CHEAP LAND QUEST

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1927, Page 10

CHEAP LAND QUEST

& MONET PEOBLEM ALSO

\ MAPftOV£MENTS: FINANCE

MINISTER'S- KEENNESS FOR

GRASS

This week the Minister of Lands, the. Hon.; A. p. M'Leod, has dis- ' closed the main lines of Ms policy in the way of applying section 223 (Special Settlement of inferior Lands) of the Land Act, 1924. •The policy may be summed up as a ten years' license.(renewable) - to occupy rent-free, with exemption from local body general rates for a period of four years, with an obligation to make certain im-

provements within the first six years, and with a right of the lie-

ehseo to acquire the freehold title, free of charge, whenever the prescribed improvements are completed.

In,short, the policy is fr.ee Crown land, provided that you improve. The ptate says, in effect, lo the occupationJicensee: '.'Don't pay rent; give the tooney to the land instead of to the JUindlord." If the total-improvements fare made at once, instead of waiting if or the normal period'of six years, Jhen the freehold is obtainable" at once. The first problem of a Government jßiat gives away land, subject to an improvements obligation only, is how lo find, land cheap enough to give away. . JThe second problem is how to find fcntmey out of which the occupationjEcensee can make his improvements. [As a' rule,' in order to be cheap land jpust be poor—section 223 frankly calls ft "inferior land" and "waste lands'' •—and. if it is. poor, who can afford to fedyance money, on it for its improvement? This is a real problem, if the ibccnpation-lieensee has no money of bia own. "Find the land" is difficultgnough. <?Rnd the money" may be yorse. '.;..'. .' ' ■ : ■ ADVANCSES SECTION CUT OUT. The interlocking of the land and the money.problems is so close that as a pile .thy State, when it begins to think oi putting settlers on the land, at once J>egins to think of State advances to them. This was actually the case jwhen section 223 was framed. It prodded, until last session, for State adIvances to settlers on inferior lands. But under last session's amendment the advances portion of the section disappeared. Why! Did second thoughts pay. that there could be no sufficient taecurity, in unimproved inferior land, [for any money advance worth while?

The Land Act, 1924, as passed, provided (section 223, sub-section 4) that; bo far* as that part of the Act ('.'special Settlement,of inferior lands")-was concerned, "the Minister may, on the recommendation of the board, make adyances by way of loan" to an occupa--1&on-licensee for "the development and profitable occupation of the land.?' But gnb-section 4 is repealed by section 11 Jbf the Land Laws Amendment Act, J. 926! Thus the State withdrew from »ig previous commitment, to make adyances.to the occupation-licensee of injferior land. „-.'.-'

The omission of the monetary adjvances provision is not the only noteworthy absence. It will also be noted fliat there is no residence clause. .Par 1 Mament in 1924 put in a residence j&Tause (sub-section d of section 223) Jjut repealed it last session. Light may Jbe thrown on this point by a remark knade by the .Minister 1 of Lands, referred to below. ,-.-• ■'■')■■. :, : J'IMPBOVEMENT" SHACKS. ' This remark '_ concerned a distinct phase of the : problem—that of how So settle the gum lands in North Auekaaad. The Minister, the Hon. A. D. M'Leod, is there confronted with an existing, system of settlement that aims *t putting men on 20 or 25-acre. blocks. is also a gum reserve, a sort of jeommonage, of some 10,000 acres, set .Bj>art if or the settlers to dig kauri gum &n. The Minister remarked to a f*Post" reporter, in dealing -with this Jjpranch of the inferior lands" problem, $hat where land was valued at £2 an •^cre, and where it was subject—as was case with kauri gum lands at present—to the ordinary improvements aaause of the Land Act, the building by va gum-digger or other settler of a jshack costing, say, £30, would technically satisfy the requirements of that clause, without involving any clearing fjor cultivation. "What I hope to do/ jaid Mr. M'Leod, "is to enlarge their small holdings to a living area :£-say, 80 acres—and give them freedom from rates, but with an improvements condition that will bring about ■fjproducing improvements,' not merely to live in while the man ear!*l<S,°* aaother occupation elsewhere " I. me seems to be that, on gand of W value, a very poor sort of jpmilding wdl satisfy the ordinary 30 jg>er cent. improvements clause: but fa V ate ■■%?*■ &***• Ana this example from the gum lands.may serve to Spplain the purpose behind the special improvements condition that the Mm QtthT* for*^ general application aw?"« ? W rent-free (and partly rateC™JP? lm? r°yem^ts which the 1 KioDoofflo iaoior a taxi- !,« 4he value of the land. The new ,potcy appears to carry with it the as! settlement and not merely the establament of camp-sites from which to parry on other pursuits. Itinay be significant that the amendments, made last session to section 223 "™^V P°Wer t0 "* b^ "fiction conditions requiring the residence of licensees on lands selected under this section, and the circumstances in which Bnch residence may be dispensed with." Another statement made by the Minteter was to the effect that,' where the small homestead sites let under the existing law on the gum lands have been abandoned, he does not propose to relet them, but will try to introduce a better system on the lines indicated above.

Exemption from local body general Tttte for four years does not carry with it exemption from special rates, but it is not expected that much of the interior land will come within the reach of special rates. By inferior lands is meant, according to the language of section 223, "any Crown land which, in the opinion of the board, cannot, by reason of its character, be profitably disposed of and occupied" under any tenure except as under section 223 Some National Endowment land that might come .within this meaning may be barred by the National Endowment fixed valuations (minimum 10s an acre) Jwdaomo natis* land acquired or being

acquired"may be barred by the cost of acquiring it, purchase negotiations having proceeded for a decade.

Ordinarily, an occupation-licensee shall not acquire a greater area than 400 acres of second-class 1 land or 1000 acres of third class. This area limitation may be departed from with the approval of" the Minister on the special recommendation of the board, but in no case shall the licensee's maximum exceed 600 acres of second class or 1500 acres of third class. Under section 107 of the Land Act, 1924, third class land is under £4 an acre unimproved value; second class, between d£4 and £8 an acre unimproved value.