WEST COAST LEASES (1892) ACT

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XVIII, Issue XVIII, 22 October 1912, Page 5

WEST COAST LEASES (1892) ACT

By D. J. H

IMPROVEMENTS

The termination of the above' leases is close at hand, and may-he a few xhoughts on matters connected with them \yili interest some of your readers. There is no doubt that, when assessing the value of improvements and amounts for rentals tor next term, the arbitrators will be helped greatly if the lessees enumerate on paper their fence measurements, etc. it will facilitate matters and save a lot of time ir tnese particulars are accurately and fairly given The reading in tne iease.-s of "improvement*)," 1 take it, means full value to-day, and prices or to-dny are taken as tlie standard. That is, or course, lor such as felling, grubsiny,, clearing, building, renting, etc. Take felling, for instance. Here may be found an argument in tins light. 'With the dearth cf good bushmen, minimised working nours, and high cost of living, what would it really cost to fell the heavy busn if growing on the lands to-day V J am sure telling that cost 27s to 35s per acre 2l) years ago could not be done for less than £"2 '<s (id to £2 16s per acre now. it took a good bushman m those days to earn bUs per week clear, and then he had to work from daylight to nark. .No eight hours per day and is 3d per hour, as there is going to-day. \v Hi an allowance be made for the fires that hay« fcotr.e along at different times, anci caused a re-sowmg and two seasons of thistles? "Will the clearance of timber by such fires be termed an improvement? How are lessees to im- ! press, and prove that such and such a iJiiuuuCK was all timber when taken up, and has been felled, cleared, and stumped, till no sign of its virgin state remains ? This particularly applies to places on the edge of the busn. i venture to say not a holder from Rahotu to Waverley; has taken a photograph of his section/ or, rather, paddocks, as they appeared in their rough state. What a strong argument such a photograph would be for proving what work had been done. The one consolation is that the appraisers are all local men, who thoroughly understand their work and the long ago. Take the sections in the open land on this coast. The land was covered with flax, fern, and pig-roots. It was sour, and took a good tew years to sweeten. This was only accomplished by cons-cant turning over and working it. Holders of this land can. and should, make out a strong case for fertilising. Keaders, cast your thoughts back to the bleak plains of 15 or 2U years ago. Look to-day, and you will liiul splendid shelter for animals, by way of boxthorn fences. The boxUioni as a fence is worth, so much, and as shelter so much additional. Try and arrive at the letting or selling value of two bush sections of equal quality oi land lying side by side; say one is felled ,2U years, and one felled four years, and it will be noticed that for uMV-nriiking the purchaser will take the longest felled, and give more money. Why? Because the amount of timber is not there, and roots and winter provisions can be grown. Then, I say, allow the man who has invested money 20 years ago for the removal of tnat timber, be it by labor or its equivalent, the years of time. RENTS. The question of assessing a fair rental for the next term of twenty-one years is a bit of a puzzler. One cannot make much of a mistake for, say, a couple of years ahead, but when one looks back on the past 21 years and notes the fluctuations of prices for, produce these particular lands produced, it will be at once seen how ditficult the job is. Rent adjustments of course vary a good deal as to quality of land, position, etc. The values for rent to a certain extent, I suppose, will be on a basis of produce values to-day. That is to say, land that is equipped for dairying will be worth more than grazing land by reason of its extra returns in £ s. d. These son of its ex era returns mi £ s. d. These returns are based on the present price of produce, or really on the factory sales for one season only. To summarise the position: A rent has to be fixed for twenty-one years ahead, adjusted on sales one year ahead, it is to be hoped this will not be the case, for on the first drop of consequence in dairy produce disaster would follow. Petitions for lowering the rent would follow and this would only be history repeating itself, as it has been done before with plains occupiers, it must be borne in mind, too, that quite apart from the usual levy made annually by local bodies for rates for road maintenance, many of .these holdings are weighted for twenty odd years ahead with special rates. In some instances there are three or four distinct special rates on the land. These charges must be paid for all these years whether electric trams, "railways, or flying machines pass the places. &

TENURE.

All native lands leased under this Act give no option of purchase .1 would like to emphasise the fact that these lands are also leased by Act of Parliament for recurring periods of twenty-one years' duration. In other words, the Maori owners have parted with their lands for all time. I have shown before in a former contribution that the Maori in this locality, has more land than he can farm, so the parting for all time is no hardship on him. The question arises, is it good business nationally to encourage private landlordism ? Will it tend to benefit the Maori having his rent roll increased from time to time? Is it fair that the lessees should go guarantors for building and financing factories, etc., give their time on local bodies, and generally build up the unearned increment tlie Maori is getting? Certainly the Maori contributes land tax on the increased price of land, but this is infinitesimal in comparison with the huge increase the next term of rent will bring him in. Why not sell these lands to the lessees, and invest the money and pay the Maori the percentage obtained? 1 mentioned this to a leading chief the other day and he replied, "No! No! We want all the increase in the future rentals." Can you blame him? If the Government now in power, who profess to be freeholders, are truly in. earnest, here is a glorious opportunity for them. There is no hardship or injustice done to the Maori or would be done. The holding of perpetual rights gives to the white tenants the perfect right to demand a share of justice from the legislators who say the country is crying out for the freehold. The tendency of farms in these parts is for smaller areas and these Maori leases are going to be a nuisance in this direction. Families are arrowing up to manhood and womanhood and pairing out to make new nests for themselves in the locality they have been reared in, and thtold birds in their declining years, worry a. lot about the uncertainty of the next lease. What troubles and annoyance there will be when the sections are to be divided amongst the boys. How hard it will be to get separate titles, and ndjusted rentals and valuations for improvements. Before the next twentyone years is up there will be few hun-

dred-acre farms in these parts