THE LAND QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 107, 26 October 1911, Page 8

THE LAND QUESTION.

COMPULSORY PURCHASE. FOR CLOSE SETTLEMENT. DETAILS OF THE GOVERNMENT'S PROPOSALS. Under the Land for Settlement Amendment Bill introduced by the Government on Wednesday it is proposed to repeal' the law under which land may be taken compulsorily at 10 per cent, in excess of its declared unimproved value if not more than £60,000, or 5 per cent in respect of the residue beyond that sum. The provision for a. subsidiary roll on which a landowner could enter an increased valuation is also to bo repealed. In place of this procedure the Compensation Couirt is to be used to ascertain tlie value •! any estate to be compulsorily purchased. This is to be done under the terms of the Land for Settlement Act, with the addition, of the following clause: In estimating, for the purpose of awarding condensation, the value of any land proposed to be taken compulsorily under the principal Act, the Compensation Court shall not take into consideration the fact that the land ia to be taken compulsorily, 0 r make any addition to the value by reason of that fact, but shall determine the true and fair value of the land as at the date of the gazetting of the requisition in the same manner as if no such compulsory acquisition was contemplated. The principal Act is to be amended so as to prescribe that the area of an estate purchased compulsorily shall not be less than 2000 acres of first-class land or its equivalent in other qualities and* of an unimproved -value of not less than £20,000. ! Within one month of the award being made, the Governor, by .proclamation, shall declare that the land has been taken compulsorily, and it shall then become absolutely invested in his Majesty free of all encumbrances. If proceedings for compulsory purchase are abandoned, the amount of compensation for costs payable by the Crown shall not exceed £250.