THE PUBLIC SACRIFICED

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8341, 30 January 1913, Page 6

THE PUBLIC SACRIFICED

Perhaps when, the supply of turkey and champagne is a little less prolific, the more important affairs of life may receive some attention from Ministers. A great number of people must be very anxious to know if Mr Massey has any opinions to advance concerning recent and current land transactions in Southland. At the risk of some repetition, wo desire to refer once more to that deal (“square” enough so far as one party to it is concerned) between the State and Mr G. Brighton. The facts are simple, and yet so astonishing that oven some supporters of self-styled Reform find it hard to give them credence. Mr Brighton was the lessee-in-perpe-tuity of section 206, Wario, comprising 172 acres 3 roods 28 polos. Whether or not ho found any of the terms of his lease restrictive or irksome we do not know. At all events an Act passed by the Liberal Government in 1907 gave' him and all such tenants the right to purchase the freehold —so long as they paid for it the market value, including the approximate worth of any coal deposits known to exist in the lands. That is to say, the State was willing to sell the freehold provided the purchase-price represented twenty shillings in the £1 of value, no less and no more. That, we should imagine is on all fours with the general conception of what constitutes a genuine “square deal.” The self-styled Reformers think otherwise. They had not been in office many weeks before they changed all this. With a keen eye on the main chance, they determined to make a colossal bid for the votes of Crown tenants by offering them something for nothing something, of course, belonging to the people, not to the politicians submitting the offer. With a majority of votes behind them concerning which they had no reason to feel any pride, the self-styled Reformers set to work to overhaul the land laws, and, under the pretence of providing “security of tenure,” offered to make Crown tenants a free gift of the difference between the original and the present-day value of their holdings. No man in his sober senses would have so acted if his own property liad been the subject of bargaining. Not one of the big landholders whose estates were acquired by the State for closer settlement over proposed the original value as the basis of the transaction. As everybody knows, nearly every acre bad to bo fought for through the Compensation Courts, and every owner obtained tlie highest figure possible before parting with ills land. But the Tories were dealing with the property of the people, so they carefully arranged the terms calculated to give the greatest return by way of votes. Either bv a huge blunder or by an abandonment of principle so shocking that we can hardly conceive it to be possible, the Masseyites did more tnan this. They actually repealed a sectioh of the previous Land Act which safeguarded the public interest, present and prospective, in any coal deposits contained in the lands concerned in the contemplated conversions. Fow, Mr Brighton’s land, section 206, Wario, is known to be coal-bearing, and its

estimate! value is about £76 per acre, the whole propertv being thus worth over £13,000. Br" virtue of -Mr Massey's new law, Mr Brighton bough* ihN land a week or two ago and paid to the seller—that is to the public whoso tribloos for the time being call them-s-lvc'.s Reformers —the paltry Runt of Ills! We do not blame Mr Brighton in the least. He comes out of the transaction with perfectly clean hands, despite the enormous bargain be has socured. Bur vc cannot absolve* the Ministry responsible _ from tha most serious disapprobation, which becomes the more appra vated as the talo of this remarkable deal is unfolded. Alter semiring his freehold Mr Brighton is reported to hav« sold out to a syndicate, which will no doubt exploit, the coalfield. 11l this way, incidentally, the result of giving a tenant “security of tenure” is that tha country loses his value as a .bona fido settler and converts his holding into the playground of the speculator. Mr Brighton is, however, so pleased (as ho is entitled to be) that he has mado application to the Southland Land Board for the freehold of sections 307 aud 210, AYario, 1210. and 103 acres respectively. The original value was from 5s to 7s (id per acre, but the actual present value is about £7G an acre. It looks as if the State, as represented by the Massey Government, is thus going to make Air Brighton another nice little gift of about £33,(XX). As there are many others similarly placed, the public will be a heavy loser before very l° n g- . . Lnlcss something can bo done. Is is possible to stop this iniquitous business? Are thoso in tbo position of responsibility slowly awakening to tbo gravity of the situation ? There seems a slight ray of hope that light is beginning to shine in dark places, because Air Brighton’s latest applications have been “held over” by the Land Board. Wo ask in all seriousness that Air Alassoy should take the people o.f New Zealand into his confidence- hi this matter. There is a large amount of uneasiness in regard to tljese transactions—a great popular resentment against such rookless squandering of the jiublio estate. The difficulty isthat the law is there, and Air Alassoy has himself advised tenants to hurry along and seize the golden opportunity ero 1 ‘ tho other fellows ” get in and repeal the law. Tho whole affair is most unfortunate, and, wo cannot help adding, exceedingly discreditable. And One of the most pitiable phases of it is that it contains not tho slightest iota of contribution towards settling tho land question. If all tho Crown tenants were given tho freehold tomorrow that would not make a single aero more available to meet tho great unsatisfied demand that exists for land for settlement. At tho very meeting of tho Land Board at which Mr Brighton’s later applications came forward there was a land ballot. The number of sections for disposal was thirteen; the number of applicants 107. This means that 94 would-be settlers were turned away disappointed and landhungry. Tlio self-styled Reformers are too busy swapping enormous public interests for prospective party votes to ho bothered about those 94 landless people.