Sir G. Grey on the Land Bill.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4214, 4 July 1882, Page 2

Sir G. Grey on the Land Bill.

Mr Eolleston's Land Bill, which has been circulated, is looked upon by Sir George Grey with the greatest disfavor. His objections are mainly these:—That the chief difficulties in the land question are the enormous properties held in the South Island by private persons, and the fact that the remaining native lands, which include the best land in the North Island, which the natives have kept, cannot be purchased by anybody but by those who, as Mr Sheehan says, have the key to the means of getting at it. This bill does not touch either of those questions, but goes to establish a permanent-system of land* lordism, of holders of great estates in New Zealand. It sets up a number of tenants with very small properties, not a race of tenants such as the land reformers propose, whose farms will be the real property of the State. These tenants are to get a permanent tenure under a system of rental which prevents the unearned increment from being forever touched, binding all posterity to a system of landlordism; which can only be got rid of by payingjjjT 1 enormous compensation. It will set up over the new tenants an obnoxious system, which renders their holdings of little value to sell again, inasmuch as the down approves of the new tenant, thus establishing | by law the worst kind of landlordism. These new farms are only to be got under a system of competition by tender, not a fixed rate, and no holder of poor lands, which he cannot dispose of at present, from the nature of the soil, can get one of these farms, as only people can get them who have less than 640 acres of land, when the new holding is added to what they have. It may be stated that in a certain British colony where people want farms, a farm is given by the Grown at a fixed rent, which is never increased, and the tenant sells to whom he likes; and if the Government wants increased rent, it puts it on in the form' of a land tax, which is levied in proportion to the annual value of each farm, instead of which, under the proposed system, the Government agree never to take a greater rent than five per cent, on the unearned increment, and always renewing the lease on these terms. This will, therefore, regulate the highest land tax in New Zealand which could be imposed on freehold property. The system of landlordism established by this bill will probably form the type of landlordism which is to prevail in reference to all the large landed properties held in freehold. . If the land is to be leased, it ought to be for twentyone years, which may be illustrated thus: An heir to an estate comes into his property with a right of renting it as he pleases, when the, lease falls in; under the proposed arrangement each genera* tion, which.. will be a new heir, will have no power whatever in regard to leasing its property, but is bound down to one system of leasing its lands, which it can only get out of by giving heavy compensation. The bill adds another new mode of disposing of land. The above, I believe, are substantially Sir G. Grey's main objections to the Government Land Bill. The discussion on the Bill is likely to be long and animated. Mr Kolleston had copies of the Bill distributed to members before they left for Christchurch, in order to give them ample time for perusal before the measure is introduced to the House —Herald.