THE LAND POLICY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81840, 5 September 1906, Page 3

THE LAND POLICY.

DEBATE ON THE PROPOSALS. IMPORTANT PRON01"XC11M1-1 N'T BV MINISTER 01 LANDS. THE OPERATION OF LIMITATION. £2,250,000 WORTH FOR FREEHOLDERS.

[HI TELEGRAPH FCESS ASSOCIiriOX.j Wellington, September 4. In the course of thii Financial Debate last night, Mr Massev, dealing with Lie Land proposals, denounced - the endowment proposa.s,. as a trick on the part of the party in power to prevent seltlers from getting the freehold. The lease hold proposal would place the hold ers at tie mercy of the ballo;, and the Government valuation, and from suc.i .aws he would say "Ileaven defend us." The proposals were intended to place the whole of the taxation on t.,e land, according to the theories of the Minister of Education, and the hopes expressed in an anonymous letter lately sent him bv one of ihe supporters of the other side. The issue, however, is clear. It is freehold versus leasehold, inde pendent settlers or a State tenantry, serfs of the Crown or every man his own landlord. As for the freehold actually offered in the proposal, the provision for going to the ballot would effectually prevent ail conversion to the freehld. The only con version possible would be from yijij years to 66, with the privilege of ■ending money to the Government by settlers who never have any money. L'nder the proposal, settlement would be at first impossible, and much hampered for many years to come, and the endowments for which all this disturbance is made, and tin well-tried optional system is to be abolished, would be insufficient for I the purposes named. Leasehold, he proceeded to condemn as the cause of bad farming. Anyone could sec in trav Ihng through the country that the leasehold tenure is disas trous. (Mr Duncan: "It's the other way about.") Mr Massev proceeded to point out that even the lease-in-perpetuitv is not secure, for all transfer by sale cr will is dependent on the consent of the Commissioner. The freehold, on the other hand, carries with it an independence which no leasehold knows. (Avoice: "Mortgage, for instance.'*- The contrast between the Ministerial policv and his own was clear. He quoted Lowed s lines about finding what pays and going in for it bald-headed, that was the Government's; hif own was: every man his own land lord. As every man is not in a posi tion to buy at once, he ought to be allowed to take up a leasehold with the right < f purchase. That was what the Land Commission recommended, and the recommendation was ignored, but ninety per cent, of the fettlers are of that cpinion, and it will take a general election to f!u IX)mi with ,hem - Coming to the Native land proposals, he characterised them as absolutely rotten. Fifteen years this Government had been m office, and the natives and heir lands are both deteriorating, in conclusion, he we'eomed the Min tster for Lands as the worthv oppon who was to follow him " The Hon. R. McNAB explained he special circumstances that re lu.red him to follow , h e Leader of He Oppositions Going back to St' tr ted TJ hat thc !a, <-' Sir JohnMchenz.e had foreseen that he dwindling away of the public ands wou.d force us to repurchasr freeholds in order to satisfv the pubic demand for lands. The l.istorr * the Land for Settlement, with it* arge loans, proved the correctness of >'S forecast. Between the sale. 1 . of reservations. an ,' useless mountain c, untry and the lative lands there remain Available J. 239,000 acres out of the 6, million.' -ompnsed m all New Zealand, am t this on.v 1.0,-3.000 acres a ]' that can come under the fpiiona" V'tem. During the next ten vears at the rate of the settlement during ;.he last three years (~1,5.000 acres n ail the thre;;), that small parcel would keep U s going a few mop \eais. Ihe amount of | ;in d t ,, | J( . supplied wt,uid have to be made up. the Government proposal to reduc ■o dings to the /150,000 value cr lesigned to do that, supplementing 'here are now 6j holdings bv individuals and corporations (not indud ing endowments) of over £50.000. ranging up to /1217.000 unimproved value-. The aggregate area h i.X» During the next ten years £2.250.000 worth of this land will be put on the market. There is, moreover, an additional proposal of the land policy. It is that every man who buys land will have to make the same declaration as is made by the applicants under the Land for Settlement policy. That will prevent large holders from selling to each other. This provision will have the effect of causing the whole of that 2i millions going into freehold on the same terms of limitation as if the Government had acquired it, and were the sellers. Vet the hon. gentleman opposite twitted them for doing Inothing for the freehold. An immense estate would be cut up equal to the whole of the area of the Land for Settlements policv, and all for freehold. That would be tli< iperation of the £50,000 proposal, of which the hon. gentleman had said nothing, and this proposal, if there \u-p- not t mi*- this session to put ah the land policy on the Statute Book, lie would ; t sk Parliament to put into law at once. The effect would be in the next ten years U,e r e would be offered in Hawke's Bay (<70.000 acres, in Canterbury 556,000 in Wellington 151".coo, and in Auckland '-U.'-oo acres. i-iom a'l sources of ordinary land for settlement, and the " l bove, there would be over three milli'-n acres in the market for settlement. to say nothing of tin- cutting up by speculative purchasers of large estates. Coming to the leasehold proposals, he explained them as based fin thi Glasgow syttem: that :s. the leases will b; renewable, with valuations by the Courts. Explaining the working of the remission for eash proposals, he pointed out that the above general provision for transfer, applicable 10 all the transactions, would make the remission of harassing condition* considerably safer. At ihe same t me, the restrictions snmcurnis, as in a .ate case that had come under his notice, were the onlv tiling ab-e to save ignorant persons from ruin. However, he would sav that if these proposals had in fl)I , from the first, then would not have en any of this cry for the f1 <I. I In- money c,.piiali>rd, !■.<■ w..,il<| add, would 11v.1V a f,„„i |V r ing on the Land for Seul'in.nis policy, which is carrying a handicap of g-eat.j- increasing d"l)t. This would • ffect the liill lie had advo.ated I-,.

