LAND TENURES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 18 October 1907, Page 2

LAND TENURES.

CONCESSIONS IN ACQl'lUlXfi LAND. ; Wellington, Thursday. The debate continued after 111 ulniylifc. CIaMW a:) was passed as amended. Clause 01 ("provisieus us In lease-iu-perpetuity to apply to renewable lease") wa., passed ull ;> iii"ml A new ehuise (<H#) provides Unit the Government shall liave power 10 grant ■i lease of an acre of the holding as part of the consideration given Ity the tioverc.nient oil a(-i;liilin;; ioi .settlo"'jlr? McXab, in explaining the clause, said it would enable the Government to acquire land on more favorable terms than if it did not possess the power. The clause was passed unamended. Clause <i,->a provides that a Land Hoard may grant a lease without comliclition to any person who ban Oceii employed on the land by the late owner for at least five years previous at a rental not less than 5 per cent, on the capita, \lcNal> moved an amendment to provide* that the clause should only apply to a person who, by reason of the sale, was deprhed of hin employmcnt.-

Ji'lTVitty moved an amendment with the object of confining the concession | lo a person who bad Wen employed 10. ton years by the owner of thc_laiid. This amendment was negatived by -10 '".J;; ,„,t«. Jlr»X.b-. u»Uo»,. Progress was reported and the Ho - adjourned at 12.50 a.m. vr„i,f J Wellington, Last Nght.

The Houße on meeting in the afternoon, immediately went into committee on the Land Bill. T , l( .<u)v FIXLNIi I'lUCli KOK COIIIULbOiU ACQUISITION. Clause lit) provides, uucu an) ui. is taken compulsory under the plow sion ot tile principal Act, the \. thereof for tue purpose ot assessing uu, compensation shall be the capital vaiue of tUat land as assessed on the valuation roil in ioice under Hie pruv.sious ot u*e Government Valuation of Land Act, 18'Ju, at tile time when the requisition is gazetted for the taking of the laud. Air McNub moved a new clause in substitution of clause lid, which pro-

yules— . 1 (1) That in pursuance of any roquiSition gazetted after tUu last clay of March, 1908, no compensation, shall lie payable to any person hy reason ol taking such land, (compulsory), other than compensation assessed and ucterniined in accordance >vith the provisions of this section; (2) Compensation shall be separately assessed in respect of the unimproved value of the land and improvement; (3) Unimproved value is deemed to be the amount assessed in tile district valuation roll in force under the Land Valuation Act, 189G, at the time whin the requisition of taking the land is gazetted; ■ !, : (4) If the land taken or part thereof is not separately valued, but is only part of a larger area so valued, the part taken shall be deemed proportion of the valuation of tlie larger area as the court determines; (5) The value of improvement shall he assessed as at the date of gazetting the requisition; ! ■'l : (G) In every ease sliall be added to the total amount payable in respect of unimproved value a fu.'tlier sum calculated as follows: —(a) Not 'exceeding £50,000, a percentage of 10 per cent thereof; (b) exceeding £50,000, a percentage of 10 per cent in respect of £50,000, and of 5 per cent in respect of the residue; , ..j. (7) The owner of any estate or interest separately valued on the valuation roll may intimate to the Valuer-Gen-eral lie requires the valuation to be increased, and the Valuer-General shall inI sert the increased valuation on a sub-

sidiary roll; j t jj£] (8) Every such notice to be given either in the month of March or within one month after the Valuer-General notifies a revision of valuation; (10) Improvements and unimproved value to have the same meanings as under the Valuation Land Act Amendment Act 1900. (11) When the valuation roll contains separate valuations of unimproved land in respect of the separate interests of two or more persons, the value of such land shall be deemed the aggregate amount, of such separate valuations; (12) In every case shall be added to the total amount of compensation payable u sum equal to 2% per cent by way of compensation for compulsory taking and for any loss incurred thereby Mr McNab, in explaining the clause, said it was desired to give owners of land the right to raise their valuations to any extent they pleased, and the valuation so placed upon the land would be accepted by the Government in acquiring the land under the compulsory powers The improvements would be valued separately, and land tax would be paid on the owner's own valuation. Mr Massey contended that the new clause was no improvement on the existing law, but rather the reverse, 'except ironi the point of view of the Taxation Department, the Government or the single-taxers, as it proposed to increase very seriously the taxation of people who were already on the land ihis was without question the most objectionable clause in the Bill from the point of view of the settlers. He moved to Strike out the first part of the original clause as a prior amendment-.. "

