WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 October 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

0 THE NEW LAND BILL. MORE FREEHOLD. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, October. 18. • The new Land, Bill read 'a llrst tim% in the House of Representatives on Friday, g6eg a long way towards confirming the iterated and reiterated prediction of the leaseholders that when the freeholders got their way in Parliament the national endowments would follow tha Crown leased into flie melting pot? Whether or not this is a good ot an ill tiling for the present generation and foU; posterity, is a question on which thtre is a wide difference of opinion, bat of the facts there can be no doubt. A clause of the Bill provides that the Governor-General—which, of courati means the Government —may from time to time by proclamation declare that any unoccupied national endowment land* not exceeding in the aggregate 10,000 acres, shall cense to be national endowment land and shall be set apart for settlement under the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act or under the homestead provision of the Land Laws Amendment Act.

GOING THE WHOLE HOG. The remnant of the old leasehold brigade in she House, the dozen stalwarts who still hold to the faith of the late Sir John Mackenzie, insist that this is tlin beginning of the final disintegration of the national estate. They point to the subtlety with which the main clause towards this' end is drafted. This clause, which tlie critics say serves the dual purpose of a salve to the conscience of the raiders and a blind to the raided« while providing that the Governor* General's proclamation must sot include more than 10,000 acres, does not prevent a dozen or more proclamations being is-* sued every day of the week and th® whole of the endowments being aliens ated from their original purpose in a single year. Another clause provides that after the passing of the Bjll no fur* ther endowments shall be created, so that the damage done with one hand will not be repaired with t|te other. OTHER PROVISIONS.

| Other clauses of the Bill are giving ofi fence to the leasehold stalwarts, and are likely to be strenuously opposed when : the measuretgeta into committee. Provision is made for the sale by auction of limited areas of Grown land or of land, of inferior quality deemed unsuitable for a separate holding. The present! procedure in this respect the Minister deems to be cumbersome and expensive. The objections here arc that the provision will give an advantage to the Weil* thy man over the man of small means and that large areas of Crown land will be alienated at much below their real value. Another clause provides that settlement lands may be sold lor cash ols on deferred payments. A tto|4 clatu# revives the right to purchase the free* hold of settlement land held under lean in perpetuity and a fourth extends this right to the holders of renewable leases under the Hauraki Plains Act. THE MINISTER'S CONTENTIONS. The Minister of Lands is little per J' turbed by the criticism that is befog di«i rented against his proposals, to a large extent, he says, without a clear under-< standing of their purport. It is ab« solutely necessary, Mr. Guthrie urges, toE. give the fullest possible encouragement to settlement and production and to*' wards tlfs end a choice of tenure wiH help enormously. Much of the national endowment land is now lying idle aimply because it cannot be occupied with a prospect of acquiring the freehold, an® to this extent it is hindering rather thaA helping the purpose for which it was set. aside. Then the Bill expressly provides that all money received from the sale of endowment land shall be paid in-' to the National Endowment Account and used in precisely the same way as endowment revenue. The State will Jiav« the money in place of the land, and in addition will have the settlement and production jvhieh are so vital to its wel« fare.