RAMBLING IN LAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 August 1919, Page 3

RAMBLING IN LAND.

To the Editor. Sir,—There is a strong and growing opinion throughout the country that gambling in land and undue Inflation of values nro going to prove a disastrous effect. I quite agree with you that once you interfere with the free selling of land you are Into deep and troubled waters, but in company with whom? Only the speculator and the' aggregator, and they need not be considered. Land, that is freehold in particular, lias been degraded to the level of a common chattel, and the fact is being lost sight of that whether a man holds land under a leasehold or freehold tofiure he ts only a trustee whose duty it is to see that the land is rightly used for the public benefit as well as his own. Thew is not the freo trafflcing in Government leasehold land as there is in freehold, and tho. soldier settlers cannot sell out to a civilian under ten years. Yet a returned soldier is only a civilian when he receives his discharge. There is no free right to sell in his case, and yet there is no talk-of "deep and troubled waters" in connection with this restriction, nor is there in connection with leasehold land, tho holding of which 's subject to certain regulations as to residence .and time It can be held before it can bo transferred again (though land boards are getting very Ins in respect to these regulations.) There aro also restrictions as to area of certain Crown lands that can be taken up. But with the freehold one can do anything he likes with It, whether it is for the good of tho country or not. As for tenure, I don't caro a rap whether it is freehold or leasehold, because I hold that the man in possession in either case is only a trustee. Although there is so much dissatisfaction with the present state of affairs, from the Bluff to the North Cape, no practical suggestion has yet been mado in public as to how to remedy matters. What I would therefaro suggest is this: Put all the rural land, freehold as well as the leasehold, under land boards, which shall be constituted of three paid commissioners, so that all transactions in land will, have to undergo supervision. Put into operation the Danfeh land law that a homestead once established cannot be closed. When a property is in tho market for sale the commissioners should have the right to say whether that property is capable of subdivision, and. If so, it must be sub-divided before it can be sold; that once a purchase is made the land cannot be transferred again for a stated number of years. This is practically applying the same principle of dealing with Crown leasehold land to freehold lands, so that I do not see that there can bo much to complain of. It would tend to check excessive lajid values, stop aggregation, and givo the bona fide settler a hotter chance to secure a holding without having to pay tho penalty imposed by the speculator. It would also, tend to Improve the present slipshod methods of forming the aggregator. Whether tho time is ripe for restricting tho area a man should hold, or rather purchase, is a question; but if land boards, as I suggest, had the control of all transactions, and the power to demand subdivision of any land an owner wished to sell, this difficulty would bo largely got, over. It ir. so now In connection with Crown leaseholds, though, as I have said, there is a looseness In the way tho regulations arc being carried out, but I am afraid that that is largely duo to having men on land boards who are interested in land themselves, and, however good and straight mefi they are, | have a natural leaning towards free dealing in land. Trusting this is not too long for your Space, and that It will afford material for discussion which will load to a practical end,—l am, etc., CANTERBURY. Christchurch, Ist August, 1919.