SUBDIVISION IN COUNTIES

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24985, 20 September 1946, Page 6

SUBDIVISION IN COUNTIES

CRITICISM OF NEW BILL t “The Land Subdivision in Counties Bill, which I understand has been read a second time in-the House, is another of* those measures hustled through in the dying days of Parliament,” said Cr. H. Kitson, at the meeting of the Waimairi County Council last evening. “It is a drastic bill which is being pushed along without consulting the counties, although it takes away many of their rights. At a recent conference, only about three counties had seen the draft of the bill.

“The bill confers important powers on the Government and one clause, is nothing less than blackmail,” Cr. Kitson continued. “If you cut up a section into two blocks, you must set aside four perches of each for the Government. The owner is permitted to* buy it back, but that is like taking) a man’s front door mat round to the back of the house and selling it to his wife. There is also provision that, in a section bordering a stream, a chain from the centre of the stream must be set aside. I can’t find any reference to compensation, either,” Cr. Kitson said;