THE LAND BILL

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 116, 17 May 1907, Page 6

THE LAND BILL

• BY m\. LATJRENSON. — PBESS •ASSOCIATION.] 7 ' '"■■'.DUjS'EDIIs"; 16th. May. v ilr'. ..George' Laurenion, il H.R., ad4»»S(fd .a"nf4e'ting" on* the Land Bill at He said, 1 under the Present system , the pountry districts both in panteiTjury and Utago were being 'deSftplilatiCa. "" Taieri "County had actually HX& 4'>i>ul§tion to-day than . in 1896, Tgfiile- ,-Cani/eriArry/ although showing an increase 1, of. -30,000 in- fifteen, years, acScfUnted'for 31,000 by the increase in her towns. _ Thus there was an actual decr^asefa her country.^ nopulaiipa of ono thousand. The census returns showed that all over the colony tho town population was rapidly outstripping the coun-tr£:-agd;-tlfcjV'by * 1911, at tho prosent rate, there would bo moro people in onr taw"ns that), in, the tourit'ry. 1 In' spite of tn - e »ÜBi' c rnni^nt jlij'JWK., bojught eightyfour iargc -cstatea ■ during the' past few years, tho number of large estates in the colony, both in value' and in area, were JKJPldly,.inuieaaing. Tho price of land 1 'was going np so fast Chat it was almoul iajpessibk-rnow-for settlers- gone, to get it at a prfce which would enable them to Jnre-ou-JU; — -- • -- x As_ showing how tho early jseltjers had Viewed '"flic ""en'dowment-" question/ he pointed out that Canterbury, which only had an area of 9,600,00 c' ucres, had had reserves set' apart for education and pub-lic-purposes of 961,000 acres, while Otago could almost show "Similar figures. Now, when it was proposed to set apart a proportionately much smaller amount for na1 JfuJP&W, Jhey.tf.ere told they were attacking -the freehold^ p%»Mc,'**La«i;«Di.on*"got"a"good' rbceptiob." i-ti^lr. .J.^Wrjght, a farmer,* moved, and Jfr.-W-.D; Mason, alflr y a farmer, second■ed', a- motion thanking Mr. Laurcnson 'for his" address, and expressing hearty apVrpv&lyl Mr; M'Nab'd 'Land Bill. An amendment stating that no Land Bill ■Would >> be. aatidfactory to the -country ' irbich.,did &op giv.q aettlerg ,t«e option of the freehold, was moved, but tha only •found yfi>e-supp©Bter«; - iTh» .original • raoJttpu'Vaft 3jarrie'd,'"with applause* -

j!/jf' "/.' 4 ' ' J*- * ".' ' Chit of a number o£-.appl<ic»tions -Miss -Beeves, of Ballarat Hospital, and Mips Cptjey, have -bepn "appointed- sisters in 'tne'OtaJu Sanatorium. v MiaVNicoll, of .Christchiirch Hospital, has 'been appoint'fffi nurse "at the. Oiaki.Hosp.itah '" - - .