SIR GEORGE GREY'S OPINION ON THE PRESENT STATE of the LAND QUESTION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 62, 13 March 1852, Page 3

SIR GEORGE GREY'S OPINION ON THE PRESENT STATE of the LAND QUESTION.

[From the Wellington " Spectator."

x'K. deputation of Settlers and Land-owners, consisting of Messrs. G. Moore, Hunter, Stokes, G. Hart, Duncan, Spinks, and Bradej, waited upon his Excellency Sir George Grey on Saturday, with reference to the present state of the land question and the suspension by the Local Government of all proceedings in issuingl Crown Grants under the Land Claimants' Ordinance, and in granting leases for runs under Sir Geo. Grey's Pastoral Regulations; they also intimated to his Excellency that a memorial on the subject (a copy of which was submitted to him) was in course of signature, and would shortly be presented to him. His Excellency said, that three courses were open to him—either to cany out the Act of Parliament; to set aside the act i and revive the Land Claimants' Ordinance, and [ continue to issue Crown Grants ; or to adopt any better plan, if it could be devised, which should meet all the difficulties of the case. That if a memorial were presented to him so numerously signed as to shew it was the desire of the majority of the settlers, he was so convinced such a course would be for the best interests of the colony, that he would take upon himself the responsibility of setting aside the Act of Parliament and of issuing Crown Grants to the land purchasers under the Land Claimants' Ordinance, and he believed he should be borne out } in such a course by the British Government. In this case all the provisions of the Land Claimants' Ordinance would be revived, including those relating to scrip, as the law could not be administered partially ; he must either proceed under the Act of Parliament, or revert to the law as it stood before the Act was received. With regard to the third course, his Excellency said he was not so wedded to any particular system as to refuse to adopt a better if" it could be devised ; but, seeing that the Land Claimants' Ordinance had formed the subject of a most careful and elaborate inquiry, that its details had been thoroughly sifted and examined by persons in every way well qualified to decide upon them, that no other plan had been put forth which Avould equally meet, or provide for, all the difficulties of the case, or that was liable to so few objections, he felt justified in accepting it as the best arrangement that could be made. That, even if a better plan could be devised, the time spent in legislation, and in obtaining the sanction of the Home Government, would occasion so much delay as to be attended with serious evils; while the immediate settlement of this question, and the issue of Crown Grants to the land purchasers, was an object of paramount importance, and would be productive of a degree of prosperity that few would now be disposed to credit. Adverting to the question of compensation to absentees, and the issue of scrip available at the Government land sales, his Excellency informed the deputation that he had recently been shewn by the Hon. H. Petre a land order, issued by the Home Government to an absentee, directing him (the Governor), on the receipt thereof, to issue to the holder a Grown grant for 75 acres, so that the absentees were placed in a better position with regard to their compensation land, than the 1 actual settler was, with respect to the hind lie had purchased, by the Act of Parliament : but, if the Land Claimants' Ordinance was revived, dealing with the question as a whole, he (Sir George) would issue scrip instead of Crown_ grants to the absentee claimants. The issue of scrip, available in payment at the Government "land sales, was. his "Excellency observed, attended with several advantages. A new survey, rendered necessary by circumstances, had been

commenced; some districts, as the Horokiwi, where the survey had been interrupted by the natives, had not been surveyed at all, and others, it was found, had been surveyed imperfectly ; in these, and several other districts, it was probable much land would be exchanged for scrip, particularly by absentees, occasioning thereby a great saving in the expense of surveys, as only so much of each district would be surveyed as was necessary to put the persons to whom Crown grants were issued in possession of their land. The issue of money scrip was, in fact, a plan to enrich the actual settler, and at the same time to benefit the absentee, as the latter would find a more ready market for his scrip, which would be available as a transferable security, and in three or four years would be gradually absorbed in the purchase of land by settlers, who would be able, in this way, to obtain land on easier terms, and in larger quantities, at the Government land sales than by paying for it in cash. His Excellency stated that he had recently directed a town to be laid out at Hawke's Bay, and the surrounding district to be surveyed for sale as rural land. That many of these town sections might sell for 100 L each, and that, if scrip were received in payment, probably higher prices would be obtained, and a large quantity of scrip absorbed. On the other hand, if he were compelled to give land instead of scrip to absentees, he should be obliged to assign to them the most valuable available district at the disposal of the Government, and this would, in effect, shut up the Hawke's Bay district altogether, while the necessity of subdividing the land in sections of 75 acres would very greatly increase the expence of surveys, and contiguous sections being, as in former selections, in the possession of different holders, would render any attempt on the part of the settlers to obtain a few hundred acres in one undivided block extremely difficult. That a case somewhat analogous in its circumstances occurred at South Australia while he was Governor ; at that time under the special survey system an applicant, by paying 20,000 Z. was entitled to select 20.000 acres in one block. On the discovery of the Buna buna mines, it was contended by some parties that the land should be divided into small portions, with the view of exciting competition among the capitalists of the neighbouring colonies, so as to realize the largest amouut for the land fund, and that, by resorting to this course, probably 100,000£. instead of 20,000/. would be obtained. On. the" other hand, he believed that whatever tended to enrich the colonists must benefit the colony : that if these mines were the property of the colonists and were productive of much wealth, that wealth would be spent by the colonists who had made the country their home in the purchase of more land, and in improvements and undertakings which would render the colony more prosperous, whereas, if they became the property of absentees, the money would be spent out of the colony, and impoverish the country instead of benefiting it. As the question had been left by law to his sole decision, be had, acting on these views, determined in favour of a special survey, and the result had justified the correctness of his expectations, for the land fund had rapidly increased in its yearly amount in South Australia; and, according to the last returns he had seen, the Burra burra mines had yielded 750,000 Z. lo the proprietors, who had become very prosperous. He believed that somewhat similar results'would attend the conversion of the absentee land-orders into money scrip, it would be an arrangement that would benefit all parties, and would render the colony more prosperous than any other course that could be adopted with respect to them. On the subject of the New Zealand Company's debt a strong representation was made to his Excellency by the deputation of the injustice of fixing this debt on the colony without the consent of the settlers, after the Company had already received 238.000;. from the home Government. That if the value of the land granted in compensation, and otherwise alienated by the Company, and other expences necessarily incurred by "the Government in discharging the Company's obligations were not deducted from the amount claimed by that body, the colony, and not the Company, would really be made to bear the burden of compensation. The payment of interest was also represented as universally objected to. His Excellency, admitting the hardship of the case, said he thought it propable that an arrangement would he made by the home Government somewhat similar to that made on paying- the debt

in South Australia; that the Government would discharge the Company's claim by an advance from the consolidated fund bearing interest at 3 per cent, and that the advance Would be gradually liquidated from the future proceeds of the land sales in the colony ; and as the lands were the property of the Crown, this arrangement might be made without an application to Parliament, except to sanction the transfer of the stock. The proposal to receive 200,000^. instead of 268,000/., his Excellency considered an acknowledgment by the Company of the claims referred to, and an attempt on their part at an approximation to a rough balance. His Excellency Lieut.-Col. Wynyard, Lieu ten antGovernor of the Northern Province, was present during the interview.