LEASEHOLD TENURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 211, 5 September 1924, Page 9

LEASEHOLD TENURE.

OPPOSED BY PRACTICAL FARMERS.

LAND MINISTER'S POLICY. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) | WELLINGTON, Thursday. I Leaseholders and Freeholders in the House of Representatives had a field day j when Mr. F. Hockly, reporting on behalf lof the Lands Committee, recommended |to the Government for consideration a : petition from certain Rotorua settlers on j endowment lands, asking for the freehold of their lands. Opponents of the freehold emphasised the fact that thousands of farmers on freehold property are in great financial difficulties at present, and that the system encouraged speculation, arguments which were also applied to the leasehold system by freehoolders. The Hon. A. D.'McLeod said that he wished to refer to the difficult position he saw as Minister of Lands in the effective settlement of a lot of lands, more especially in North Auckland, which he was certain would not be settled under leasehold tenure. He believed they could be settled under the freehold tenure. (Hear, hear.) He knew much ; could be said in favour of leasehold from the theoretical point of view, but he was , bound to say, after close on 40 years' association with land, that he had yet to , find an individual who, having been on the land or making his living out of it, I upheld the leasehold system. His ex- ! perience was that the advocates of the ■ leasehold had never had experience of | bringing poor lands into occupation. It was advocated entirely from the academic or theoretical point of view. He was not finding fault with that, but, amongst those who had to go out on the I land from the earliest pioneer days in ] this or any other country, there was not jone in 10,000 who would advocate the I leasehold principle. It must not be forgotten that where a lease existed any mortgage given was a second mortgage, I the first mortgage being the lease, and a j second mortgage the world over was conI sidered inferior security. Mr. Parry: The Government ha* not been sympathetic towards it. I Mr. McLeod, replying to the interjection, said that no better illustration could be found than in the honest at- . tempt made by the Commonwealth Govj ernment to establish a system under leasehold in the Northern Territory, but ! which had entirely failed. It was ad- ! mitted there that it would be much j better to allow pioneers to go on the j land under any tenure they chose, even !if later on the Government had to purchase the land back. "I think," conj tinued the Minister, "that applies very I much to our endowment lands to-day. :If these endowment lands did not deteriorate and were not going back we ! might be able to take risks, but I say | deliberately much of these endowment J lands that have not been occupied to-day are going back rapidly into -weeds and into a state which will be a. danger not only to the land itself but also to the surrounding land, and, __~ as Minister, am not prepared to recommend dealing with any of these noxious weeds under a system of high wages and short hours. The more difficult lands, of this country are not going to be brought-into successful occupation or kept free of weeds under any system where we have not to pay fixed wages to those dealing with them. They have to be got into successful .occupation by people going out determined to make a home on them, no matter at what sacrifice or what hours they have to work. I know that from life-long experience. There are many people, many syndicates, and many fanners to-day who are attempting to deal with large areas of the Auckland province which they have attempted to bring into cultivation by employing- a i large amount of labour. It is impossible to do it properly; you must put on the settler himself, and let him work out his own salvation under the best possible conditions of finance, and I know that cannot be done under the leaseholdsystem, much as I value the necessity of endowments for the people of the future. I agree with those who say those endowments should take the form of land secured nearer the centres of population, where community value is going to grow much more rapidly." j Mr. Wilford: Hear, hear. I Mr. McLeod: And the best oppportunities should be given to settle outlying areas, if this country is to be fully populated. Mr. W. E. Parry (Auckland Central) moved an amendment that the report on the petition be 6ent back to the committee for further consideration, but on division the report was adopted by 44 I votes to 28.