is a marked increase in royalties collected .through goldfields rev enuo which seems to hear out the former piotest of the Council that over a (onsiderahle period the Council did not derive the volume of reveiur it have received legally. The j imp i.i the amount seems to sugges that point of view, and emphasises the, contention of the Council in tin past that there should he an investigation of the books so that the amounts withheld illegally should now in equity be paid over to the Council.

Jn the course of the former controversy when the matter went before Cabinet, the matter was relegated to a Committee of Ministers, and certain payments (of which particulars were not supplied) were made to the Councils. And the payments were made in Such a way that the Ministers desired to bar the Council from any future action, i. 0., tile Council was requested to sign a full and complete discharge without having the opportunity to check the payment, and was refused any details showing how the sum paid was arrived at. This incident in itself suggested to the Council the unfair position it was placed in, and so far no appeal to the Government has resulted in any fair •review of the matter in which the Council might ascertain how far it was being either short paid or even fairly paid in the matter.

The most encouraging statement the Council has had in the matter is from your good self in the letter under reply wherein you offer to give “full and sympathetic consideration” to the representations of the Council. Rncouraged by that favourable disposition it is now desired 1o set before you the following general outline of the position as affecting this ( oim-t-v.

| Westland County contains the larg-

■ esi store of timber country in the j Dominion. Great tracts of the ternI tory are reserved for forest areas. I Such land is more effectually locked I up than if it were Crown Lands. That means that any local revenue by a a;, of ruling is altogether remote. So great an area wituin this large County result in a groat expanse being lion-rateable, and all local body cosi.s thus fall on the occupied land, while the lion-rateable 'is deriving beneht:: equal to that for which the mdiviami. settler must pay. The forest areas thus receive the benefit of tiie local hotly administration covering development and maintenance without any contribution to the cost of such important benefit. That is one aspeci which lends justice to the demands .jjtliat where timber country is being milled a larger percentage of royalty should go to the local body to pay for the dormant square miles of timber land which is looked up indefinitely for the benefit of New Zealand as a whole, without affording any relief to the settler of Westland whose work and enterprise are promoting the progress of the district, and bringing the stored timber wealth more and more into future profit.

Another aspect of Westland County is tnat witu so much oi mo torriuji\ c.osetl to settlement and ordinary production, the district is at a grave disadvantage to other localities where settlement may and has proceeded apace. In such places rateable values have expanded with the growth ol settlement, and the local body year by year collects increasing revenue m rates, a position not possible here over the complete County area. This is a palpable hardship, and suggests there should be some quid pro quo I'roin royalties on tiie locked up and non-rateabie lands.

The conservation and preservation of the timber you refer to, is of course a very material advantage U, the Dominion as a whole, but this is accruing by penalising such districts as Westland County where, so much country is locked up, and some increased concession should be made on that account of the local body. Most timber land in Westland when cleared is suitable for stock grazing if kept clear of second growth and noxious weeds. On the other hand if it is not so cleared, it becomes a hotlied for scrub and weeds and a menace to the surrounding country, There is a good deal of land cut out of timber in Westland reverting to such a condition, and as it is virtually Crown Lands there is nothing done to keep it clear, and the appearance of such land has a depreciating effect on land values' in ilia district, which is another hardship for which there should lie compensating advantages. On the whole, therefore, there ts

room for the position to he reviewed

both legally and equitably in the interests of the local body, and if you will give the matter that /•full and sympathetic consideration” referred to in the closing paragraph of your letter under reply, it will afford the Council great pleasure and gratification. The desire, which is for a review of the past short payments to the Council and a more liberal proportion of payments than “Fifths, ’> would give the Council that degree of satisfaction for which, it lias been aiming now for some considerable time past. Thanking you accordingly, I have the honor to he, lion. Sir, Your obedient servant, D. J. -EVANS, . County Clerk.

West Coast,