LAND REGULATIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 316, 24 December 1862, Page 5

LAND REGULATIONS.

{To Vie Editor of the Daily Times.) Si^— No one who lvads the evidence given before the Select Committee appointed to enquire into the land question, can fail to be struck with the evident desire evinced to preserve the present unworkable conditions. But what strikes me as most strange is that no legal opinion has yet been taken, nor do the committee suggest that one should be taken whether they can be enforced or not. The agreement between the purchaser and Government on purchasing laud, and signed by the purchaser was, that he was to be evicted by the Summary Ejectment Act. Is that agreement null and void, or is the pressure from without so great as to make it impossible to act upon it 1

Aud now Sir, allow me to call your attention to questions S3, 65, 89, and US, and mark well the answers. The question is—'• What are the complaints with regard to the acquiring of land in the frovincej The universal answer is— *' The good laud is sold .in the blocks open for selection, and' we have.no ceitainty that we shall geb what we want in the new blocks its they are put up to auction." Now bir,_is this the rauit of our land regulations. I most distinctly answer, no. Our Jand regulations-wore trained with the evils of the auction system staring them in the face, and ti free selection of the whole land in the 'Province was given to any person who wished to acquire a home. Truly, the Land Sales Ordinance restricted the runs frotn purchase without the leave of the runhoider. But, with that leave, what prevents any one purchasing in any portion of the i'l'ovinee not within the gold fields. Nothing but a bye-law of the Waste Ldnd Board which overrides an Imjjerial Act, is preventing tie capital being invested iv this .Province which is gained-in-it, and depriving it of those who would be its strength and sinew. Take away that bye-law, and then where are we. Why, iv the same position as Canterbury. Aud is there speculation in Canterbury % The evidence ot Mr Moss denies that there is, though Mr Gillies takes it for granted iv question 137. Mr Moss has said the price, L> per acre, prevents it. What, Sir, is to prevent our taking a leaf out of the Canterbury book and improving upon it. Why not have a trigonometrical survey, and lay out the roads and reserves. The roads would divide the .country into blocks according to its natural features. Then open it, and let the enterprising mau who chooses go and select what pleases him without the chance of another outbidding him at auction, and let Government survey the laud when a sufficient quantifcv in each block is taken up.As it is not necessary that^the survey should look well upon paper the sections need not be all of one area. liaise your Jand to its market value, and you need not fear speculation. As to the best, land being all sold, that is nonsense. There is as wood land unsold as ever was in the market, and in the Hundreds too, but a wise Government say we must sell the bad surveyed before we put any more good into the market, or we shall have no good land bye-and-bye. You pay take a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. You may bring immigrants here, but you cannot make them settle unless you give them inducement. Let the settler choose where ho will. If he picks the very best piece worth now L 2 per acre, he enhances the value of the surrounding land by the improvements he makes till that which is now worth only Ll may, by his operations, be worth from L 3 to L 4 in a few years, for land can always be -improved, and it is the" amount of repayment tor your labor that makes it valuable or otherwise. I am, Sir, &c., A Well Wisheu to Otago.