' James Allen said the amendment ™ moved With the object of decX in th f auy alteration should be made m the law regarding the taking of land 'ompulsorily. This clause applied to ■U'te isedllf large , eStatc3, Hl ' char " M • f Pr °r al as a orucl on* exfetint Kw rf ° Ut tllat under existing law landowners were allmv<-i to swear anything in a court fland spil nU s t wore to 01le valuation for asessment purposes S a y £c aa clause would operate fairlv The vain ation would be for thrl.n namely—land tnv i P' ,r P osc s. -i few, 5 JS; mC'SlV'''* 1 ""' itewrsrAri rSj=r*ajn.a .no land. The consequence was that hey were goiag to place tC let on tio Statute Book. He argue,-] that if e4Tte tW 'Z Cb a Certnin ckss of °" , d not a Pv'y it to '^ ci y estate in the colony. Mr. fain or contondcd that if this chiiKo In came law each farmer would have to lace an extra value on it over what it was north in order to prevent liis land he"\ratilrt^ n f f OlU hlm ' lil l? , ' nve to l'ay more in rates. He ' 1 'I that what the Government was . . ng a way ill the direction of the tariff they were taking back under the land proposals. Mr. Hornsby said the Opposition members had conteudod, when the .Cheviot, proposals were made, that :t would prove a failure, yet they had now admitted that they hail been a good thing for the country. He added that time and again men had stated in compensation courts that their lands were of a far higher value than they previously stated in assessment courts. This elnuse would bring about the muelidesiroil effect of making people pay n fair taxation, which in past years they had successfully .evaded, lie supported ' the clause because he believed it would end a practice which amounted to a scandal, of ringing-iu witnesses to bolster up the value of land in compensation courts when such land was required by the State.

I Mr. IJanan contended that the clause V'tts an equitable one. In the past the country had paid for land through the nose, and most outrageous prices had consequently been paid, but this state of affairs would be ended when the clause was placed on the Statute llook. Mr. Izard contended there was not a single farmer in the colony who, if he was asked, would not admit that tho value ot' his land was in excess of the valuation placed on it by the Valuation Department. He intended to support the clause. Mr. W. Fraser contended there was not a single country in tho world which levied taxation on {he full market value of land, yet this was what the Government proposed to do under the clause. It was recognised Hint land should pay taxation, but not on the full market value.

The Premier explained that the system of taxing lands had proved unsatisfactory, and the state of affairs that existed was such as to make, the Lands for Settlement Act exceedingly hard to operate. Ho contended that tWs attempt fa ersatq a feeling <j£ to-

easiness among small fanners was un-j justifiable. The smallest estate that had been compulsorily acquired under the I Lands lor iSottlement Act was 41)331 acres in c:;lenL It was absurd to say the clause \iu;:!d cause uneasiness, as when laiul v/jacquired compulsorily the uwner was allowed by law to re-1 serve KKH) acres o!' first-class land, and this, he explained, meant that lie could reserve by ill:- application of the "grid' iron." fie did nul use the term oli'ensivelv. lie added that if valuations j were fair, a landowner had no cause l'or| fear,-and if they were unfair, lie had the right under the clause to have the vabiar.::!! revised and increased. Air. Ling contended that under clause 13 of the' Ail the Government could acquire sme.U farms, and all an owner could reserve was ten acres. Clause 13, lr added, d.-alt with the acquiring of land for workmen's homes, and included lands within iifteen miles of towns.

