THE MINISTER OF LANDS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2269, 20 October 1891, Page 2

THE MINISTER OF LANDS.

On last Friday evening the H.Oll. J. McKenzie, Minister of Lands, was banquetted by his constituents. There were 150 persons present, amongst whom was the Hon. J. Ballance, Premier and Colonial Treasurer. He made a stirring speech, and said if there was no other way of dealing with the Legislative Council he would vote for its abolition. The Hon. J. McKenzie in the course of his speech, said it had been said that hewanted to do away with the freehold im laud. The Bill provided that anyone wishing to purchase land for cash could do so. He could either purchase it on deferred payment, if he had no cash to buy it with, or he could take it up on perpetual lease. The Bill, however,, provided that there should be no more large estates with very few improvements made upon them. It was intended thatthere should be no more speculation im land, and he asked what possible hardship could it do to any individual who wished! to become a bona fide settler,' and - who* wished to improve his laud. The very clause of the Bill that was made so much noise about was similar to a clause in the Land Act when he first took up land in the colony. Then no one could get at Crown grant for the land which he had taken up from the Crown until a certain, number of improvements had been mad® upon the land. Settlers got on splendidly under that system of land tenure until tha Sons of Belial arrived in New Zealand, (Laughter and applause.) These gentlemen, as sooii as they arrived, made the laws to suit themselves, and they enacted that it was not necessary to make improvements on the land, and that was the first of the creation of big estates in Otago. He noticed that the Tory Press of the colony wanted to make out that the Premier and himself had a difference of opinion as to accepting amendments made by the Legislative Council on his Land Bill, but not a word of it was true. If he had accepted the amendments he would simply have got a consolidating measure, and the Liberal provisions would have been torn from the Bill. All who knew him knew that he would not be a party to anything of that sort. (Applause.) The Legislative Council got their instructions from the Tory Press of the colony to reject the McKenzie Land Bill —(laughter and applause),—and he had seen it in the papers, six or eight weeks before the Bill came before the Upper House, that the Council would never pass the Bill. No man of honor could any longer hold his seat as Minister of Lands--if he was to be dictated to. By whom ? Who were the leading spirits in the Legislative Council iu dealing with this Bill ? They were the manager of a mortgage company, the head of a financial firm in Christchurch, and one of the biggest landowners in the colony, (Applause.) These were the three men who were driving this Bill to destruction, (Laughter.) Was he to accept the dictation of these men. If he had done so he should be worthy oi the scorn of the people he represented. (Hear, hear.) There had been a lot of criticism about

the proposal, in this Bill that one mau

should have one run, but he had gone very carefully into the matter, and he found that so long as the present law continued in existence, and large companies mono polised the pastoral runs in this colony, we would lose very considerably by it. At the present time there were 163 runs let in the colony, and they were held by thirteen lesees. These runs contained 4,538,263 acres, and carried about one millon sheep. The annual rent was about 3d per acre, or a total rent of about lid per sheep. He was confident in his own mind that the country was worth more money than they got for it—(hear, hear), and that if the land were occupied by small owners more revenue would be derived from it. He proceeded to give a number of other instances of large blocks of land being held by large companies, which were only yielding a small revenue, and pointed out that if they were in the hands of small owners it would be all the better for the colony. He was convinced that his Bill would yet pass the Legislative Council and that it would yet become the corner stone upon which the future land policy of this country would be built.