The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1878.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 177, 24 July 1878, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1878.

We give to-day Judge Thomas' description of the " Ryotwarry" system of tenure, which, he says, ia found to work most satisfactorily in India, and is therefore recommended by him forladoption in New Zealand. There ia a good deal of reason in the arguments he adduces in its favor, but there are two difficulties in the way to which, as we .think, he does not attach sufficient importance. The first may be called one of sentiment, but at the same time it will not be found easy to get over. It is that to the colonist there is something very attractive in acquiring a piece of freehold property, and so long as he is called upon to pay an annual rent he will never bring himself to believe that his object has been achieved, notwithstanding that to all intents and purposes the land is his own, and can not be taken from him so long as he pays an annual sum, probably not equivalent to what would he the interest

on the money representing the value to I buy of the land. The other drawback to which we have referred is the difficulty of persuading the Maori to forego the | pleasure of receiving and speudiug the large sums ho now obtains as the purchase money • of his land. Judge Thomas, however, evidently hopes to convince the natives of the advantages of his proposed system, as he is having his pamphlet printed in Maori, with a. view to circulating it among them. The following is the concluding portion of the pamphlet : — Ryotwarry is that system of tenure which, under nominal yearly tenancy, gives to the tenant fixity of tenure— a title as good as a freehold without, (l) its original cost \ (2) with the option of throwing up unprofitable fields in hard times, instead of throwing good money after bad, and starving a whole farm to make five or ten hungry acres profitable; (3) with an unchanging light demand and great ease of transfer. (4) It is a system entirely in favor of the tenant) it does all that can be done to ensure liis prosperity— and thw it also secures the prosperity of the landlord. 11 may not be adapted tb estates of moderate dimensions, but for a large .estate— such as Crown Lands— it is admirable becatiss it is firmly and simply based. It recognises that the interests of landlord and tenant are refill/ only one; viz., (fiat of the latter, and seeking mainly to attain this, it, at the same time secures to the landlord a body of tenantry who never fail of payment. It has beeu the tenure for centUries in this Madras Presidency in the South of India. It is applicable to large or small farms. In Madras there is no limit in practice, but in theory it is considered well to prevent laborers becoming pauper tenants, by limiting the minimum to the area that can be cultivated by the owner of a plough and a pair of bullocks. The usual rate levied is supposed to be about onefifth of the gross crop. But in average seasons the demand really amounts to much less. The form of the simple title deed runs much as follows: — " In the village of Taupo, as long as you, John Smith, pay annually, of by such and such instalments, the tax of twenty-five shillings on five acres of dry (or irrigated) land within such and such boundaries, or numbered so and so, it shall remaip yours and your heirs. " Signed "On behalf of Government." Although not expressed, there is a plain implication in this of ivdefinite continuity. The absence of a distinct expression is characteristically Oriental. The omission left a door open for the caprices of Oriental despotism, and was occasionally, though very rarely, used by our Mahommedan predecessors to increase the rent. Under {British rule the implied unchanged continuity has been treated with the most deferential res P e ct. * * * * If this land system is adopted as the principle, it will be apparent that a Ryotwarry lease becomes, by attention to its terms, a lease only in name. It is a binding coutract for all time between the Maori landlord and the tenant. The carrying out of this system is simple and inexpensive in the extreme. The land has, with the aid of the Maori proprietors, to be classified and valued according to its soil. These varying soils should be mapped, aud properties marked out. There properties have then, with the same Maori aid, to be assessed. After this, in every village or parish is a Government official, Maori or English, to whom has to be reported every change desired by the tenant; viz., the throwing up of unproductive fields, the taking ui> of new land, or the transfer by sale or otherwise. The matters are recorded and reported by bim. The .Registry Office of the district has a record of every transfer. The Government is the paramount authority, and conflicting claims can only arise after and within the Ryotwarry lease*(or "puttah" as it is called in Madras.) An hour spent at the Registration Office will show every claim on any land, and permit of a transfer by sale or otherwise without doubt, and with the least possible expense or delay. Hence, within the Ryotwarry Settlement, legal proceedings will be almost ;unknown. The paradise of the tenant, 'starvation for a lawyer. If it be desired that the sum spent on public works be larger at first than is needed afterwards, it will be easy, by a mortgage on the rents, to raise a loan. Thus raise and spend half a million a year for five years. The rental from the land will pay much more than the interest, and the returns from a small charge levied on the works will form a sinking fund, which will speedily pay off the principal, and after that no charges need be levied. No occupation of land should be permitted without the payment of the year's or half-year's rent m advance. Because— (l.) Thus absolute paupers would be prevented from nominally taking up land to the exclusion of others. (2.) All rents being paid in advance could not fall into arrears. (3.) The Ryotwarry estate would start with money in hand for the requisite expenditure on public work. * * . * The following rough approximation will make the proposal clearer:— The area is about 10,000 square miles or {6,000,000 acres, and if we suppose that half of this is available, and that of this half 500,000 acres will have to be appropriated to the immediate use of the Maori race, we have 2,500,000 acres remaining to be dealt with under this system, and this area will assuredly yield a very large permanent income — and one that will increase as the soils at first discarded are taken up. Large figures will not of course be reached at first— not perhaps for five years— but supposing the rental to commence at £300,000, This sum produced at once hy that which is now lying idle, waste, aud useless, and without expenditure, is surely an amount not to be discarded without consideration. Under this system the Maori will retain the proprietary title of landlord, and obtain the value of his lands. The Englishman will obtain the use of it.