Public or private interest? Pastoral lease land and the Land Settlement Board

Forest and Bird, Volume 15, Issue 4, 1 November 1984, Unnumbered Page

Public or private interest? Pastoral lease land and the Land Settlement Board

Crown land is administered under the Land Act 1948 by the Land Settlement Board. There is currently around 5,500,000 hectares (22% of New Zealand’s land area) of Crown land, including many of our finest natural areas. The Land Settlement Board’s composition is Chairman (Minister of Lands); 3 reps of Department of Lands and Survey; 1 rep each from Treasury, MAF, Valuation Department and Rural Bank; 4 private members all farmers. [N.B. Professor Alan Mark, and Alan Evans have just been invited to attend LSB meetings. ] Pastoral Lease high country of the South Island, the largest single category of Crown land, comprises 2,700,000 hectares (10% of New Zealand’s land area). The remaining 2,800,000 hectares of Crown land consists of Unalienated Crown Land (UCL), mostly mountain crests in the South Island, land development blocks and a variety of leased Crown land (for farm, urban and industrial purposes). Pastoral leases confer the following rights and obligations on the lessee: C) a perpetually renewable lease, at 33-year intervals CL) no right to freehold C) exclusive right to pasturage but no right to: soil and water, trees (and shrubs), wild, introduced animals, and scenery. L] de facto trespass control CL) restrictions on stock numbers CJ restrictions on burning and Cultivation. In 1983 there were 369 runs under pastoral lease; 15 in Marlborough, 122 in Canterbury,200in Otago and 25 in Southland -- the average run size being 6,850 hectares. Crown income from this leasehold land is very low: $172,000 in 1982/83 (ie, 0.68¢ per hectare). The imposition of more realistic rentals has been widely criticised by lessees. ye