THE NEW LAND BILL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 23 October 1907, Page 3

THE NEW LAND BILL.

PASSED BY THE LOWER HOUSE. Per Press Association. Wellington, Mbnday. When the House of Representatives met at 7.30 this evening, the amendments made in committee to tho Land Laws Amendment Bill were reported. Mr Herrie-s said much of the measure had been borrowed from the policy of Mr Massey and the Farmers' Union. He had always opposed the limitation clause, as the history of such legislation showed that it either fell into disuse or was got over by the ingenuity of lawyers. He added that those members on the Government side who had stuck to the freehold would come out on top. He twitted Mr McNab with being a creature of Socialists but congratulated him on in the end coming over to the

freehold. He contended that there was not a single clause in the B : U which lawyers could not get over, or, if they could not, they were not worth th<> : .r salt. He himself could see two ways in which to get over clause 4. Mr Massey said he beileved in the principle of Imitation, and was opposed to the aggregation of estates. The amendments were agreed to.

On tile motion that llie 8.11 should J»c read a third time, Mr Massey expressed regret that the Minister had not explained his attitude in regard to the B 11. He de|.recit -,1 the substituUon «f the reiu-wabh' lease for the leiseinperpeiuity. A 33 years' ieise on lands for settlement was tro short, but a majority of the members of the House knew nothing of the conditions that new settlers had to contend with, and they consequently did not care. ,Settlere under this Act woutyl never l+> satisfied that they would be allowed to enjoy the reward of their labor in carrying out improvements The tendency was to think that those who followed would reap the benefits of the original settlers' work. A private individual, if he had leased land to a tenant for !)<J9 years, would jump at the chance to obtain the original iapit.il value, with one per cent added from the beginning of the lease. If he did not, he would be a man who had more money than sense. He regretted that the Minister had not redeemed his promise made during the recess that he would remove the restrictions under which the settlers labored. He admitted that freeholders had gained in certain clauses of the Bill, but contended that they had lost under part 2of the Bill (Lands for Settlement). It was absolutely impossible for settlers of tho country to have confidence in a Minister for Lands who had introduced the Land Bill of this year and the Land Bill of last year. If Mr McNiib was the author of the Bill of last year, who, he asked, was the author of the Bill of this year! Referring to clause 60, he said it was still a bad clause, thou"h an improvement on the clause fcrieinaily introduced. He contended that the compensation for the compulsory taking H ?!' ly amounted t" 5 per cent, on half the capital value, with 2 per cent added on the total capital value. lLV S n. a ClaUSe for the promotion of Und settlement, but a taxing clause. He regretted that the homestead clause proposed by Mr Duncan had not been agreed to.

The Premier said that, when farmers had considered the Bill dispassionately ! " cy ™ U ,' d , be satisfied that the Govern. »nent lad done good work. Referring to Mr Masseys charge that Mr McXab bad taken up a different position this year and last year, he reminded membra that it was usual for good generals 111 tl. n am amount of skirmishing, and the fact was that the Minister had °hT™r n ,° n top ' He the renewal,],, clause and the conversion of lease-, n-perpetuity into freehold at the present value. Referring to the Homesteid Act, he pointed out that, when it had been in force, there had been none of the opportunities which were now available to settlers under the Land for Settlements Act, and it was because they were desirous of widenin-r and improving the land legislation in the Dominion that they could not accept the proposals of the member for Oamartx. . } -j gi Mr Fraser considered the Governments freehold clauses were of no value, as no one would take advantage of the proposal to acquire the freehold at the present value.

Mr Buddo contended that, while there were twenty-two members in favor of the freehold and twelve in favor of leasehold, there remained a substantial majority in favor of the Bill. For that reason he considered the Bill would meet with the approval of the country generally. He deprecated the idea that Socialists had influenced the pu!,lic in the matter, and it was the moderates who would place the land legislation on the Statute Book.

Mr Mander said that, if the leasehold met the requirements of the South Island, it did not meet the requirements of the North Island.

The debate continued after midnight. Mr Thomson said the Dominion was pa.ung £2 000.0u0 yearly on £110,000,0(10 of indebtedness. Had the State allowed the settlers the right to buy the fretfwould havc received l.i.OOd.i.'Uo and hare prevented the necessity of eoiDg to the London market „ At . ,«f -Mr MeNab rose to reply. He defended the Government's policv iu ? 1C K tion ° f re P rescn tativcs hj« i ' bf tro,ni te »«nts. If, he added, they were to have a majority of he members of boards elected tW could not hold the Minister of land re = ble for what was I*4 fn £ tlon 01 'Mds would t ? Ut S f the hands °f whoir;^ r ive / he b^ t :;ore made boards °Zu h>; r hat . «*. the land Minister to mind his "own '"t U '- 1 Ule The Government's Xy ' s intended that benefits had" been canon TL 0 " SDla erazins luwHohlers and to z s :r p " p r'<y b ° m^ « oJ™ f T ° f - )m P r °vemcntß and the option of changing the tenure Mr Maseey caJJed for a division, .a . th ' T(i «*ding was agreed to by 42 votes to 15. The Bill was passed. -Mes4 r ng V " r lC f a G !linst tta Bill: mW JAIIfn > J -"g, Jentt .Manler Greenrl; *™cr,an.l llr rries . The Ilnu-e r,,-,. at 2.30 a.m.

the NEW AND THE old. land BILL EXPLAINED. FOTURE CROWN SALES. aggregation of AREA PREVENTED.

IREEHOLD AND LEASEHOLD.

