LAND AGGREGATION

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 13 October 1922, Page 3

LAND AGGREGATION

ERRONEOUS IMPRESSION

REPLY TO CRITICISM

STATEMENT BY MINISTER

A lengthy statement on lai statistics in reply to suggestion,^ th aggregation is proceeding was mad© the House of Representatives by t] Minister of Lands. "I desire to make, a statement to tl House in regard to land settlement ar aggregation," stated Mr. Guthri. "The Government's'policy in regard 1 these important matters has been crit cised in the House from time to tim< and by a comparison of figures culle from different sources an endeavourha been made to prove that aggregatio is rampant throughout the Dominion As an erroneous impression may hay been created in the minds of those wh are not in a position to look elosel; into the matter, I desire to place, oi record some pertinent facts bearing oj the subject. "While it. has been admitted tha the, record of settlement on Grown landi since 1916 has-been very satisfactory it has been pointed out that, althougl 8924 Crown selections were made during the period 1916-1921; the increase ii the number of holdings amounted t< only 4530, thus, showing a loss as th< result of aggregation of 4394 holdings Apparently agricultural and pastora statistics compiled by the''Government Statistician have been compared anc used in conjunction with the figures appearing in the annual returns, of th« Lands Department. The agricultural and pastoral statistics give; a very fait indication of how the .occupied land oi the Dominion is used, but it has never been claimed for them tnat they provide an accurate record of the number of holdings disposed of by the Grown to private persons and held by them. For instance, a/ leaseholder may hold three adjoining Crown leases taken up at different times, in the returns of the Land Department these will be shown as three separate selections, while the collector of statistics will return them as one holding. The agricultural and pastoral statistics do hot; .include land within bofough boundaries, while the Lands Department's figures embrace all classes of land disposed'of. Furthermore, the figures, published in the lands report give the total number of selections year by year, and must not be taken as meaning new selections of virgin land. They comprise all disposals of Crown lands, and include many re-selections. Many areas of Crown landSj such as pastoral runs, education reserves, and miscellaneous leases; are let, for specific periods, and at the expiration of the lease the land reverts to the Crown. When the Laud Board relets' such holdings to new tenants the transaction will appear in the tables of the Lands Department as Selections.' This does not apply to renewals of leases where th© tenant remains in occupation, Again, when fr£e» hold land is purchased by the> Grown for settlement purposes, the subdivisions, taken up from the Crown are shown in the table of selections, and, of course, no deduction is made on account of th© freeholder from whom the land is bought. UNFAIR METHOD, ''For example, under section 3 of the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Amend?fJsn Acfc ' 191I> the °?own Purchased 74 000 _ acres from 116 owners and allotted the area to 324 soldiers. In the figures of the Lands Department these transactions would appear as 324 selections, whereas in the A and F statistics only 208 new holdings are accounted for. It will be seen, theretore, that in using the table of 'selections prepared^by the Lands Department- and the table of 'holdings' prepared by the Government Statistician to prove aggregation, a most unfair irethod has been adopted, and an absolutely false conclusion has been arrived at. It has been shown that for the period under review the Laodds Department takes credit fof 8924 selections, but, as I have already pointed out, these include miscellaneous leases which comprise chiefly year to year tenures and pastoral runs which, iri the majority of cases, ure re-selections. Excluding these selections, the figures are as follow: — ~. , Holdings. Area. JJarch 31, 1917 1233 373;262 March 31, 1918 907 188 635 March 31, 1919 ; 745 14214* March 31, 1920 1389 395 785 March 31, 1921 ...... 1707 405^041 5981 1,504,866 "But 755 of these selections comprise areas of less than one acre, which are not included in. the agricultural and pastoral statistics in question, so that ironx the standpoint of settlement the number of selections may be regarded ■as 5226.. The Government Statistician gives the number of new holdings for -the period as 4530, so that, taking into account the points I have raised in .the early part of this statement, the sensational loss m holdings fades to a negligible quantity. ~ LACK OF INSTANCES. "Aggregation as a supposed evil in this country is very glibly referred to by many political opponents of the present Government, but it is a significant tact that specific instances are very seldom brought under the notice, of the Minister of the Department, in the V^f ctl ori9l2 ' 1913» 1918 > !919> and 1920 the present Government made very comprehensive additions to' the anti-aggregation legislation of the 1908 Act, and these later provisions have •undoubtedly proved an effective cheek to undue aggregation. With a' view to. putting the legislation into operation, three cases have been investigated during the last three years, but the inquiries failed to disclose wrongful aggregation. In a country such as New Zealand a certain amount of aggregation must necessarily obtain.' I refer to justifiable aggregation to mcc* special circumstances. For instance a settler who takes up a very small area ot land may subsequently find it necessary, in order to provide for a growing family, to add to his holding by purchasing a section adjoining. Again, a man may eequire an area of swamp land, and may subsequently find it necessary to add an area of. dry. country to enable him to work his holding profitably. For the same reason holders of hilly pastoral country sometimes find it neces..sary to add an area of low-lying land to their original selection. In these and many similar cases that could be referred to, the selector adds to his original holding, *but it cannot be said that he is aggregating in the sense that the term is usually applied. The Government is most anxious to prevent undue aggregation, and if I am furnished with a specific instance where ii is considered the anti-aggregation law has been contravened, immediate inquiry will be made. ALLEGED IjANI> HUNGER. "The Government has f>een urged to open up Crown lands, to break up the big estates, and to go in for a vigorous policy of land settlement. The position is that at the -present time there is available for immediate selection (pre-r ference being given to soldiers) no less than-750 sections, comprising 460,000 acres. As a matter of fact, the/Department has had an ample area available right throughout the period under

review. The following are the figure up to March, 1922:— ■ Year. Available area March 31, 1916 .. :Vg44 j6 2i acres March 31, 1917 775,770 acres March 31, 1918 777,824, acres March 31, 1919 784,588 acres March 31, 1920 605,718 acres March 31, 1921 525,095 acres March's!, 1922 390,602 acres "And yet it has been asserted thai the Government lost an opportunity oi settling thousands of soldiers who were 'craving to go on the land.' This assertion and the- suggestion made in thi.House that the< Department should adopt a policy of settling 3000 men per year (an average of ten per day) Jiscloses a very superficial knowledge of the 'subject. SUBDIVISION OF LARGE ESTATES. "The Government has also been accused* of holding the large estates intact and building up the city communities. Sine© 1912 the Government has purchased for subdivisional purposes no less than 400 estates throughout the Dominion of 682,283 acres and costing £6,983,901, which have "been subdivided for closer settlement Some 150,000 acres of Grown lands have been subdivided, together with those properties, and the whole has been cut up into 3400 holdings. Three, hundred and five properties included in the above figures were purchased for soldier settlement. The area was 473 000 acres^ yielding 2139 holdings, and 'the cost was approximately five mluion and three-quarter pounds! "The land tax has been responsible for the breaking up of estates, and is also having a marked effect in keeping areas within reasonable bounds. Where the.unimproved value does not exceed £1000, the tax is Id m the £, but the ' rate is increased by one-twetfLty-thousandth of a penny in. the pound for every pound in excess of £1000 up to a maximum of 7Jd,' whilst there is a super-tax equal to 20 per cent, of the land. tax payable as mentioned i {woye.v.,,. i These- provisions, which are, however, subject to certain exemptions specified "in the Act, have exerted an undoubted influence in keeping? down ,the,area held by individuals^ and it will be observed that, of the 4530 new holdings since 1916 only five of them ' exceed 1000 acres." ■