The Daily News. TUESDAY, JULY 23. THE NEW LAND POLICY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 23 July 1907, Page 2

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JULY 23. THE NEW LAND POLICY.

Tile strong opposition - that Mr Alo- ( 1 Nabs land propu&als of last year nut 1 iviih throughout. tile length and breadth j oi' the I'oluny lius lnul the elfeet ot inak- | ill" the tloverninviit reemle from thei, l|usitioii il took up with such ;i|>ijurjnt j liniimiw, ami give proposals more suited 110 the eonUitiou> and lotpiirem -lit 1 * cl t-iie coiiulry. 11l Iln> House un Friday Ihe new proposals were brought down, a sunnnury of them being published ill our Siitnrdav's issue. A substantial eoneession is made to the holder of a lea*e-in-perpettiiiy —admittedly the most del'eelive tenure, so far as the Ktate is coiieern.d. ever put on a colonial Statute Book, fuller Mr MeXab's proposals any holder of a l.i.p. lease could surrender it if be so desired :iud obtain a lili vein's' renewable lease, aiter \aluaiion was made. It Ihe lessee did not ilesire to obt ,in such a lease, th • fce,iinple of tile land comprised in Ihe surrendered lease was to b- offered for sale In' nub'ie eoiupel it ion. burdened with i be value of the improvements a-cerlained by valu itioli. fmler the new proposals the leasidililer may. in addition, -,btei" Ihe frf 'hold of his seetinn a! present valuation, which is to bo lixed by arbilration. This is n material concession for holders for this form of leas l to jrjiin. If they are dissatislied with their leases lliey will have the alternative of converting their leasehold into freehold. They will run no risk of being outbid—;vs they were tinder the old proposals — tlioy having the right lo the first fusal.

The optional system is to remain iu le#pect of those lands not set aside Jor endowments. This is another gain for the freehold party. Under the original proposals aill the unlet Crown land was to be ear-marked for endowments, and as such disposed only on the renewable lease. It is proposed under ihe new Bill to reserve 9,000,000 acres of Crown lands of the colony for national endowments. There will remain, it is estimated, four and a half million acres, plus Maori lands purchased—an uncertain quantity. The proceeds from the. s:i,le of the Crown lands and front eonversion of the l-ases will he paid into the Lands for Settlements Account and applied to obtaining farther lands for settlement. The bulk of the land 10 be hypothecated for national endowments is situated in the. South Island, viz., 7,75ri,000 acres, against 1,215,000 in tlu> North. The bulk of the South land is in Otago, and is said to include mueii country in the t'atlins and other Southern districts which, when opened up, will be of considerable value.

The limitation proposals are, we are glad to notice, put on a different, saner, and mor,.' constitutioml footing. instead of limiting the size of holdings and compelling owners to cut off portions of their estates over tile limit, the graduated land tax is hardened. The tax is to remain as at present up to the £40,000 point, but after tliat it steadily increases until it reaches the £200,000 mark, when £2 10s per hundred pounds is to be levied. Working out the taxation on h property of £40.000 unimproved v.-llue, we find that tlr- land tax at Id amounts to Clflft 13s 4d. and with the graduated tax at 10s per ee.it. ( C 200) the total is Clitifi 13s 4il: or,in other words, taking the inconre from the farm at 5 per cent, on the £40,000, the new arrangement represents a levy on t/lte income of 3s 8d in the £. Similarly, on a £200,000 estate the annual tax is £5833 (is Bd, or more than half of the income. This tax few liig property holders will care about, alul it must have the very desirable effect of making tliem subdivide and realise. Business premises are exempt from the operations of this taxation. The absentee is more heavily loaded than ever, lie is liable to 50 per cent, more than the permanent holder. The operation of this provision will have the e.tl'ect ot compelling a.hs'.'iilces to realise or live in the country.

The dinieuHv in regard to ihe operation* of companies so pronounced in last year's proposals is got over by drming all land owned by a company lo be owned in common by its shareholders in the proportions which their interests in the paid-up capital ?>ear to the total paid-up capital, the shareholders being individually assessed and liable for graduated land tax accordingly. It is a simple and equitable provision nnd more rational than provided for in Mr MeXab's ill-digested proposals of last year. In regard to evasion of the land lav, not a difficult matter ;i«s we ,*U know, under present conditions, the new proposals block it entirely. The estate itself is taxed, and not the people in whose name it appears. Th. l property holder who now puts portion of his property in his wife's, fnnily's or relative?;' names to defeat, the graduated tax, will have to pay the full tax or [transfer land in a bona-fide way. or sell it j outright. This U a necessary safeguard 1 and its application has been wanted for many year-; past. In connection with the land to bo tak-n under the provisions of the Lands for Settlement Act. tlie (Jovernment propose to legislate so that the va-luation fixed for these estates be that made under the Valuation of Jjand Act plus from 10 to 2'/o per cent.,, according to the size of the property, and to do away with the Compensation Court altogether. The Government h:i« evidently learned a lesion from the excessive expense the colony was put to in the valuation of the Flaxbounie and other cases,

111 connection with Native land*, it is mentioned that tlie present Commission has de.i.lt with 000,000 acres, and ef I his 200,000 acres are to be reserved to the Maoris and the remainder is to be made available to European settlers and win be offered under the optioual condition-!. The "taihoa'' policy Is evidently to give way to an active, pnei tieal and earnest attempt lo settle this ijuestion, one of the burning ones oflae day. It* the Premier wiU give prompt effect to the proposal and keep tlie, Mwri Land Commission at work investigating and generally dealing with Ihe huge tracts of Maori lands in tile colony, which for Ihe mo~t part are in a st iic of dchitcjude, he will have accomplished something that will earn hint tiie gratitude of every well-wisher of the Maori and the country. For yean and years tlie native l.und (jue-' tion has been tinkered with, and no

real, practical or genuine attempt mule to help the Maori in tlie matter of

bringing his lands into use and profit nnd making the surplusage available to the European settlers. The Bill is ill t every way a vast improvement upon the present conditions and the proposals of las! year, a,nd by the time it emerges from Committee, where it will no doubt receive some necessary 'Micking. into shape," the measure should be acceptable to the majority of the people of the colonv.

lie paid. No overtime allowance is to lie made to ollicers of either branch of the service unless the extra attendance ex:ceeds twenty minutes. Attendance up Ito forty-live minutes will count as half an hour; over forty-five minute* as one hour. Xo overtime will he payable for midnight cable press attendance, or for the attendance of any staff specially ap* 'pointed for the sorting of mails between 110 p.m. and 5 n.m. This is only doing I the fair thing by the men. Our oniy complaint is thai it should have been dune years ago. Having realised its duty jin this lvspec! the Covernmeut should turn lis attention to the constitution and wording ot the Department's Appeal Hoard, upon vhich we have turned a searchlight during the past few months, showing how sm ollicur is denied the right of appearing in person before the Board, how the Posimaslcr-fJenenil---reaily th:' Sccielary of the Post Ofliee —- bus the right of veto over any reeommendaliniH ihe Board may make, and how impossible it is for the men, under these conditions. lo obtain simple justice. The Board is but "Appeal''' in name. Its decisions nre not final. As constituted, no M'usible ollieer with a grievance <o ai« - iind satisfaction t<» giin wou'd think ot consulting Ihe Board. We sincerely hope tint the (Government will remove the anomaly and render further jusiico to a bndy of men that deserves well of 1 hi- State.