THE DEFERRED PAYMENT SYSTEM OF LAND PURCHASE.

Evening Post, Volume XXI, Issue 142, 20 June 1881, Page 2

THE DEFERRED PAYMENT SYSTEM OF LAND PURCHASE.

In Mr. Fitzgerald's Report, to which we have already alluded, reference iB made to the system of the sale of land ou deferred payments as it exists in this and the adjoining colonies. Ihe svstcin adopted in New Zealand is managed by a much simpler planof accounts than those which are kept in the other colonies. Moreover, the sale of land on deferred payments has been kept within narrower limits in this colony than olsewhere, the total number of selections up to May of the present year being 1488. 1 here is one danger connected with selling land on deferred payments which, in some of the other colonies has assumed serious proportions, viz , that the selectors may repudiate their outstanding obligations to pay for tha land. In New South Wales land is sold at a fixed price of £1 per acre, of which five shillings per acre is paid on selection. No further payment is required for a period of three years, after which one shilling 1 per acre is payable annually, a part of which is for interest on the outstanding debt at the rate of fivo per cent, per annum, and the balance goes for payment of the principal. There are further conditiens as to occupation. If the periodical payments are not made, the larid is by lUw forfeited, bnt this condition has never yet been enforced. This system has been carried oub on a most extensive scale in New South Wales. It was stated by Sir Henty Parkeß at a public dinner a Bhort time ago, that the debt to tho Government on these deferred-payment lands amounted to £9,000,000, and that the payment of interest last year was aB much as £200,0u0. As soon as the three years have elapsed on all existing selections, tho annual interest will' be £450,000. The average extent of these holdings is said to bo about 100 acres. At this point arises tho danger. A large proportion of the electoral body in New South Wales have taken up land in this way, and are consequently in debt to the Government. These land occupiers, being also electors, have brought pressure to bear upon tho Government to get rid of the interest on this debt. If that interest were abandoned, a sum of £200,000 of annual taxation would require to bo imposed in other directions to make up the deficiency. But more than this ; there are ominous signs of an impending struggle on the part of the land selectors to get rid altogether of their liabilities to tho Government. It may bo said that if tho selectors do not pay up their land is forfeited. In practice, however, ifc weuld be very difficult for tho Crown to " evict" the selectors. " Throughout all the colonies," says Mr. Fitzgerald, "there is a gradual tendency, with each alteration of tho law (with reference to the sale of land on deferred payments), to lengthen the period of payment, and to relax the conditions of occupation and improvements. Nor can we fail to notice that, although in all casos forfeiture is the penalty for failure to comply with the conditions, or to pay the annual instalments, it is practically very difficult to enforce the penalty, and when labor and capital have been expended on the section, impossible. "We aro inclined to think that in the future the difficulty will require to be dealt with in Now Zealand. Tho price charged in this colony for land on deferred payments is, in some instances at any rate, much too high, and it may be that sottlerß building a house and improving the section, will bo unable to keep up tho payments. It would not be an easy or pleasant task for any Government to turn the families of settlers off the land by which they, made a subsistence. If the deferred payment selectors in New Zealand become very numerous and get placed on the electoral roll, they would form a strong party in the State, strong enough to compel any Government materially to lengthen the period of payments. If a very large sum wore due for deferred payments on laud, the ultimate complete realisation would be exeedingly doubtful.