POLITICAL NEWS AND NOTES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 109, 16 August 1910, Page 7

POLITICAL NEWS AND NOTES

MOKAU LANDS. ANOTHER PETITION TO HAND. The interminable "Mokau Jones" claim has been revived by the annual petition of the claimant, Mr. Joshua Jones, who alleges that the statement of the Prime Minister, in reply to Mr. Okey's recent question, that the Attorney-General was not asked, and had no power to give effect to the recommendation for an enquiry, was not in accordance with petitioner's information. Dr. Findlay, continues the petition, represented the Government in the Legislative Council, and stated there on October Bth, 1908, that the Government would not set up an enquiry to deal with the petition; that at the same time Dr. Findlay put forward on behalf of his firm's client, Hermann Lewis, as the only alternative for petitioner to consider, certain terms demanding a sum of £SOOO, which a few days later was - increased to £II,OOO and £14,000 on behalf of Flowers' executors, £25,000 altogether, that the land was to be sold through the Maori Land Board; that arbitrators were to be appointed to determine how much money, if any, Lewis was to get when the land was all disposed of. The petitioner further alleges' that the statement that the Attorney-General had not and never had any direct or indirect interest in the mortgages does riot agree with the evidence before him. He says that there are various other matters connected ■with the transactions which demand the earliest investigation, and declares that the suggestion that he should go again to the law courts is not tenable under the existing circumstances. He submits in conclusion that the Land Transfer Act was never intended to be the medium of fraud by the transfer of properties to dummies, and that while the present state of things exists the interest of every landowner in the Dominion stands in jeopardy. He, therefore, asks that 1 he may be permitted to appear in person before the House to plead his cause.

WEST COAST SETTLEMENT RESERVES. During his speech on the Budget, Mr. Okey, referring to the West Coast Settlement Reserves, said:— We have another tenure in the district I represent that is creating a difficulty at the present time—l refer to the West Coast Settlement Reserves. These are lands which were cut up in 1880 and 1881, and leased to settlers at the reserve rental fixed by the Public Trustee at that time. The land was taken up by the settlers ; it was then bush, swamp, and a good deal of it fern land. The settlers have improved it; but in many cases they did not make any advancement after holding it for ten years, and many were almost in the position of losing it. They came to the Government and asked to have the tenure amended, and in 1892 an amending Act was passed authorising them to take up leases in perpetuity in place of the thirty-year leases under the Act of 1881-. But a number of settlers were not in a position to be able to renew their leases under the Act, as they had to pay a certain amount down to get the right to amend their leases. 'A hundred and thirty settlers, holding eighteen thousand acres of land, have not had that right, and they are asking the Government j;o give them the same right as the settlers had in 1892. When they took up the land it was understood that they were to be allowed all the improvements they had made on the land—they- have fell the bush, fenced, grassed, and done a great deal of drainage, and reared families on the land—and now it turns out there is a doubt as to what is to be improvement. The Public Trustee, to test the question, took a friendly case to the Supreme Court, and the Judge has declared that felling bush and grassing are not im provements under the Act. That is the position the settlers are in, and in two or three years these leases will be up, and I trust the Government will bring forward a measure this session to relieve them and to place them in a secure position, because if anything should happen [ whereby the land should happen into the | hands of the natives again it will be the worst set-back that the district could 1 have. The settlers have borrowed money I and made roads; they borrowed money and built dairy factories; and now, if a portion of those lands come 'back into the hands of the natives, I say again it will be a setback that no Government could afford to let the district have. Mr. Jennings: What district is that? Mr. Okey: I am referring to the West Coast Settlements between Hawera and Okato.

■LAND PURCHASES, . INTERESTING REPORT. The report of the Land Purchase Inspector (Mr. J. D. Ritchie) under -the limd for Settlements Act lias been laid before Parliament. He states that during the Year' there were 122 properties, containing 231,853 acres, offered to the Government, of which 14, containing 48,287 acres, were purchased; but four had not been ta'ken possession of. The actual expenditure for the year was £200,793, making a total of £5,407,792 paid since the commencement of the Act as purchase money for .estates containing 1 -238,096 acres. The balance to the credit of the fund at 31st March was £202,497. , The sum of £10,210 has been paid under section 177 of the Land Act, which gives the right to the owner of a lease to in perpetuity to purchase the fee-simple, and £1457 under section 101 of the Land Act, which gives the owner of a renewable lease the right to pay 90 per cent, of the capital value. As to the Land Settlement Finance

\ct the Inspector reports that the principle of the Act is good, 'but complaint is made of the conditions to be observed before the Board can consider any application for the purchase of an estate. The procedure might be much simplified without impairing the value of the measure with fewer restrictions and wider powers, the general provisions of the

Act would; be largely availed of. There appears, lie remarks, to be an unlimited demand for land, but the BoaTd is faced with the difheult task of finding suitable areas at anything like a price that will allow of their being disposed of in reasonably-sized farms, at a rental that will enable the lessee to make a fair living. At no time in the history of 'the Dominion have the returns from flocks and herds been as high as during the pa&t year If the continuance of the present returns could be depended upon the purchase of estates •would be an easy matter; but it must not be forgotten that there have been time 9 of depression when our staple proS did not return much more than lialf of what they are now doing, and there is no saying when the same maj occur again. It therefore, he adds, behoves the Board to exercise great caution in making any recommendation to purchase. The value put upon the talk Sf the land offered is such as to> place it practically beyond the reach of the

Board. Notwithstanding the high prices, everything possible is being done to secure suitable properties.

"The Government," say* Mr. Boss, member for Pahiatua, "should sit on the civil servants, who are running this country. If it did not do so it would find, as time went on, that ultimately it would be put of office through the actions of the civil servants, who are administering liberal law in a most arbitrary manner."