THE NEW LAND BILL.

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 965, 29 August 1878, Page 2

THE NEW LAND BILL.

The following are the chief clauses of the Land Bill:—Every owner of land liable to duty under this Act shall pay to Her Majesty every year, in respect thereof, duty by way of land tax, after the rate of one half-penny for every £IOO of capital value, according to valuation thereof under this Act, over and above the sura of £SOO. When any is the owner of, laud in different parts of colony of the aggregate capital value of £;>00, such property shall be within the exemption before provided. For. the purposes of this Act, all lands in New Zealand liable to the duty under this Act shall be valued in manner hereinafter mentioned, 1. All land shall be valued at the actual value thereof to sell, after deducting therefrom all improvements thereon. 2. In counties, no land shall be deemed of less primary value than £1 per acre. 3, In Boroughs, no land shall be doomed to be of less primary value than £SO, per acre. 4. Crown lands, held by any person for pastoral purposes, shall be valued at the capital value of such land to sell, after deducting the value of the improvements, save as hereinafter mentioned, and, subject to the provisions of this Act, the following persons shall bo deemed to be owners of the land for the purposes of this Act, and liaMe to the land-tax, accordingly, that is to say:— (1) Every person entitled to any" land for an estate of freehold in possession. (2) Every' person' entitled to any land held under any-lease, licence, or other authority from the Crown, or any Waste Lands Boards, as to which he has any right, either absolute or conditional, or acquiring the fee simple. (3) Every person holding or occupying any Crown land under lease or license for pastoral purposes, or being tenant of any Crbwn land under the Land Act, 1877, or any Act repealed thereby. (4) Every person or body corporate, being the less&tTof any Crown lands under lease under the Miners Act, 1877, or any Act repealed thereby, (5) Every tenant of any land vostod in any corporate body, school committees or trustees, or any other- body or porsons, for tho purposes of primary or secondary education, or generally for educational purposes. (G) Every tenant of lisnd vosted in trustees, or any corporate body, or in person, for or on behalf of any college, high school, or other teaching body, established for purposes of" higher education (7) Every tenant of land vested in Council of any Borough,, vithvv by way of endowment or generally/

as reserve for municipal purposes. (8) Every settler, grantor, assignor, or tainferer of any land comprised m any settlement, grant, assignment, transfer, or conveyance, not made h»na Jul'' ">r ▼«■*«- able consideration. '•(») Every person entitled as aforesaid, subject to any mortgage. (10) Every person entitled to land liable to duty wider this Act partly in one and partly in another or others of the foregoing ways. Jhe land hereinafter mentioned shall be exempt from land tax:—(l) Land owned by religious body as site tor place of worship, and actually used as such; (2) land used as site of or for public school established > by any Education Board under the Education Act, 1877, or which is or may be subject to inspection by an inspector appointed Under the Act; (3) land used or occupied for ithe .purposes of a public cemetery; (4) land used and occupied as a of public library, "athenaeum, or mechaics' institute; (5) land occupied and used by friendly society as place of meeting only, and not for any other purpose. Land tax in and for each and every year shall be payable by half-yearly payments. Every payment of land tax, when same falls due, shall be deemed to be a debt due to Her Majesty by every person who is shen: owner of land in* respect of which such tax is'due, and every such person shall forthwith pay the same to any collector or other person appointed in that behalf under this Act for purposes of tliis Act. Where more persons than one are owners, : any land liable to land tax, whether jointly, in common, or otherwise, the same amount of land tax shall be payable in respect of such land as if one person was sole : owner thereof; such persons' shall,, as 'between themselves, be liable to pay land tax payable in respect, of such land, rateably in proportion to the shares in which such persons are entitled to participate in rents and profits of 1 such land,/ but i each of such persons shall be answerable to Her Majesty for the whole 'and tax payable in respect thereof; "• Where any laud liable to .tax is vested in trustee or trustees, the same amount of land tax shali be payable in respect or such land as if qne person was sole owner thereof, and every person bene* ficially interested therein shall be deemed an owner thereof, and shall be liable to . pay the same by way of land tax, which bears the same proportion to the whole amount of land tax payable in respect of such land, which'the annual value the interest to which such person is entitled bears the whole rents and every such trustee shall be answerable to Her Majesty f6r payment of every such sum, but shall not be liable to any further land tax in respect of any such. The Governor in Council shall divide the colony into districts for. the purposes of this Act, and the outside boundaries of which shall be co, terminous with a county or counties so far as practicable, and shall include all boroughs adjacent to any such county. Every such district shall have such name attached thereto as may be directed, and the Governor in Council may in like manner alter or re-arrange boundaries of any such district as occasion shall require for the due administration of this Act. The Governor in Council; may appoint a fit and proper peraon to be called Landtax Commissioner, and in case of death, resignation, or removal, from time to time appoint another or others in his stead. Every commissioner and deputycommissioner shall be paid such annual salary, ag shall be 5 appropriated by the G-eneral Assembly in that behalf. There does not seem to be anything specially worthy of notice in the" technical details and provisions /which form the remainder Of .the Bill."