NEW LAND TENURES BILL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 11 October 1907, Page 2

NEW LAND TENURES BILL.

AMEXmiENTS TO USASIUU TERMS.! M< (ijy Telegraph.—Per Press Association). Sti Wellington, Lust Night. The House went into committee on sei the Land Laws Amendment Bill. ™ At sub-section 4, clause 15—"it shall f(1 be lawful fur the Board, with the con- l !l sent 01 tile Minister, to grant oil remwable lease a license to extract s< ' silver and coal from the land, in eon- |1( sicleration of such royalties or other payments and on such terms ahd con- nc ditions as the Board and Minister think ■ , | ■ -"! Mr JAMES ALLEN moved an amendjnent to strike oat the word ''coal," This was agreed to on the voices, and vlause 15 as amended agreed to. At sub-section 4, clause 10—"Wnen land so long as the payments so niado are not less in the aggregate than 50

per centum of the said capital value, the lessee shall for the residue of the ' term have possession of the land freed from all covenants and conditions con- j tained or implied in the lease, other ( than the covenant to pay rent, and the conditions as to residence, hut the lessee shall not thereby obtain any right to extract minerals or commit any other waste or depreciation of the land ' — Mr WITTY moved to reduce the amount to 30 per cent. Tho MINISTER accepted the amendment, which was agreed to. Mr HURRIES moved to strike out the words, "for the residue of the term." lion. Mr MeNAB, in opposing the amendment, said the elfect would be to transfer renewable leases to leases-in-perpetuity. Mr HJiiUUES urged that in moving the amendment, he desired, if possible, to make the lease as near freehold as possible. The amendment was negatived by 3'J »o 24, and the House adjourned at 3.3u. The House resumed at 7.30. Mr JAS. ALLEN moved an amendment to the clause to provide that lessees paying 30 per cent of the capital value should be relieved from all covenants and conditions, whether imposed by; the Land Act or Land Settlement Act, other than those referring to mining or mining operations. The Hon. Mr MeNAB said the conditions imposed under the clause were necessary to prevent dummying. He added that the Bill provided on the payment of 33 per cent of the capital value that th e tenant should be freed from testations imposed by lease, but the' amendment went much further. On a division, the amendment was neClause 17-—Provisions as to leases-in-peipetuity to apply to renewable leases —passed unamended. At clause 18, which provides that the owner of a lease-in-perpetuity may Mr" w-fp re , uew . a , W , 0 lease in lieu thereof, of „ 000 Sa " thou S ht 'elders of a 999 years' lease were on a good Wicket, and as far as the clause was concerned, he thought tho holders of 999 years leases would say "thank yoaP nothing, and he could not think any holder of a lease-in-perpetuitv lease S " rrender !t for a renewable At this stage, Mr Tanner read a letter from Mr Hugh McKenzie, which bore out the statement that he (Mr «™i C « '; ad . ma(, e in the House, to the effect that Sir ,Tohn McKenzie intended to alter tho 9!)9 years' lease the following session. Mr Hugh McKenzie's letter intimated that Sir John had agreed to the 909 years' lease to save his Bill, inn that he intended to alter it to a term considerably under 100 years. Clause 18 was ngretecl to unamended. A FREEHOLD AMENDMENT. At clause ID, tne owner oi a ie.ioe-in--1 perpetuity may purchase tile lee amiji'c, 1 jir Jiassey moved to amend Uie ciause »y providing tu.a a lussee-in-perpeLuity ; may acquire the freenold on condi.tou j 1 that he has fuliiiled tile conditions of improvement and residence, that lie is J not tlie owner of lands sullieieut to ' disqualify him under section tlli £>i tho principal Act, and that he pays the ' capital value upon which the rental of 4 per cent per annum is computed, also : an additional sum equal to the difference between 4 per cent aud 5 per cent per annum on such capital value in in- ; stalments of not less than one-tenth. ' The object of tho clause, said Mr Aiassey, was to enable a lessee to put himself on the same level as the man who 1 took up land on the occupation with | right of purchase tenure. He did not ! desire to include Land for Settlement | land in the proposal. The PREMIER pointed out that reof a wholesale nature was involved under the proposals of the Leader of the Opposition, as it provided, for instance, that a man who had been successful in obtaining a lease of land valued at £IOOO at tho time, of securing tile lease after ten years for ,61100. Imagine a private landlord allowing a tenant to- adopt such a course. Mr TANNER: We can't imagine it. The PREMIER, continuing, said it was practically giving the tenant a present of a large sum by reason of the enhanced value of the property which had been contributed to by the community. He admitted the tenant had a certain interest in the enhanced value, but he contended it could not be imagined that a private landowner would adopt such a course. He added that what it was proposed to give under the Bill was fair to the State and fair to the people. He contended that they were giving lessees-in-perpetuity the right to acquire the freehold at the present value. * ~ ; Mr MASSEY said he was asking Parliament to consent to a modification the original arrangement, which he considered would he of benefit to both State and tenant. He added that there was not much cry for unearned increment. It was hard-earned increment in most easeß, He contended that the Crown had recognised the right of settlers to the unearned increment by allowing original lessees to sell their leases to other persons. The PREMIER said it would not be fair to give any section of tlie community the benefit of the appreciation of tlie value of land at the expense of other sections of the community. Mr JENNINGS supported the amendment, He argued that settlers who had gone out into the backbloeks and suffered all the hardships of pioneer life were entitled to obtain the freehold at the original value, plus one per cent. Mr lIANAN asked were those men p-ho were asking, for the freehold considering the interests of tho State Those who believed in honesty of purpose and the maintenance of agreements should prevent the State being jobbed of thousands of pounds. Mr W. ERASER said the term of lease should not be lost sight of when people talked of the State being robbed. He contended that tho goodwill did not belong to the State, and the best proof of that was that the State,allowed a tenant to borrow against that goodwill. He contended that the interest of the State in a thousand years' lease was a decimal figure that could not be Stated. Mr MILLS contended that the leaseholder had covenanted with the State, and tlie State with the tenant, and the 1 latter desired to break the bond, it ! dwas for the State to stipulate under

