Land Tenures.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 21 September 1917, Page 4

Land Tenures.

Parliament to be Petitioned. There was held in the Cbambsr of Commerce Board Room at the New Zealand Express Company's Building •n Saturday evening a meeting of the committee appointed a month ago, after discusaion by a public meeting of an address delivered by Mr W. D. Hunt on the disabling land tenures under which two-thirds of the occupied lands in Otago are held. The instruction of this committee had been to forward to the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, and the Otago and Southland members of Parliament, a resolution pointing out the necessity of improving the tenure of the Grown pastoral leases in Otago, either by granting (be right to acquire the freehold or fcy leases on terms which would induce the tenants to carry out such improvements as «ould largely increase the productive capacity of the lands. There were about 20 members of the committee present, including representative" from various outside local bodies, and Mr Hunt, repreienting the Southland L:agie. Mr A. Bathgate, who presided, said be thought an effective way of bringing the matter before Parliament would be to forward a petition signed by the various local bodies. As a preliminary, however, it was resolved to forward resolutions passed at tha patriotic meeting to the Prime Minister and the other parties specified. MrC. Todd moved that a petition in tormß of the original motion be circulated among the local bodies and presented to Parliament.

Mr Loudon, in seconding the motion, laid that the settlement of the question of freehold versus leasehold could be left to a later date. Personally, be objected to any parting with the freehold of Cro.vn lanJs. He did not thick that tfrer.* could be a better tenure than the leasehold. He proceeded to put forward his gwn idea for the classification and subdivsion of land into workable blocks, with a lease of, say, 50 years, ths prohibition of ill bartering or trafficking in leases, compensations for improvements effected, and quinquennial and decennial inspection and valuation to ascertain the nature and extent cf improvement* —compensation to be paid at tne periods fixed. The motion was carried, and it was farther resolved, on the motion of Mr G. Fenwick, seconded by Mr Crosby Morris, to appoint a committee consisting of Messrs Bathgate, Gow, Hunt, and Todd, to draw up the petition ana arrange fur its circulation. In moving this, Mr Fenwick said that he *as strongly in favour of freehold tenure, particularly in the case of the lands of Central Otago.

Mr Hunt was asked to speak. Hp aaid that Mr Loudon's proposals amounted to a new set of conditions for Otago land, for which he did not see the necessity. Every pastoral lease and small grazing run lease should be allowed to run out, and put up on renewable lease with or without freehold rights. Certain of the renewable leases—all in fact, except those under the national endowment—could be made freehold now, and it would not be necessary to "nterfere with the National Endowment Act, to have put in the amendment he suggested—namely, the addition to the present renewable leases (which limited the *reas which could be converted into freehold to 5000 acres of third class land, and lesser acreage of first and second land) ; a fourth class, with a limit of 20,000, to deal with the high country. On the question of bartering h> might say that the good-will in the high lands was attached to the going concern, not to the land, because, for the mountain one must have •heep bred on the mountain. Mr Hunt went on to say that the Otago Centtaf had some of the richest soil in New Zealand, and the right climate; while, moreover, the water power of Otsgo wa« greater than all the rest of New Zealand put together.

Afrersome fcrther debate critisinß tb*» Nati. nal Endowment Act the meeting closed.