PASTORAL LEASE RENTALS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20622, 11 August 1932, Page 4

PASTORAL LEASE RENTALS.

NEED FOR SUBSTANTIAL ■\ REDUCTION. A suggestion that pastoral lease rentals should be substantially reduced by the Crown for a period of at least three years as an inducement to lessees to remain- in possession and maintain production at the minimum of loss to themselves is contained in the annual report of the Canterbury Sheepowners' Union. While fully appreciating the difficulty of the present financial situation from the Government's point of view, the executive of the union believe that unless some substantial relief is afforded Crown lessees, some millions of acres of Crown lands will be abandoned, with consequent loss to the Dominion from a production point of view, and ultimately a heavy liability will have to be borne to clear the country of rabbits, deer, etc., while the stock, once having been dispersed, will be impossible of immediate replacement. "It would appear," stated the report, "that Clause 124 of the Land Act will require to be amended with the object of making it clear that the spirit and intention of the words 'Unable to pay' shall be 'lnability to pay from the proceeds of the working of the leasehold over a period and 'not to include sources of income other than the produet of the particular leasehold.' ''T!ie executive has received repoaU>d n-ar.-nceß that every consideration will be yiven to lessees by the

Department, and trusts that tl»e exigencies of finance as affecting the Treasury Department will not cloud the issue with respect to the necessity for keeping the Crown Lands of the Dominion in productive occupation at all costs." ,