THE LAND ACT. OTEKAIKE ESDTATE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 31, 6 February 1908, Page 8

THE LAND ACT. OTEKAIKE ESDTATE.

TRIUMPH FOR LEASEHOLD. SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED. The Government recently acquired the Otekaike Estate, in North Otaao, from Messrs. Robert Campbell and Sons, for closer settlement. Tho land was subdivided, into 49 sections, and 29,925 acres were offered for Ec]<v:tiori on a 55 years' renewable lease. It hi>s been stated over and over iigain by opporonls of land reform that settlers would refuso j to associate themselves with tbp lenpehold; tiiat nothing' would satisfy tho majority but the freehold. Cut what is tho result? To dato over 900 applications have been received for the 49 sections at Otekaike, and no less thaa 701 different individuals will participate in the ballot. The applicants are now being examined by the Land Board, and tho ballot will take place to-morrow. In regard to the Otekaiko Estate, some comment and a little dissatisfaction have found their way into the press on tho Avorking of clause 80 of the Land Act of last session, which states : — "liefoie any I land acquired under the piincipal Act is opened for public selection the (Land) Board may, with tho approval of Uie i Minister, giant a renewable lease of any | allotment thereof, without competition, to any person who has been employed by the late owneT thereof, who by such acquisition is deprived of his employment. . . . ." Four sections were- set apart under this clause, and it has sinco transpired that two of the applications j requirements of tho law. The Land Board, after considering- all the applications, decided to mako provision for four preference holdings. The board communicated by telegraph with the Ministsr, who was then in tho South, and Mr. M'Nab in turn telegraphed his approval. Later, Mr. MTTheison, M.P., communicated with the Minister, and stated that one of the applicants was not an employee on the estate, and that thjre had been an erroneous interpretation of the law. Fuither correspondence took place, and tho Minister collected the facts of the whole case, and forwarded a statement to the Solicitor-General. This authority gave it as his opinion that >wo of the applications for prefer- I ence did not come within tho terms of clause 80 of the Act. Mr. M'Nab thereupon called the attention of the Land Beard to 'this finding, and the board iv turn is now expected to rescind the decision previously arrived at. Iv one case it appears that a preference applicant had boen employed on the estate for a considerable time, but left his employ- J nient shortly before tbo land was actually ! acquired by tho Government. In the other the applicant was employed on another estate owned by Messrs. Robert Campbell and Sons, and had, it is stated, been informed that he would lose his employment if Otekaike was acquired by the Ciown. As this is the first case of the pieference clause coming under consideration, the novelty of the position probably was responsible for an interpretation being given which did . not meet with the approval of tho Solicitor-General. It has been inferred in another quarter that one preference section of 11,500 acr«6 of pastoral land and 864 acres of what is declared to be fine flat agricultural land has been granted at' Otekaike; and readers ar© apparently invited to believe that the man who Has to take his chance at the ballot will have to compete for smaller and less valuable sections. It is only necessary to state the scheme of subdivision of an estate is considered and settled before any preference whatever is decided upon. The subdivision is carried out without any idea of preference. In the case of Otekaike, the subdivision was made under the control of the Minister and the Under-Secretary of Lands, tho Surveyor-GeneTal and the party who did the actual work of surveying and under the approval of the Hon. T. Y. Duncan and Mr. M'Pherson, M.P. Messrs. Duncan and M'Pherson were practically appointed a deputation by the settlers in the vicinity of the estate to suggest on what lines the subdivision should be made. Generally speaking, it may be expected, that in cases of preference men will take up the larger sections because very often the manager of an estate will have prefeience Tight under clause 80 of the Act, and the homestead block, on account of the buildings upon it, must be of fairly large area.

Tho Moeraki, which arrived from ■Sjdney to-day, brought eleven more Chinese to the Dominion. Eight of tho number were new-chums. In the annual report of the Finance Committee of the Congregational Union presented to the council yesterday it was stated that five n&w churches had been built during the year. Tho minimum | stipend of country ministers was recommended to be fixed at £150 per annum. A , further recommendation \\ as that the union appoint an organising secretary at a salary of £250 psr annum as soon a« this sum has been .guaranteed for two years. The report was undoi discussion when the council adjourned until to-morrow. Mr. J. Graham Gow returned to-day from Canada, and will go South to-night. About sixteen months ago Mr. Gow departed for Canada to enquire about the prospects of increasing the trade between that Dominion and Now Zealand. From tiino to time he has tent r-eports about the progress of his conferences with business men, but so far it has not been possible to glean anything very definite about the outlook for New Zeahmd produce- in Canada. Mr. Gow wpvS questioned by a Pott reporter to-day, but replied that he would prefer to say nothing till hi'*i leports had gone before the Minister for Industries (.Sir Joseph Ward). A Lindsay, Limited, unnounees through the Pol athri living columns that a nalo of boots and .■■hoco will commence ai 9 o'clock tn-morrou morning in tho chop* on Lanibton-ciu&y, Cuba and Hiddiford