Interviewed by a X,-u Zralaml Times represent .v,, the Hon. J;. JjeXal, .\| la . ister for Lands, threw some interesting Bills. ° U U " U ' aUd the O,J

I consider that the most important amendment made was the addition to the Clause m regard to land sohl by the -Th" t the f f "' ur< ''" the Minister. The effect of that addition, which was made on Iriday night, will be to prevent land sold by the Crown from being at any tune in the future aggregated into estates of a greater Bize than lij. Ijcrea of first class land, or an cquivai, f m s<con 'l or third-class land. I | look upon that as the most far-reach-ing provision in the whole Bill, if the machinery provided proves effective. It is a fact worthy of notice that the new provision was added without a single dissentient voice. 6 PASTORAL TEXAN i'y. "Another amendment that is of im- j portanee to the whole country gives fair security for improvements to pastoral tenants. In the past these tenants have received scant justice, but now they will have the knowledge that at the end of the lease they will receive a sum (-.jUil to the full value of their building, tences, and other improvements to the incoming tenant. "We hope that as a result of this change pii-toralists will take heart, and s em the deterioration in the properties that has been reported, particularly in Canterbury and Ot.igo.

THE kknkwadle lease. "Another amendment of considerable imp rtanee provides that the renewable .".IK- flutl! take the place of tile small giaz.ng nin lease in connection with P'-toral lands acquired under the Land ' n(s Act. Jn place of the tu-'-nty-onc- y, lea-e, the tenants ol h'- pastowl land will get a thirtythree years- renewable lease, with protection for their improvements. "Wo have provided that high country and low country may be held not only I unJer pae title, but actually as wig

block 1 . Then the reduction of tho rent from 5 pet cent to 4% per cent, for the first term of the renewable lease will do muck to reconcile tenants to tho shorter period so necessary in the interests of the State." CONCESSIONS TO TENANTS. '

It was suggested by tho interviewer that the reduction would not apply merely to the first term of the lease. "Thero is a point there that the House did not seem to grasp,'' replied the Minister. "Every concession given to tho tenant will increase the capital value of the holding, and at the end of the term the State will get its share of the benefit through the re-valuation ''The rent will not exceed 4 </, per cent, half of the capital value, but attcr the first term the concession made will produce an automatic adjustment. This reduction in the percentage On which the rent is to be calculated will have another effect. The tenants who hold leases-in-pcrpetuity at (lie present time will be able to secure a small reduction in rent by changing to the renewable lease under the machinery provided in the Bill and this power will he useful in cases where tenants complain that their rent is too high. "The Government will have an answer to future petitions from Crown tenants in this respect. I know of many Crown tenants who say that they are going to make the change straight away. RELIEVED 01- RESTRICTIONS. "Then we reduced from 50 per cent to 33 per cent of the capital value the amount to be paid in by the holder of a renewable lease or leasc-in-pcrpetuity in order to be relieved of restrict ions. A point to be remembered is that after 33 per cent has been piid in the tenant may use the Government as a bank of deposit up to 90 p' l' cent of the capital value. Any sums paid in above the 33 per cent will be repayable on viemand.

riUNCIt'Lli UNALTERED. "Tiio Bill wnl leave tlie House of Representatives with its principles unaltered. 'lUose principles lias been discussed very thoroughly, but it may be useful to enumerate the more important ones as follows: 1. The abolition of eternal lease. 2. Tho substitution of the sixty-six years' renewable lease for Crown land, and the thirty-three years' renewable lease for settlement lands. 3. The creation of a lease tenure free from cropping conditions and restrictive covenants on the payment to the Government of a percentage of the capital value of the holdings. 4. Tile granting of the option of the freehold at tho present valuation to lease-in-perpetuity holders on ordinary Crown lands. 5. Relief by conversion offered to those who complain of excessive rentals. 0. Power to lease land under the renewable lease without rent for a period of ten years in special eases. 7. Power to acquire estates at the owners' valuations, plus the percentage. 8. Power to dispense with residence in

certain cases, 9. Provision to suppress "dummyism" by requiring two years' actual residence instead of one year's "occupation" before a transfer can be granted, 10. Preference to the landless, and power to Fet apart areas for marred people with children, and for those "who have proved unsuccessful at previous ballots. 11. Provision for dealing with flax eouutry by means of fourteen-vcar leases. 12. Safeguards to cover the rights of executors and administrators, and aJso beneficiaries under a will. 13. Fairer conditions in regard to pastoral leases. 14. Provision for encouraging the woodpulp industry. A YEUY BIG ADVANTAGE. 1 think that this Bill marks a very big advance towards a satisfactory solution of the land question," added the Minister. "There has not previously been any legislation in the colony that has gone so far in the direction of limitation of holdings in free'uold and the creation of a leashold tenure that is a true leasehold.

"Leases for a very long time must always result in a tendency to end them by sale, and if we wish to keen any portion of the land of the colony under Crown leaseholds, it can only be done by hii\ijig a lease that will expire within the lifetime of living men. There is no saving wfcit may be the result of the successful operation of the new limitation proposals referred to ill my openin" remarks. ' °

"I have heard some strong lea-eholl-ers discuss the possibility of their success resulting in moderate leaseholders and moderate freeholders meeting on common ground. I mean that those who support the leasehold because of its ability to limit areas will be willing to join hands with the many freeholders who are strongly of opinion that excessive areas should not be held bv single individuals. " "

"I think that uol only the people of this country, but the people of other countries as well, will watch with interest the operation of the limit put upon freehold that may in future be acquired from tlie Crown."