j what conditions this could be done. He _ maintained that the provisions of the Bill were reasonable, and for that reason he would oppose the amendment. |. Mr JAMES ALLEN contended that. ! if the lands went, down below the ori- _ ginal value, lessees-iii-perpetuity would convert and purchase at the then pre- | sent value, consequently the State ; would lose on the transaction. Mr LANG contended that the only persons who were satisfied with tiie clause in the Bill were the land reformers. Mr OKEY, in supporting the amendment, said that in the case of a lease, the original capital of which was .€looo,' at the expiration of 15 years if one per cent extra were paid, as provided iindir tlie amendment, the Government wuul'i receive a total of £l2lO, so that tlie State would not lose, as had been stated by various members.- He contended it would benefit both the lessees and the State it granted the freehold as 1 provided in the amendment, as it would ( m " r< : P»K(nblc io invest money re- * ccived lor freehold in the direction of 1 hmris for settlement . e aillciullnent was negatived by 39 0 For the amendment (24): Meisri 0 Bollard, Allen, J Dillon, Field, Eraser, c \Greeusdale, Hardy, Berries, Horns- 1 b), Houston, Jennings, Kidd, Lang Lcthbridge, Lewis, Mackenzie, T„ Ma* tier, Massey, Okey, Bemington,' Symes, Thomson, Wilford 1> Against (39): —Allen, £ n Arnol! C ?an ™ Bnll WM' Budd0 ' ColTin ' I f! 1 EII > F«her, Flatman, Fowlds, »'

j'raser, A. L. D., Graham, Gray, Guinless, fiaiian, Hogan, Izard, Kaihau -lUirenson, Lawry, McLaehlan, MeNab UcPherson, Millar, Ngata, Parata, polinj, Poole, Seddon, Sidey, Stallworthy ~ Steward, Tanner, Ward, Witty, Wood. At clause 19, the provisions of this section shall not apply to land which is subject to the provisions of the Lands for Settlelncnts Consolidation Act, 1900, Mr MasS:'y moved to strike out the word "not," with a view to inserting the word "also." He contended that this would greatly assist in re- I dueing borrowing for the purpose Of : acquiring lands for settlement. (Left Sitting).