MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1892. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1892.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XIX, Issue 3228, 19 September 1892, Page 2

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1892.

(PUBLISHED DAILY.)

THE LAND BILL.

As the Land Bill has now passed through one branch of the Legislature and is before the Legislative Council it is of interest to look at it in the shapo in which it left the House. We refer principally to that part which deals with agricultural land, for it ifl mainly that which is of interest in this portion of the colony. The most radical change made by the bill so far is the introduction of the lease in perpetuity, the lease for 999 years and the complete deletion cf the deferred payment system. This deferred payment system has in its day done much to advance settlement, but it is not free from the element of speculation, and after a short time the land passps entirely beyond the control of the iState, and, therefore, in accordance with advanced opinion, it has had to make way for the lease in Deipetuity. So now it is provided that in notifying that lands are open for Bale and selection the Minister I M Bhall " — this involves o retirement from the position of last year when the word " may " appeared and gave the Minister an option in declaring under what sfetem land should be opened — shall declare that the lands mentioned in the notification may "at tbe option of the applicant be purchased for cash or be selected for occupation with right of purchase, or on lease in perpetuity," but there is a limitation in respect of: cash sales in any one year oi£ISO,UOG worth. Further, it is provided, as to lands purchased for cash, that no Crown grant is to issue until the purchaser has within seven years expended on the land in substantial improvements of a permanent character a sum equivalent to twenty shillings an acre on first-class lands and ten shillings per acre on second-class lands. The land is transferable with the consent of the board, but the transferee will be liable to the conditions. As to lands occupied with right of purchase c— that is equivalent to the present perpetual lease — they are to be taken up for 25 years on a 5 per cent, rental, and residence is compulsory, commencing in the case of bush and swamp land within four years, and in the case of open or partly open land within pne year from the date of selection, aud is to be continuons for six years in one case and for seven years in the other. After ten years from the date of license the selector may purchase the freehold or may ex» change for a lease in perpetuity. Lease in perpetuity, as before mentioned, is i for 999 years on a 4 per cent, rental based on the cash price of the land when iaken up, and ie no.t \,g be liable

to increase at any time. Eepidence is to be compulsory for ten years. The improvement conditions in the case o£ occupation with right to purchase and in the case of the lease in perpetuity are much the fame as at present. The main argument in favour of the lease in perpetuity is that it will prevent the creation of large estates, for no lessee under thig system will be capable of becoming the lessee under more than one lease or the licensee of an allotment with i right of purchase unlesß the lands i adjoin and the 640 acre limitation is effected. There is no question that this is an important point to secure 5 but on the other hand the 4 per cent', rental is low, and it must not be forgotton that the State will lose not only the 1 per cent but all possible increases of rent in future. There ie complete abandonment ot tbe clairji of the State to participate in the unearned increment by gradual increase of rent from State-owned lands. Taxation will be the only means of getting a share of that increment, and not only will that be comparatively small, but, as in the case of the freehold, such taxation will not necessarily take toll from the man who has acquired the unearned increment. A man who takes up a leasehold to-day and twenty years hence sells out, obtaining a largo bonus will have secured the unearred increment while the transferee of the land will be called upon to pay the taxation. Still the operation of the system is likely, we should say, to be against speculation, and, so far, its effect cannot but be good. A mam with a lease in perpetuity is almost in as good a position as a freeholder in regard to tenure, and at a 4 per cent rent is financially better off than tbe majority of freeholders. How many freeholders would be glad to hand ovei to the Government their titles in exchange for a lease on such, conditions. As to roadmg, the local bodies are to have thirds of tbe rents for fifteen years from the date of tbe lease, but tbe reduction of rent will, no doubt, be felt by them. For the future ail special-settlement lands are to be disposed of under the lease in perpetuity, but the limit of land to be set apart for tbe purpose in any year is set down at 250^000 acres. The "run" clauses remain very much as they were proposed. No person or company may hold more than one run, but there is a proviso that the holder of any run of a carrying capacity of less than 5000 sheep may become the lessee of an aggregate area sufficient to carry 5000 sheep, which seems a little "contradictory in terms, though the meaning is clear enough. The Bill, as a whole, consolidating as it does the land laws of the colony, is a useful piece of legislation, and it is to be boped that the two Houses, if any differences arise, may be able to so settle them that it may become law. The proposals of the Minister are, at any rate, entitled to a trial, and experience will soon show how far they are workable. Finality in land legislation is not to be hoped for, and is not likely to have been achieved by tbis Bill.