THE LAND BILL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8236, 14 September 1906, Page 5

THE LAND BILL.

The new Land Bill, which has been referred direot from its first reading in the House to the Lands Committee, will probably be considered by the committee for the first time next Tuesday. It is likely that, as the Bill will take some time to consider, the ooccmittee may ait almost daily until?its consideration has been comUeted. Originally the committee had ten members, but on Tuesday last its strength was increased to fifteen. Great interest is centred in the passage of the Bill through the Lands Committee. A classification pf the members of the committee (says the Post) gives an epen balance of seven freeholders aud seven leaseholders, the latter not including the Minißter of Lands (Hon. Mr MoNab). The list is as follows:—Freeholders: Messrs Bennet, W. Eraser, Jennings, Malcolm, Greenslade, Kirkbride, and Hall. Leaseholders: The Hons. T. Duncan and C. H. Mills, Messrs Flagman, Laurenson, Ell, Lawry„ and Witty; with the Hon. Mr MoNafc as the fifteenth member. The Hon. Mr Duncan is chairman of the committee. The supporters of leasehold in the House have been eagerly surveying the possibilities of the Landßill, and a careful pricking of the card shows that the Government will command ii votes to the freeholders' 35 on a division. This calculation, of course, has reference only to the straight-out question of leasehold v. freehold, and it is hard to say what complications may arise on the question of the £50,000 limit.