PARLIAMENT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 September 1924, Page 10

PARLIAMENT.

PETITION FOR. FREEHOLD

CONVERSION OF ROTORUA ENDOWMENTS

MINISTER'S VIEWS

(BY TKMSGKAPH —PKKB» ASSOCIATION 1 WELLINGTON, Sept. 4. The House of Representatives met at; 2.30 p.m. to-day. A petiton of Rotorua settlers praying for the freehold of national endowment lands, which- prayer the lands committee recommended to the Government for consideration, raised a lengthy discussion, on the old question of leasehold versus freehold, during which the Hon. A. D. McLeod (Minister for Lands) said he wished to refer to the difficult position he saw, as Minister for Lands, in the effective settlement of a lot of lands, more especially in North Auckland, which, he was certain, would not be settled under rhe leasehold tenure. He believed they could be settled under the freehold tenure. The Minister said he knew much could be said .in favour of the leasehold from the . theoretical point of view, but lie was bound to .say, after an. experience of close on forty years' with land, that he had "yet to find an individual who, having been on, the land or who was making his living out of it, upheld the leasehold system. His experience was that advocates of the leasehold had never had experience of bringing poor lands into occupation. It was advocated entirely from an academic or theoretical point of view. He was not finding fault with that, but amongst those who had had to go out on to the land from the earliest pioneer days in this or any other country there was not one in ten thousand who would advocate the leasehold system. It must not be forgotten, added the Minister, that where a lease existed any mortgage, given was a second mortgage, the first mortgage being the lease and not any advances made for improvements or the like, and a second mortgage the world over was considered an inferior security $ Mr. W. E. Ptrry (Auckland Central) : The Government has not been sympathetic towards it. Mr. McLeod, replying to the interjection, said ..no better illustration could be found that in the honest attempt made by the Commonwealth Government to establish a system under leasehold in the Northern Territory, but which had entirely failed It. was admitted that it would be much better to allow pioneers to <r o on to land under any tenure they cnose, even if later on the Government had to purchase the land back, iie thought that applied very mur-h to oar endowment lands to-day. If these endowment lands did not deteriorate and were not goihg -back we might 'be Hhi C l°i" ta u e . nsks >' hut he said deliberately that much of these endowment lands that had not been occupied 'were gomg back rapidly into weeds and into a state which would be a danger not only to the land itself, but also to the surrounding land As Minister, he was not prepared, to recommend dealing' with any of these r£°‘ ,B ", eed ' S system of hio-h f nd , sllo /t hours. The more d?fncjJt lauds of tins country were not to be orcugjjt into successful oceupatioii or kept free of weeds under any system where we had to nay fixed Wf L, tliOS t deidmg »' ith thirn. They • 11 lje got. into successful occuj:,a ticm by peopie going, out determined Y l , a home on them, no matter J; f iJ\ at £a «‘lfice or whal hours they h„d to work. He knew from a lifelong exponenco that there were niaiiv people, many syndicates and many farmers to-day who were attempting to nnlin - th '’-‘T /! m the Auckland piovince which they have attempted to bring into cultivation by employing a sibl’e' an^ull^ of labour, “it is 'impossibie to do it properly,” added the ?t ni n er - u- Yo V , must P ut on the seth!7'Se f and ¥ him ' Vol ’k out his under the best possible conditions of finance." He knew -that could not be done under, the leasehold Much as he valued the necessity of endowments for the peoole of the future, he agreed with those who that those endowments should take the form of land secured nearei fciie centres of population, where the community value was going to grow much more rapidly, and the Ust‘opportunities should be given to settle the outlying areas if this country was to be fully populated. , Mr P ? rr y strongly urged the advantages of the leasehold system, and he moved that the ireport be referred la-ck to the Lands Committee for further consideration.

Th© amendment was seconded by Mr F Luiggtone (AVaimarino). J 1 division HMTy’s amendment was defeated bv 44 votes to 28, and the report was adopted. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS. Replying to Mr AYilford, the Hon. J. G. Coates said the contracts- made b\ the Stores Board with the British Inipenal Oil Company for petrol would amount to about £60,000, and for kerosene to- about £OOOO, Vacuum Oil Company tor lubricating oils £2lO 000 Texas Oil Company £240,000, and a’ S. Paterson and Co. £IOOO. The Leader of the Labour Party (Mr H. E. Holland) asked whether it was a fact that women nrisoners were being employed on. road-making in Niue Island. The Minister in charge (HOll Sir Maui Pomare) replied that lie was net aware that the practice was in vogue, but if, as a result of inquiry, he found that such was the- case he would see that it was discontinued. , The Hon. C. J. Parr stated there nad been a misunderstanding uitli regard to .a question he answered the other day dealing with teachers’ superannuation. The superannuation cf teachers who retired from !he sen ice before the war and who came back for service owing to the shortage of teachers during the war period, would not be prejudiced in any way, said the Minister. A teacher who continued in the service after rejoining during the war period would receive his old superannuation, together with superannuation. based op the salary lie: was receiving si a co he joined the service. Mr P. Fraser (.Wellington Central) gave notice of his intention to introduce- the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment- Bill. SEVERAL BILLS PASSED. The folic,wing Bills were passed Engineers Registration Bill, Funds Amendment Bill, Medical Practitioners Amendment Bill, Dentists Amendment Bill, Acts Interpretation Bill. Insurance Companies Deposes Amendment- Bill, and' Local Bodies Loans Amendment. Bill. The Horn;© iv.,se at J.l p.m. until 2 30 p.m. tc-moirrow. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. The Legislative Council met at 2.30 p.m. to-day. I he Chattels ’lransfer Bill, a- consolidated- measure, was read a first and

second time and referred to the Statutes Revision Committee. The Copyright Amendment Bill and the Extradition Amendment Bill were each passed without amendment. The Births and Deaths Registration Bill and the Sale of Food and Drugs Amendment Bill were introduced from the House of Representatives and read a first time. The Council adjourned at 2.39 p.m. :ntil 2.30 p.m. next Tuesday.