OUR LAND LAWS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 82, 8 April 1902, Page 2

OUR LAND LAWS.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —From- time to time I have read, with interest the various contributions in your paper relating to the land cpiestion, and, although having had quite a varied experience in regard to land, I abstained from airing my views in the matter, thinking that T had become 'somewhat of a pessimist, but an extract from a letter published in a recent editorial of your paper so exactly coincided with my views that I thought a brief relation of my experiences might be of inteisest. The extract I refer to is the one written by two Canadians to Mr. Fowlds. In the early eighties the price of land in this country made a very rapid advance. Unfortunately for many, including your correspondent, a collapse of a very disastrous character iollowedj the price of faxm-pro-

duce fell, consequently those who had bought land at a high price came • to grief. In the latter part of 188S, owing to : the failure of the crops in New South Wales, things somewhat revived; but . I, in company with thousands of others, had sold out at a sacrifice, and.! sought other field's. While depression [ was casting its dismal shadow over, this country, the colony of Victoria was enjoying the greatest prosperity, the Centennial Exhibition was. being '.: held in Melbourne, and speculation in , land was at its zenith. It was in -vain | to sound a note of warning. In Gipps- lland, the part in which I then dwelt,'.' the dairy industry was all the craze, land brought almost what you liked to ask for it; £30 an acre was a common price for grazing land, and. on the Mitchell River £100 an acre was. paid for hop land. The Government, in order to meet the demand, opened up land as fast as possible, and still the .cry was for more. Away beyond the .Snowy River city men tumbled over each other in the mad scramble. I have little now to add—ruin, misery, are written in large letters in the history of Victoria during the following years. However, ere the lowering cloud burst, I had sought still other fields. In the great north-west, of ■ America I was again basking in the sunshine of a boom, and such a one. The booms here were but as feeble rays to the resplendent sun compared with those days of wild excitement. Previous experience did not ' count —a deeper plunge into the seething vortex of speculation—but added to the excitement of the hour. "Land! Land!" was the cry. Some of your readers are no. doubt aware of what followed, where the news of the Baring Bros.' disaster came like a shock to the unsuspecting world, followed day by day by crash aftercrash. The word ruin.conveys but a poor idea of the state of things that existed in the far North-west. For years the settlers on the land struggled along in poverty and sorrow— the result of high prices for land and low prices for produce. Having always kept in touch with J New-Zealand, and. noted with pleas-y ure the interest taken by other countries in her advanced legislation, I determined once more to east in my lot with a people who had evidently learned to make life something more than a continual struggle, perfect security for : life and property, short hours of labour,, good wages, good land, cheap land, easy methods of acquiring it,. Government assistance to settlers, no trusts, no millionaires, and an uncorrupted Government! Truly an attractive programme! If it is not all true, it is, as it is represented in other countries; but withal I wish to say in passing that in spite of the drawbacks that exist in your legislation, I still think that you have the best-gov-erned country in the world. As I only wish to speak of my impressions on the land question, I do not intend commenting upon other matters. My ideas in returning to, this country were to obtain at least enough land to ensure making a home. The cutting up of land and selling in small areas contiguous to | cities was, I thought, an excellent idea. To my surprise I found that, land was held at what, in my opinion, :; was a fancy price, and one certainly not justified by the prospects of the country Since my arrival here I have travelled over a great part of this island, and while I have seen some of the best grazing land I ever saw, I have yet to see the land that in the world's market is worth the price asked for it; and this, I maintain, is the market in which you must buy. for the same market controls the price of your produce. The greatest optimist can hardly expect that the price of dairy produce will ever be much higher. Oats, etc., have been over the average, and yet the price of land is based on the extreme possibilities at present prices, or, rather, above them. No allow-ance is made for a possible fall in produce. I Saw a statement in ■ your paper the other day, made by a farmer in Cambridge, that he had yet to see the land in the Waikato thit would pay 5 per cent on £9 per acre. If that statement is true, then the opinions I have formed are far under the actual facts. One of the leading real estate men in New Plymouth told me that land in that vicinity had reached such a price that ; speculation was no longer possible. In regard to the estates bought and cut into small allotments by the Gov-/ ernment I have little to say. Some months ago I saw an account of land put on the. market at'the Hutt, which, I believe, failed to get an application. I also saw land at Mangawika that was offered for sale for building purposes, to enable the workingman to obtain a site for a cottage, and the price asked was simply based upon a prospective value. From other in--formation I have obtained 1 think the Government have simply usurped the functions of the real estate man. Inregard to, the taking up of unimproved values, I can simply say that I fully agree with the Canadians, from whose letter you published an extract in your editorial of Saturday last, and with them must say that I;] can do better elsewhere. —I am. etc., J.H.