Manamatu Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1894. Naboth's Vineyard Bill.

Manawatu Herald, 31 July 1894, Page 2

Manamatu Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1894. Naboth's Vineyard Bill.

Speaking in the debate 0)1 the second reading of the ."Land for Settlements Bill," Bir llobort Stoat said—" The whole training of our race had been in favour of freehold tenure-," and " this Jiill practically abolished freehold in Now Zealand.'' The Dill is introduced under the excuse that in the South Island thero is little available land for settlement belonging to the Crown, but that, of course, cannot be said of this North Island ; yet the Jiill makes no distinction. It is not unreasonable therefore to view the Diil as having for its purpose the jxiwer 10 forcibly dispossess an owner in favour of a few persons who may covet his property, in other words the title should be filtered to " Tb« Naboth'sYineyards Acquisition Bill." The desire to possess that which some one else has is no new failing in human nature, but it has been left to the present " Liberal " Govemraent to frame an Act to enabfe the envious desires of any person being given effect to. The King of Samaria had a little property Which was bounded by a vineyard of Nabolh, and as the King desired to extend his boundaries he proposed to Naboth a d-al. With the same feeling which is felt as stroiig tO-rUy Naboth disliked to part with his property and replied to the proposal, " The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee." Popular government " by the people and for the people " was not then in force, nnd the King took measures to obtain his ends in a far more merciful manner than tho Liberal Minister of Lands proposes to obtain his ; the King simply stoned Naboth, the Minister will let his victims live though ha causes them to be stone-broke. It is no use our Government contemporaries arguing that this is nonsense and that the Bill suggests payment and a reference to arbitration under " The Public Works Act 1882." as the wording of the clause is peculiar. A person owning 1500 acres of first class land is liable to receive by post, at any time, an ominous registered letter informing him that Minister " Ahab " intends to take part of the said owner's land. In the event of such owner refusing to sell or exchange, the Governor, the sweet fiction for Minister, may take " such \ land " compulsorily and comptnsaI tion for "such taking" shall be j assessed. The owner must within three months of receiving such letter, make the selection of the 1000 acres ihe intends to retain. Now it appears plain that the only valuation which will be determined under " The Public Works Act " will be thai of the 500 acres of " such land '' tha 1 ; the Minister take?, and not one fraction will be allow h! for the depreciation caused by the loss of the 500 acre 3 to the 1000 acres he is at present mercifully permitted to retain, which to any landowner is easily understood to ba considerable. Though perhaps it is far- fetched to say that an owner of 1000 acres of first class land can be called stonebroke, yet if he, has six Bons growing up to manhood' amongst whom he desired to subdivide his property, it is a manifest disadvantage to them and him that these considerations should be roughly brushed aside at the dictation of a single man. To show that little mercy is extended to a man so foolish as to til the soil of the colony, it is not directed in the Bill that should the land coveted be occupied by a tenant, that tenant is to receive the slightest consideration. This may be an Oversight, though such an omission is quite in keeping with the rest of the 'measure.

This Bill is a long way in advance of the needs of the colony, and to serve any useful purpose all that was needed was an Act cautioning future purchasers, of land that some such proposal might be brought into force and "all? lands acquired after that notice would be subject to its previsions. We doubt the reality of the desire for land in the South Island, as men could come up north, but it is admitted by all the Bill is not necessary in ;this Island, why; then not restrict its provisions to, the dne Island ? We are travelling at a great pace and have just witnessed the delivery of a Financial Statement by a Ministry elected on the lines of non*borrowing and self-reliance, full of the most artful measures of borrowing money, the like of which had never been proposed by what were supposed to be the most reckless of Ministers. Just in the same way we have the Minister of Lands pushing this Bill before Parliament last session and this present one, though pretending he and his party are in full agreement with the views of their late Premier, the Hon. John Ballance. Two years ago, in June 1892, the late Mr Ballance delivered his Financial Statement, and in speaking on a measure his Government were to introduce, a Bill to acquire., private -lands,, be said-r" For the present the measure need not provide for the compulsory taking of , land. This may become necessary

in tha future, but H is believed that voluctary sale will provide sufficient land to . enable . the system of recdloiiisfttioii to Be ialrly tried before another step in advance has to be taken." Tn support of this belief we turn to the Parlamentavy report on the " Land for Settlement Act 1892," and find that the Boards have had id 2 offers of property Covering an area of 913,266 acres. " Generally," the report states, " it may be remarked that a considerable number ot the estates offered' to the Government are of a character and iii a position well adapted lid settlement in Very riiucii snidller holdings than they are at present held in ; but at the same time these estates, whilst containing land of a character suitable for divisions into small farms, included pastoral and semipastoral land not suited for such small holdings as the liiflit defined by the Act— viz., H2O acres* Again, in other cases, some estates offered possessed large homesteads, wool sheds and other outbuildings; and a full equipment for the working of a large estate, which it would have been impossible to have dealt with so long as the area of land which could be offered with such homesteads, etc., was limited to 820 acres. Owing to both these causes, several otherwise desirable offers have been declined." Land it will be thus seen* for the descendants of Ahab hitfst be of the best, and if owners will not offer that to the Government at Land Tax value why then they must be made to* and the owner must be saddled with the efcpense of Maintaining homesteads, woolsheds, and other outbuildings, built for the convenience of a large estate, on the restricted 1000 acres he is allowed to retain. At the pace goitlg it will not be long before a Bill will be introduced making it compulsory on all present day Naboths without restriction of' area td sell or exchange with the ' Liberal ' Ahabs.