Relief for Present Settlers Put First

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 179, 19 October 1927, Page 9

Relief for Present Settlers Put First

GOVERNMENT’S POLICY

FEW WORDS ON SPECULATORS (THE SL’JY’S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON. Tuesday. r PO keep the man on the land firmly established rather than hasten to institute new settlements is the declared policy of the Minister of Lands, the Hon. A. D. McLeod, who said in the House of Representatives to-day that the Land Laws Amerdment Bill, of which he moved the second reading would go far toward solving the difficulties which the Lands Department had been called upon to face during the past year or two with the settler—soldier and civ-

Hopes are entertained by the Minister that settlement at the garden suburbs of Orakei, in the Auckland district, and Hutt Valley, would bo facilitated by the provisions of this Bill. At present purchasers of land in suburban districts were being hampered in borrowing within the first year of their occupation, and although this restriction would be retained so far* as rural lands were concerned, experience in Orakei and the Hutt Valley had prompted the department to alter this. It was provided that auction sales may be advertised and held without having to publicly announce the upset price; the sales may be held at shorter notice than hitherto, while purchasers on the deferred payment principle were restricted to two contiguous lots- Transfers of properties under the deferred payment system were prohibited until 10 years after the purchase except with the special permission of the Land 3oard. PREVENTING SPECULATION 1 Mr. M. J. Savage, while reluctant > to give too much away to the other | side, felt called upon to admit that at I last had the Government decided to ; assist in preventing speculation in j kind. This at least was the inter pro - ' tation which he placed upon the clauses | in the Bill which prevented the trans- | fer of interests in lands in the Orakei ! and Hutt Valley settlements till the | contracts were completed or till the I expiration of 10 years from the date j of the lease. The Minister of Lands interjected: ; “This has been the policy of the ReI form Party all along. [ Mr. Savage: Well, that is news to J me. We learn as we grow older. It seems that the Reform Party has at | last realised that it is necessary to 1 place a safeguard upon the buying and i selling of land. I congratulate the Minister upon seeing the light. J Mr. Savage asserted that the real reason why present holders of land under licence were desirous of having the period extended in which they could acquire the freehold, was because it paid them better to hold the land on licence at 5 per cent- on the capital value, than to borrow money from banking institutions at 7 per cent, for the purpose of freeholding it. The clause giving authority for remission of rent in cases of land now held by civilians which was formerly soldier-settlement land, was giving the civilian the benefit of the reduction in value. It was a pity that the Government could not devise some way of relieving the men who had put their money into land in the first place, and had had to walk off without any means of redress. % Mr- G. W. Forbes. Leader of the Xationalist Party, urged the necessity for the re-letting and re-occupation of abandoned farms, and that a reasonable method of settlement should b© applied to the poorer lands. NORTHERN GUM LANDS

Colonel A. Bell, Bay of Islands, urged that action should be taken to encourage settlement in the gum lands of the Far Xorth. In the gumfields there were men who had been living there for a considerable number of years, and they would not be happy anywhere else. Xow that the price of gum had fallen an attempt was being made to divert these men from gumdigigng :o dairying. Although it was looked upon as poor land, there were portions of it which could be successfully used for dairying purposes. A revaluation should be made, and some land should even be given free, as long as certain improvements were made annually. HANDLING DIFFICULTIES The Minister in his reply claimed that this Bill would facilitate the rapid handling of the many difficulties which the department bad been called upon to face during the five or six years since the bad times of 1921. Conditions were entirely different under a rising market to those that prevailed during a falling market. The department had been criticised for its administration. but no tangible suggestions for a policy had been advanced. Mr. M. J. Savage: Do you want us to bring down a policy? Mr. McLeod: Oh, no. But I consider it sounder to try to hold the man already on the land instead of rushing into new departures and asking additional settlers to go on. Mr. J. A. Lee: Is that why you I bought Te Wera? Mr. McLeod: Poor old Te Wera. ; Without it I do not know what the ! honourable gentleman would do. j Mr. H. E. Holland: But that is not j why you bought it, is it? | Mr. McLeod: I have explained again 1 and again; but then: are many who < deliberately misrepresent our intenI tion. Mr. W. A. Veitch: Yes; it is difficult * to follow, is it not? The Minister went on to explain that . the chief difficulty of the past few j years had been one of finance, and lie ! was inclined to agree that borrowing ! must be kept within reasonable limits. The department had endeavoured to ‘ control the buying* and selling of land, but this was difficult in many respects. Transfers were applied for—particuI larly in the boom period—and reasons ! given which did not contain a full j measure of truth. The Government would not allow the man on the land |to speculate with the Stare’s cheap | money. i The Bill was read a second time-