THE Kaipara Advertiser, AND WAITEMATA CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY, OCT 30, 1912.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 30 October 1912, Page 2

THE Kaipara Advertiser, AND WAITEMATA CHRONICLE. WEDNESDAY, OCT 30, 1912.

THE LAND BILL. THE predominance given to the freehold in the land bill is not surprising, because the advocates of the leasehold tenure have, in Parliament, long ago thrown up the sponge. In truth the question of tenures matters little provided the tenure is secure and the improvements of a man who makes them remain, without question, his while they last. If the state has any business ever to take anything more than the ordinary taxation of the occupiers, it can always apply further taxation. The state therefore has nothing to complain of in the freehold. The leasehold is, beyond quesjtion, a good stepping stone to the freehold, and its presence -in the bill is therefore welcome. As to the terms of offer of freehold to L.I.P. tenants, they are quite consistent, but scarcely likely to prove widely tempting. The encouragement to owners to cut up by giving them the extra value given to their lands by cutting up at their charge, may or may not tempt them, and may or may not tempt the public, with or without money, to buy. This is a question which only experiment can verify. The same may be said of the Native Lands inclusion. By all means let experiment be made. The rest of the bill calls for little comment, and what it does excite ought to be favourable.