.THE HON. MR HOLMES Off THE ADDRESS.IN.REPLY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1650, 7 July 1883, Page 1 (Supplement)

.THE HON. MR HOLMES Off THE ADDRESS.IN.REPLY.

"We reprint portions of the Hon. Mr Holmes' •speech which are of special interest in • '•Utago : — His Excellency has been made to say in his •'Speech that he has found prosperity reigning •throughout New Zealand. Well, that is not my experience. Certainly in this Island, more particularly in the province of Auckland, ther .is very great prosperity. There is no part of tthat province I went to where I did not find tpublic works and improvements of every kind '.progressing. But when I turn to Otago I ■iind there are scarcely any public works going <tm. The only thing I can charge my re■anembrance with at the present time is a Ismail section of the Otago Central railway, pMsome goods-sheds in Dunedin, and a paltry" >piece of railway commencing at Invercargill, •where the Colonial Treasurer distinguished Jhimself by making a congratulatory speech on the commencement of a contract amounting to -£2500. If that is anything for congratulation, I *tnmk it is somewhat singular. There is this •fact, that while in Auckland a second dock is being made, we in Otago could get nothing 'done. The construction of the dock was •i authorised three years ago, but not a single • step has been taken towards its formation. -Some 12 or 18 months ago I myself by appointment met Sir John Hall, thyn the head jr -of the Government, at Port Chalmers, and irtu g ? IDROVerthe S roun d and pointing out -all that was to be done, the land to be given as -an endowment, and everything else connected -with it, he then promised that he would do -everything m his power to promote the commencement of that work. The first thing of -course was to put the Dock Trust in possession of the endowment, but up to this moment the Dock Trust has not got that •endowment, and therefore nothing has been --done m the matter. Just contrast that with 'wnat nas taken place in Auckland. There was no impedient thrown in the way of a " +£ a ,° g made . there " Q" ite * he contrary, •the dock is now m hand, although it was not /proposed until last year. This and other -cases m the South Island cause people to -complain, and lead to the conclusion that the 'tvt^^Pt i c P reseut Government lies in the ■JNorth Island members, and that most of the moneyis therefore being spent in that ...part of the Colony. At any rate nothing is ■-being done by the Government to advance the -.■interests of the Middle Island. Whether the - suspicion is correct I do not say. However, when the returns to be laid on the table toy the Minister for Public Works come before %ns they will bring out the truth or falsehood of " : 4nis cry. , •»/r Il W r ? gard to the Perpetual-leasing system Mr Holmes said: "The next question is one j- we all have a iav S e interest— that is, the disposal of the waste lands of the Crown Ji,very year brings up its bill for dealing with lands. It is a very difficult subject, I *i°T ; ,. but owln S to the faulfc y manner in which theje bills are brought up and passed ay the Legislature, there are always holes .»iound by which parties breaking the law can • escape the consequences of their actions. We <have only to look at what is occurring in 'Utago at present for proof of that, for it is ' ' B "PP° s . ed that the parties who have been 'Offending will be able to escape owing to 'some defect in the law. This is one of the -effects of passmg bills before honourable mem•■faers have had time to look at them. I think tit would be infinitely better if a little more time ' -were taken to make them more perfect before •-they received the assent of the Legislature However, there is a silver lining to every cloud, -:3na I think that the perpetual-leasing system on a short time will probably supersede all "^Sfw nnJ he firS^ lan< * P laced in the mark «t -was 26,000 acres, but the people did not understand the system. It was new to them ; they bought shy of it, and the result was that only jMZO acres were taken up. We have now !*? le e; a P hlc intelligence that land belonging to '••She Otago School Commissioners was placed in the market a few days ago, and the result was -Highly satisfactory. Nineteen sections were -offered, containing 5342 acres, for which there -were received 69 tenders for 15 sections, congaming an acreage of 4125 acres. The upset was 2s per acre, and the tenders were arom 2s to 6s 7d per acre, the average being 'Considerably above the upset price. -Lhe Hon. Dr Grace : Will they be able to tl>ay the rent ? The Hon. Mr Holmes: I think so. The wery same objection was raised to the deferredMpayment system when it was introduced 'an 1676. It was then supposed that the fPames selecting would not pay their rents— ■ftnafc they would get the fee-simple after -■a few years in soaie way or another, • and pay no more to the Government. That *as not been the case. Some few have • given up their holdings, it is true; but, take it ' au in all, the system has been a great success. X he very first block was not in the most suitable -.pcmtion. It was at the muth of the Toi-Tois *iliver; the land was of very ordinary quality, -and it was exposed to the southerly gales. But what was the result ? Very few persons took up -.sections for some time but by-andbye people ga ? „ & efc accustomed to the system, and -eventually the whole block was taken up and ' c ™ fc , lva ted from end to end. It is now covered with homesteads, and hundreds of sheep •and cattle are running on it. It was a -.complete success. My own impression is that -eventually this system of perpetual leasing will supersede all others, and it will have this great -advantage-that it will put a stop to land and to the realisation of estates oy private parties. The Government, as it should be, will be the principal seller. In : connection with the Crown lands, it may not «c amiss to glance at what is being done in the other Colonies, and to draw a contrast between what is being done there and what is done here. It is well known ' that the Crown lands let for squatting purposes have of late been re - let to present occupiers, or to new tenants, 'and that, as regards revenue, the position of • the Government is that it has let 11,000,000 • nacres of land for pastoral purposes on short leases— for five to 14 years— at a yearly rental • <>f something like £180,000 per annum. Includ•Tvi* 8 d let b y Government also, but on 4?9nn iw? schools and colleges, the revenue is * -uu.uoo, the average rental being 4d per acre. I bring this forward to show that the administra- • tion of our waste lands has latterly been most '■ satisfactory. Contrast with this what has taken place in New South Wales. There they have, been dealing with Crown lands to a much m, rger oo X nnn fc than we have in New Zealand, iliere 82,000 000 acres have been let for pastoral purposes, and the rent derived therefrom has never exceeded £110,000 per annum, or onethird of a penny per acre, while in New Zealand the Average has been 4d per acre. That fact should satisfy the Council that the adminis- . tration of the waste lands of the Crown in ' f)W ,,^ da land »s been eminently B atisfac-