LAND SETTLEMENT IN VICTORIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7725, 19 February 1909, Page 1

LAND SETTLEMENT IN VICTORIA.

The new Governmeiit of Victoria proposes to enter upon, a vigorous policy of land settlement as one of its first duties. In hi ssp^ech to his constituents at AVarrnamhool on Tuesday Jan. 19., Mr Murray j the Premier, announced a liberal method to be fol-lov.-ed m dealing witli lands still m the hands of the Crown and fit for cultivation; and as a further inducement to settlement, these lands are to be entirely free from "loading," whilst m the case of. Crown lands which have already been loaded—except those for railway deficiency purposes—the Minister is to have authority ; to make reductions wherever it is/ this is considered' desirable For the future, Crown lands will be classified under the old classification of £l'per acre for firstclass land, 15s for second-class, and 10a for third-class land; and settlers will be allowed forty years to pay this money. _ Moreover, the Government is convinced of the necpssity for securing more extensive end productive settle-ment-of lands now m handsi of private owners, and hence it is intended to pursue,"'Mr 1 %*iirray says, a more effective system of cbtupnlsory acquisition of private estates. Under the plan to be adopted, the Government will enten into negotiations with the owner of any estate it desires to purchase; nnd should these negotiations prove futile, the Government will advise the Governor to proclaim that the estate will be compulsorWily taken. The mo■ment that proclamation is gazetted the "state will become the property of the Crown. When the owner lodges his fl.iim for compensation, the case will be heard by a judge of the Supreme Court without a jury, and he will decide the amount to :be awnrded the owner. The valuation of 1035 estates 1 on the land tax register of Victoria is to be at once undertnken, and this valuation is to foi-m the basis of future proceedings m the direction of iand resumption. ■