ADMINISTRATION OF LANDS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2019, 13 March 1890, Page 1

ADMINISTRATION OF LANDS.

A correspondent sends us the following : The following information as to the Wairarapa I have from personal friends concerning the way in which the best lands of the Forty Mile Bush are being -gambled with. My informant is a'deeent contractor, —;—. He declares there is a ring of speculators in the Bush who are dome

nothing else 'but watching land sales, securing sections, and then getting them off their hands at an enhanced price as quickly as possible. The agents, who are making money hand over fist in this business, are - —>•; a settler in the Bush, —— and ,

two Canterbury land jobbers, ,and a local'solicitor, Dummying, he says, is rampant. The land not being advertised, at Jleast : not in the local papers), only a few interested parties know anything about the impending sales, and it pays them to kfeep everything very quiet, They go out and spot the land and then they put in applications under the deferred payment or perpetual lease system for the best sections, Not only do they get, their relatives to do so as well, but they employ all their friends and

acquaintances, the understanding being, of course, that the land will be transferred at Ihe earliest possible moment. A man cannot hold more than one section under any system, but what they do is to alter the tenure! For instance, the holder of land under deferred payment and perpetual lease

qualifies himself immediately to make a fresh application for a perpetual lease by getting the Land Board to alter the

tenure of the land he holds.

assures me that there is hardly a section sold last week for which the successful applicant could not get an

advance of £1 per acre, cash down. All the applicant has to do is to

go to a solicitor, tell him he has got a certain section, and straightway _ a client is found ; or the solicitor, by instruction, pur-

chases for- -, who have their clients ready to give them an enhanced price in Canterbury. The solicitor

gives the selector a cheque for his money, and the land is virtually sold. The selector, in turn, signs a bill, together with an agreement to refund the money if the transfer is not duly

made. The man is frequently employed to fell the bush, and make the

improvements necessary to enable the holder to capitalise or acquire his freehold. Very often the board grants a transfer at once, provided the selector shows good cause for wishing to dispose of his rights, or has a friend at court, —— is up to his neck in this work. At THE LAST LANB SCRAMBLE he and his son pulled off two of the best sections. Within the last three months tells nae should have made £2OOO out of his lucky drawings. The curious thing is that and his intimate friends get the land even when there is very keen competition. Mr senr., who came

back recently from Wellington, after attending one of these ballots. "By forget as long as I live. He managed it for me, I've got the land, and it was wonderful." I can name complacent J.P.'s who good naturedly witness the declarations on the assur-

ance that the signatures are genuine although the signatories are absent. —— tells me he has been doing a : bit of land jobbery himself. A year ago he was contracting. Competition was keen :he hurt his hand and could not work, so he left Masterton, got into the Bush, and in a week he had been schooled in the science of dummying.

Hardly aland sale has passed that he has not made £3O to £SO. and

his sons have been trafficking regularly in the same way. To-day was offered a price for some land he selected and improved, and he tells me if he sells out he will make £6OO clear by that one transaction. Of course, the

men that have to pay the piper are the

jt- r it poor Canterbury farmer clients of such men as . I think you will find every word of the information I am giving you correct, and you can form your own opinions and comments, — Wanganui Herald.