.Mr. Haume, in supporting the clause, saiil one estate acquired by the Government had been valued for assessment at £2!),lli0. The Government had had to pay *48,'.50 for the same estate, and in four other cases the payment, for estates so acquired had been considerably over the value for assessment purposes. The House adjourned at 5.30 p.m. On resuming at 7.30 p.m., the debate was continued. Mr. Ilcrrics acknowledged that the new clause was an improvement on the clause contained in the Bill. He pointed out that difficulty arose in increasing the valuation of fclio land, tis frequently j no notice was given of intention to hold a court, and a landowner did not know' of the court being held until it liad actually sat and the valuation was fixed, which was for a period of two years. He contended that the proposals would be most burdensome on settlers, and particularly so in regard to local rates._ Mr McNab, in replyiug to various members during a long discussion, said his aim "was that there should be a fair relationship between the price at which at which the Government bought the land and the amount at which it was valued for taxation. When the Bill was on the Statute Book, the experience of it in practice would be to show, that i£ tlio Government erred on any side they erred against the small farmers in their efforts to get from large estates land that would, satisfy their genuine demand for' Land for Settlement

The Premier stated that the viiscussion which had been in progress for four hours and a-'lialf had been largoly repetition and reiteration of the same views as they had heard, earlier in the day.

Mr Duncan contended that owners of large estates ■ taken over by the Government had been paid more than was a fair price for the lands. He added that the owners of Flaxboiirne estate had received £30,000 more than tliey should have. 'l'he Hatuma estate was another eise. He thought the effe&b of the clause would be to raise the price of estates higher than ever beforte. Mr Massey's amendment was negatived by 45 to 21. i T " The division was as follows:—Against the amendment:—E. G. Allen, Arnold, Barber, Barclay, Bennett, Buddo, Carroll, Colvin, Dillon, Duncan, Ell, Field, Flatman, Fowlds, Graham, Gray, Greensladc, Ifanan, Hogan, Hogcr, Hornsby, Izard, Kidd, Lauren?on, McGowan, McNab, Macpherson, Ngati, P.irata, Poland, Poole, Remington, Ros.«, Rutherford, Soddon, Sidey, Stalhvorthy, Ste.vcns, Steward .Tanner, Thomson, Ward, Wilford, Witty, Wood.

For the ambendment: lAitk'en, J. Allen, Bollard, Fisher, W. Fraser, Hardy, Herries, Houston, Jennings, Lang, Lethbridgo, Lewis, T. Mackenzie, Major, Mnlsolm, Mander, Massey, Oker, Reid, Rhodes, Symes.

The Minister then moved the new clause. ■

Mr James Allen moved an amendment to Sub-clause 5, with a view to substituting the Public Works Act, 1804, for "Lands for Settlement Act" in assessing the value of improvements. Thto amendment was negatived by 45 _ j and the sub-clause passed. Mr Herries moved an amendment to provide that if the total amount payable docs not exceed £15,000, the percentage payable shall be 15 per cent, smaU farmer. 0 ™ to * rotecfc

The amendment, which was not debatif ? negatived by 38 to 23. mm I' ti >>>m ' S moVcd a " shall ,jr de w' tile Bubsid iiiy roll snail not bo used for the purposes of ;-.-g m wUCR g

DOWN WITH THE SPECULATOR I Per Press Association. Th„ tll • Dunedin « Last Night. „/r fo "wu'S resolution was passed and Tni n M -, eting of tll ° Trad <» and Labor Council: "That this meeting b .0.0,, that the time is opp^Ce abolition of the sale of land for «Rr''tt.iT 1 ' 0863 ',' 19 tho spwuktor fcoes 101 the unearned increment ™i,;/,i, thPTßfn J a ? ' and hy tlleir industry r* G^iStto offenceforan^rC'to'I,J £ foi speculative proposes." d