CAMBRIDGE DOMAIN LEASES.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 334, 30 August 1898, Page 3

CAMBRIDGE DOMAIN LEASES.

TO THE EDITOR. Si R) __l have been anxiously perusing your columns for the past fortnight expecting to see therein some correspondence re the Cambridge Domain ieases and the action Bome of the tenants are taking in regard to them, for it is a matter that affects the whole of the inhabitants of the distr;ct and should not be lightly passed over. I have read the petition that is to be presented to the Board by the lessees, and I consider it pure unudultered " bunkum : ' from the beginning to the end. Take Clause 2as a sample of the petition. It reads thus : That owing to the depreciation of the value of land products, the lessoes have not been able to recoup their original outlay in reclaiming, grassing and fencing their sections. If that is true, the sooner they make room for others the better. They took the land with their eyes open and paid too much for it. Then tiiey petitioned to have the rents reduced, and they were reduced by onehalf ; and now, although the Domain Lands have been ruining them for years according to the tale they tell, they want them for a further term of 21 years at the same rents. Now Sir. on the face of it is there not stamped " bunkum " ? Again I say it is " bunkum " to talk of the value of land products having depreciated. During the past six months I have had to pay more lor hay, straw—which I could in former years gst for the fetching, wheat, potatoes, butter, eggs and bread than I have done at any time during the past ten years, and yet I am told these land products have depreciated. In face of the fact that my household expenses have gone up something like one-third, I cannot but think the tenants were romancing when they drew up that petition. They state that it would entail much hardship upon them to re-grass the lands before the termination of the leases, and that the rents now paid are the full market value of the sections. I certainly cannot see where the hardship comes in, if it is one of the conditions of the leases ; and as to the value of sections, that is a matter for the public to decide when they are put up for competition, and when that time arrives I have no doubt but that many of them will bring considerably more than they do at the present. Some of the tenants have built upon their section', and there seems to be a slight hardship upon then; if their lands are put up to public competition ; but when you come to examine the matter they are no more to be pitied than those who have only farmed their sections. Let us take the chief case in point, which is Section !) on the Hamilton Road, which is ok acres. For it the tenant pays £2 12s 4d per annum, which is practically Is per week. On it he built a house which cost say—£lso. Now the 21 years' rent at Hi 12s 4d comes to £54 l ( Js ; but to this must be added £!) 3s 2d, for the ty years in which he paid double the rent, and that make 3 the total £O4 2s 2d, which the tenant will have paid at the end of the 21 years. Supposing this man had not built the house' he would have had to pay at the very least 5s per week rent for a habitation, and that in the 21 years would have totted up to the respectable figure of £273. Can there be any 'Hardship in the Board claiming its lights in such a case. I unhesitatingly say no ! If there has been any blunder made in the past, as I am told there has, and only a portion of tiie tenants can lie legally made to comply with the terms of their leases, then let the lot of them go free and not make flesh of one and fowl of another ; but in the interests of the whole or the inhabitants of the district I would ask the members of the Domain Board not to attempt to grant the request of the petitioners, lor they nv<iy rest assured that if they do they will raise a hornet's nest about their ears. I know several who have been waiting patiently for the t'tne when tin; Domain leases will expire, and are they not to have a chance of taking the land '! If the Bo:iA want a petition against that given by if tenants they can very soon have one tl/J) ten times tin: number of names attached to it ; but I would appeal to their common sense and reasoning powers not to attempt to do what would be an injustice to the people at _ large. Thanking you in anticipation fur inserting this.—l am One W'jto Wants Jostick.