The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1885. THE LAND ACT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2131, 28 October 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1885. THE LAND ACT.

A peculiar complication which may result in heavy money losses to a section of Canterbury run holders, while on the other hand it will promote settlement in smaller holding, has arisen out of the new Land Act. A number ol the runs in that provincial district are still held on what are termed pastoral leases, the conditions being similar to those under which many of the runs in the Wairarapa were at one time held. The lessee holds the land for a term stated in the lease, but he is liable during the whole of the time to having the whole or a portion of it taken up by others, who may obtain the freehold title by paying £2 per acre, If land is so taken up, the leaseholder is not entitled to any compensation, and it may thus occur that a run gradually dwindles away until there is absolutely nothing left of it. It is now stated that under the new Land Act there ia nothing to hinder the Government from selling land so leased on deferred payment, and not at £2 per acre, but at £l, It is also stated that the law officers of the Crown, to whom the matter was referred, have already reported thai, the Government can exercise such a power, and tlmt steps will be immediately taken to have one block of sixteen thousand acres, at present occupied its a run, set aside for deferred payment. It is unlikely that such a thing was contemplated by Parliament, and the subject will, undoubtedly, be brought up early during the ensuing session, In the meantime, if land is actually taken, the points involved are bound to furnish matter for interesting law suits. It is not that the holders of these, leases know that the land is liable to be taken up at any time; hut the lessor bound himself not to sell under £2 per acre, and then only for cash. What it is now proposed to do is to sell at half that price, and to extend the payments over a term of ten years, which is quite a different thing. The lessee made his calculations as to the chances of the land being taken up at the figures placed hefure linn, and allowed so much for the risk, without taking into consideration even the probability of a reduction in the selling price. Parliament has the power to over-ride contracts made by the Government, but care iB always taken that private rights are not injiirfli In the present case we think that the lessees would luve very just claims for compensation, and if so, the immediate settlement of the land in small holdinas would be but a very questionable advantage to the colony.