SETTLEMENT OF LAND.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19057, 20 July 1927, Page 12

SETTLEMENT OF LAND.

AN AMENDING BILL. RESUMPTION OF LEASEHOLDS. [THE PBESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, July 19. The Land for Settlement Amendment Bill, introduced this evening, provides for the appointment of an officer of the Public Service to bo known as the Land Purchase Inspector, who will be subject to the Land Purchase Controller, and who will be a member of the Dominion Lands Purchase Board. The seat on the Board which is now held by a person appointed by the Gov-ernor-General, will, if the Bill passes, be filled permanently by the Superintendent of the State Advances Office. The range of land which may be resumed by the Government for disposal is to be widened by making it legal to resume possession of the whole or any portion of any Crown land held under lease or license, whether the land is orCrown land settlement land or national endowment land. The written recommendation of the Land Purchase Board will be required before a proclamation of resumption may be issued, and the leases or licenses affected will be determined on the date of proclamation. Provision is made for the payment of c mpensation for any substantial permanent improvement on the land resumed, and also for paying to the lessee the value of .the unexpired term of. his lease license. This value will be fixed in the first instance by the ValuerGeneral, with final right to appeal to a Board of Appeal, comprising a Magistrate and two assessors, one of whom will be appointed by the Minister for Lands, and the other by the lessees concerned. . Provision for meeting cases of hardship caused by natural disasters or other sufficient causes is also mado in the Bill. It is proposed that the Minister for Lands shall have power, on the recommendation of tho Land Board, to remit the paymeat of rent by lessees on settlement land for any period up to five years, or he may postpone payment up to a like period, and then renew the postponement for a Zurther period if- the circumstances warrant it. The postponed rent is to carry an . interest of not less than four per cent. I a year, which shall be payable halfyearly. If the tenant so desires he may apply to the Land Board to have postponement rent added to the capital value of his land. On transfer, the Minister may require the whole or part of the postponed payments to be paid off The provision is to apply also to land held on the deferred payment In order to facilitate the settlement of land that is not immediately productive, the Minister is empowered to grant renewable leases for periods of thirty-three years, and on the recommendation of the Land Board to allow the use of the land rent free for the first ten years.