The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 1891.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2932, 30 April 1891, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 1891.

KqtuUmlrx.-i'-tiurticctdJiiiroen. 01 wli.-it'-f'i-viT state, ur persuasion, religious or political.

Tin: wain dividing Jinc: bntwrai tlio political parties in Nf\v Zetland is this—the; oiks professes belief in the «osp"l preached by Hnnry (.ieorgi-, and tho other is opposed to tho revolutionary doctrines putforth therein. Both lire professedly working for the same end—to get the lands of the colony occupied and worked by energetic and prosperous settlers. The present Minister for Lands belongs to the former class, and, so far' as past legislation will allow, is determined that the acquirement of the ownership of land shall be made as diflicnlt as possible. Uoth parties recognise tho evils of speculation in land; but the present .Minister has so used the powers which the Acts of ISSS and J BB7 placn in the hands of the Governor-in-Council as to seriously check settlement —in endeavouring to shut tho door against the speculator, he has also barred the same obstacle against the legitimate settlor. The regulations gazetted under which associations can take up land under what is termed the farm homestead system have already had the effect of putting an end to more than one association in the Wellington district. These associations were formed during the reign of the late Government, when the right to acquire the freehold of the land taken up was recognised. The new regulations provide for the settlement of land by associations, but the terms arc such that the unemployed and impecunious are debarred from taking advantage of them. Land taken up under tho farm homestead regulations must be by associations of not less than 25, who must take up blocks of not less than 5000 acres or more than 11,000, and no single holding may bo larger than .li'O acres; the total number of people located on one block must not be less than one person to 200 acres. The whole cost of reading and surveying at "Js Gd per acre has to be paid during the first year in four equal instalments. This means that during tho first year each holder of 200 acres must pay in cash £25. A southern contemporary, commenting on the regulations, puts [he position as follows:—" Tho payment ia called for at the very tinio when tho settler wants the use of his money, find it will bo at least throe years before he getsthe slightest return from his holding, so that there is no opening here except for tho capitalist." The township which i 3 to be planned for each selection is not open to allotmont. This is retaiDocl in the hands of tho Government in order that tho "\inearned increment" may be scooped into the colonial exchequer. The rent to be charged is to bo ~> per cont on the capital value of tho land, which in no case is to be estimated at loss than £1 per acre. This of course amounts to a minimum rental of £10 per annum, to be paid by each holder of 200 ncres. The same writer from whom we have already quoted says in reference to this : — "In 20 years the settler will have had the satisfaction of paying thu whole capital value of the land, which will still belong to the Crown, and in addition to this he will have paid for the roads and survey, together with rates and taxes." These new regulations are made in order to catch tho support and iuiluenco of the land nationalisation party. Their theory might have been capable of application in the early days of settlement, but as matters stand at the present moment, to give effect to them is impossible, and must remain so, until the population of the colony has become utterly oallous as to securing the rights to land-holders, for which tlioy have paid in ono form or another in compliance with tho law prevailing at tho timo. Thoro is some reason for State-ownership of land in despotic countries, but in this colony whoro government is by Tarliamont, elected by tho whole population, which lias tho power to tax laud if thought desirable, the .system would bo injurious. Where is tho material difference between the payment of a given sum as rental, and payment of the same sum under the name of a land-tax ? The Minister of Lands will soon discover that the regulations ho has formulated will result in there being no demand for land. Ho will no doubt succeed in shutting out tho speculators, but wo may ask, if tho land is to be unoccupied and unsettled, whether it would not be better that the value of it should pass into the colonial chest, and tho speculator suffer positivo loss by its non-occupation than the State a negative one from tho same cause.