>"* <'>nni.u- nis al Con'. ||,> ■til I','. Il' s| j„ v;, V . ni , «'-ntlc-i!i.m .mil h;s friends 'n ' r ''.'-M'. | v.'th ! i )ril . -• 1 ''"• 1 ! k.'.| ,| |, ,!■, v 'i l m . i,.. •, ,i " , , 4 il ,l -' 1 > '* 1 »Vi. jl \ ,11', |! »•••; »"> „«li ~{ i>. 1,„, L JT-'-jji .-;i i - •,', uJd nj V: . tj,,.,,, ,1 "'- v s " ,;,J. t1,,, las • heir l'r-yi„ h,.|K „f , n ' \f 1 r - a -ur. v l!-n-Members realised tlrv would put [h,. p,,|; ( v ~n the Statute U' "k with.,ih he-Hat j. Tin- endowment- lie I.Mr M< Nab I de c-;it<tl to bo j., r t|,,. „ Departments tiny v.c p- d»-viin 'W KT'«*vinjr very subs',,n; tally ft„ n , '••'•if I" year. ami making u m r< md rixi-<■ ditiieuit t.i reduce taxation n tin- nin-ssaiii-s of life. '('ln t ; r< «ih in t"it- value aud tile piodue

'IV-' power of tile e endowilleni- '•>' ■ u I (1 pr'i'-ni I lie pressure of the le".e "rre;,t I)' pariment •, and ol' the r ..i.way 1 or.ee>-!. ns, up.m the eono'idalcd revenue. When these hinjfs are realised, the country will b>- unaii'Ti ius in favour of the •.e nment prop. sals. Moreover, if •''"•e propsais were to he departed tr"ni. ii would !)• impos-ibe' have my endowments a all. Native and- M'T' eijfh' milan .VP's in ex'•'n'. but 'he Native Minister had t > T d him that lva mere than about liaf a m 1 ■' n :« res c.u'd l>e depend ■d on tor • nd um nts from thai • ur.e. An Australian journal had ••slced. apropos f the £ipro-o■-al.0■-al. how it affiled the nmht of !-ree o-ure. lie quoted from 1 "1 ■ Ordnance of 1N42 a clause showing 'hat there is no p ver of fort'

closure, and there n'cver has been. In conclusion, Mr McNab said there is a Land liill, and it will be brought down at the proper time.

Mr 11ERRIHS cited the various occasions when Mr McXab had voted ior the freehold, and spoken in its favour, and had voted against leaseIn Id,.and spoken in its favour. For his own part, he saw no policy in the Government proposal It was hybrid and piebald. Moreover, the Leader of the Opposition had anticipated it i: years ago. The £50,000 limit was dangerous i n its interference with mortgages -and trustees. An extension of tile graduated lax, which he was prepared 10 suppoi., would achieve the object much better. The /.so,ooo limit • night not tu be confined to the c untrv; it should bo extended to the towns, whue it was just as much requittcl. The treeli Id was offered in Ihe case o! tie' (>- estates, and lie did no! si i' why it shou.d not a'so be offered unci r the Land for Settlement. Un the whole, ihe Ministeria, proposals had unseit'ed the minds ol men throughout the country. Everything under Government was to be leasehold, and 62 unfortunate people were to be deprived of their property for tiie sake of the freehold, and at the bidding of the hon. gentleman's colleagues, but that did not justify the general unsettling of the mind of the country. The land policy generally, however, he would wait to criticise in detail till the saw the Land Bill.

The Hon. Geo. l-OWLDS pointed out, in reply to Mr Merries' criticism that the freehold in the Ministerial proposals was confined to the property of the 62 unfortunates, that the proposals comprised one for a very large offer of freehold to the Government tenants under certain conditions. He defended his colleagues' vote and his own against the rebate to Crown tenants, by reminding the House that many of these tenants had been credited with a goodwill up to £ISOO. Mr McNab and lie had thought it wrong to give a rebate to men so well off, but their suggestion had, it must not be forgotten paved the way for the Bush and Swamp Lands Act, which actually remits rents in certain cases altogether for a term of years. For his own part, he denied that he had ever advocated the ( hole control of the lands by the State. He ridiculed Mr Herrics' pretended readiness to support a further graduated tax, and characterised his suggestion to cut up town properties above £50,000 in value as absurd. He saw no reason, because most of the national estate has been frittered away in the past, why thc remainder should not be usefully employed for endowments. These, moreover, would increase in value. If thc arguments used against this policy were correct, then they told against all thc endowments made in the past, the tenants under which ought, therefore, to have the option of the freehold. Dealing with the Leader of the Opposition, and his jibes at single-taxers, socialists, and democrats, he said the hon. gentleman did not know the difference between them. Sir Geo. Grey had been called bv the hon gentleman the greatest of New Zealand Liberals, but he would remind the House that Sir George was thc first president of thc first single-tax society ever established in the colony. The 06 years' lease of the Government, he pointed out. was in reality 66 years' freehold. The hon. gentleman made a clear issue between leasehold and freeho'd. He did the same last November, and his party came back to the House just fifteen stron".