THE LAND BILL, AND HOW IT AFFECTS THE FARMERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8347, 1 February 1907, Page 3

THE LAND BILL, AND HOW IT AFFECTS THE FARMERS.

THE UNION'S OBJECTIONS

No. 1. '"The endless effort of man. to wubdue the earth, not for luxury or & pride, but for the bare existence, goes on perpetually, though the complications of civilisation tend to push it out ©f sight; but the most ingenious mechanism and the latest scientific discoveries have not altered the sentence passed on man in the beginning: 'ln the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.'" —"Spectator." "Those who dwell in clubs and ■studios may paint excellent pictures or write enchanting novels. There is one thing they should not do; they should not pass judgment on man's destiny, for it isa thing with which they are unacquainted. Their own life is >tn excrescence of the moment, doomed in the vicissitude of history to pass and disappear. The eternal life of man, spent under win and rain and in rude physical -effort, lies upon one side, scarce • changed since the beginning." These words of Stevenson's -are equally true of the dwellers of cities in dealing with the Land question, and we propose to show . -what effect the Land Bill which OS now before the country would have upon all sections of the ' community. To a Union composed of men •so intimately connected with the land, any alteration in the Land Laws must be of importance, but we disclaim any intention ,of giving to the views of the Union ia party significance. Nevertheless, •we should be failing in our diity we not to carefully examine the land proposals of any Go.vernment, take the opinion" of those best qualified to judge the •results of the passing of such proposals, and place before the public the result of these en•quiries. In making our investigations we have discussed the provisions of the Bill with practical members of the farming community, with •officials'high in the insurance a:id ' banking institutions, with those,' ■of high standing in the commercial world, and with members of the legal profession. The first .provision of the Bill deals with. Endowments thus; "NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR EDUCATIONAL AND OTHER PURPOSES." 3. (1) "All lands re- ' .'maining-unsold or unsclected on the coming into operation of this Act (not including Scttlcmonf Act or land reserved or set asid'j as. Endowments or Reserves) are hereby set apart as a National , Endowment for the purpov:* hereinafter mentioned." follows machinery clauses which •rfc need not discuss* The effect of the above claus' 'would be to abolish the optionn system of disposing of Grow 1. lands, and enact that such lamb 'could only : be disposed 'of oil what is termed in the 'Bill "the Renewable Lease •System," 'viz: —for 66 years with the wight of ; renewal 'for another sinii'm' •period; although a mandate was given the Seddon Government at last election to the effect that' \ the Optional System should continue and that Leaseholder; .should be given the right >d'f acquiring the Freehold. The Auckland "Star" says: "the present 'Government majority was- returned ;not to support the * leasehold pure and simple, but to continue the ■optional system and to grant the Freehold " wherever circumstances would justify l it. . . They are bound to redeem Mr Seddon's pledge d'f conceding the Freehold under fair conditions; or, if they repudiate the policy oh which the last elections were fought and won, they arc bound . s to appea\ once more to the •country before proceeding .with the Land Bill." True, there is a provision in the Bill which gives the right to the L.I.P. tenant to'surrender his lease, have his improvements valued, and allow his land to be put up to auction, when he can purchase the freehdld from the State. What a chance for. the "Blackmailer"! ■ Is it likely that leaseholders jfcould take advantage df such a provision ? Besides, about one-third <of the. Crown Leaseholds have changed i hands, and in most cases a goodwill has been/paid, the-original tenant taking whatever sum ia so ' paid. If the purchaser of the lease desired to convert his leasehold into a freehold under this clause, he would have to. pay the State the original value of the land, plus the goodwill he had already paid, together with what goodwill the public were prepared to pay for the land at auction. He would then have to pay the State a large sum of money for what the State, recognised under the 'L.I.P. belonged !to himself. Dtiring the passage of the Bill through the Lands Committee of the House a new claxise was inserted so that Native Lands purchased by the Crown could b« Selected—

(1) On the occupation-witli-right-of-purcliase system (2) Or the renewable lease iy.v tem; but since Parliament rose IV!Y McNab has stated that he will not adhere to this proposal, and it will be omitted from the Bill he will present to the House next session. So that if that is carried all Crown lands—whether at present held by the Crown, purchased from private owners under "The Lands for Settlement Act," or purchased from the native owners—will be disposed of only upon the "Renewablelease system." We must therefore examine the effect of this. The object of any Land Bill as far as this colony is concerned, should be to give the pioneer settler who undertakes the breaking in of our new country his land otf the easiest possible terms, and an absolutely secure tenure. This is necessary to give the poor man a fair opportunity to carve out a home for himself; and no one who has had experience can say the proposed "Renewable-lease" of 66 years 1 offers such opportunity. In the first place, the man who takes 1 up a piece of our bush or swamp land (and our remaining Crown lands are mostly of this description) is usually a poor man. Possibly he may have (in addition to his labour) a. certain amount of capital, but very seldom sufficient to complete his improvements, or purchase stock j when his land is ready to gr«-.c i them. What invariably happens is that after he has spent his own capital he goes to some moneylending institution for further assistance (to bring his land into a reproductive condition). If his 1 title is Freehold, he usually gets thia accommodation without much trouble. The next best title js the occupation-with-right-x>f-purchase. If it should happen 1 hia title 'is the Lease-in-Pcr-petuity, however, he could only Borrow from a private moneylender at a higher rate of interest. It is l true the Advances tr Settlers' Office is available, but this office, though a Governmeui institution, only professes to ad' vance up to half the value of the improvements —which, as a rule were notoriously undervalued' Even then that office seldom lends up to the limit of this security, while on a Freehold two thirds of the capital value would be advanced. If, therefore, the' 099 years lease is not a good security t ■ finance with, how. much v would a 66 years' lease be ty ; will probably be urged thai m< ■could borrow on the value of his improvements; **but, under our present system of valuation, as time goes on, the value of such improvements have a knack of ■disappearing, until, after a lapse io f 20 years, little or nothing is,allowed. If a man had the misfortune to have his house iburned down and wanted' to have it valued, he would, no o>ibt, take some carpenter or Guilder and show him the ruins, ■am} ask him to place a value on his house, describing as well as he could the appearance of it before the fire. No description would suffice, however, to enable the*" valuer to place a proper value on it. It is much the same I with land. Some bush land is : worth £2 10s. to fell, and other can be done for .£1 an acre. Whilst the stumps remain there is some indication of the quality of the bush, but, if the owner further improves it by-stumping and ploughing, all such evidence I is gone, and the valuator must hazard a conjecture as to the I value of the improvements. The same applies to draining land the better the system and the more money it has cost to drain i land the more rapidly does (!r evidenoe of the improvement rli* i appear. i (To be' Continued).

J A series of articles, the first of which we publish this morning, will, owing to the great interest which Mr McNab's Bill is creating, be published ■in these columns. Supporters and opponents, alike, of tbe Bill will, no doubt, carefully peruse the different points raised.