THE HON MR. BALLANCE'S SPECIAL SETTLAMENTS SCHEME.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXII, Issue 7411, 29 November 1884, Page 5

THE HON MR. BALLANCE'S SPECIAL SETTLAMENTS SCHEME.

(Hr Tm.iunt*r»,] f oca own ivftnHKaroMPFNi. I WKI.MNCITtiN Nov 3N d oin reader* will have noticed Utat during the course of his speech at Wanganui last night, the llmi Mr ll,illume, Minister of Lands referred to the proposal of the Government in reuaol fo the establishment -,f |,an«l Aftaociations that may lake up laud to the extent of 10,(100 n- res. This is the scheme for ftpivial settlenieiits t > *rhi. h I alluded in a toh giam a b*w dais ag", ih«. particular* of wiilcli I am now able to supply ymi with The regulnllons wiU prolsibly lufa ret ted in the course of n vo-ek or so, and understand the proposals of the (iovernmenfc will he, as tmarly iw i»oitnihle, as follow —Any Association of pere-ns <.f not loan than 23, who may Iw desirous of settling on Grown lauds adjacent to each other may arrange with the Government for a block ol land on the following general t omittlon* t—The block shall oonl-aiti not less than IttOO mures, aud not more limn lO.otkJ, to la. surveyed into area* of not more than If at acres or t herealiout*. The surveys will la* conducted under tho super!ntemlence of the (Surveyor-fbmeral of the Colony, the cost not exceeding 2ti fhl ]>»>r m-re. to l»? paid by tin* Association in four instalmenta, three months to elapse between em'h jwiyincut, and tho first payment to be made when the Assoolatlno has agreed to take up a s}sjohil block. The Aimister *>f Lands may reserve such jwillon# of the block as lie may deem necessary for educntimial recreation or other public purposes Tho allotment of sections to members of the Association shall be made at such time and in such manner as tho Association may, with tho consent of the Minister, determine. Tho price of tho land will be a matter for arrangement between tho Minister and the Association, and will be Kablo as follows Ono-tontb of the :o of tho whole block shall bo paid previous to the allotment of section. This will be in satisfaction of two first half-yearly instalments to be reckoned as due from the next first day of January or July following thereafter. The payments shall be made by each purchaser every six months in advance, at the rate of one-twentieth of the price of the land, until the whole price has been paid. Onethird of the price of the land will, from time to time as paid to the Government, bo repaid to tho local body of the district, or to the Association for expenditure on reads in or leading to the block. The purchaser shall be entitled to a Crown grant of the land selected by him, provided he has been continuously in residential occupation of tho land selected by him, either personally or by a registered substitute, for a period or nix years, and has fulfilled alt the conditions. The purchasers shall be registered members of the Association, and shall not be under eighteen years of age. Each purchaser shall, within two yean from the date of his puxchose, bring into cultivation not less |h»n one-tenth of the loud purchased by him. Within four yean he must bring Into cultivation not lees than one-fifth of such land, and within six years he must, in addition to the foregoing conditions, effect substantial improvements of a permanent character on tne land to the value of j£l far every acre of the land held by him. "Cultivation” is understood to mean fencing the land with timber or other durable material not being a brush fence, breaking up and laying down the land in English or other cultivated grass, or breaking up and planting, or sowing root or other crops thereon, and in case of bosh lands, the felling and clearing of timber and sowing of grasses. “ Substantial improvements of & permanent character ” may mean and include reclamation from swamps, clearing of bash or scrub, cultivation, planting with trees or live hedges, too laying oat and cultivating of gardefife fosmag, draining, making roads, sinking wells or water tanks, constructing water-races, in any way improving the character or fertility of the soil, or (he erection of any building. In the event of the death of a purchaser before having received a grant of bis land, his interest in the allotment will revert to his legal representative, who may dispose of it to a bond fide settler approved by the Minister, and tho purchaser shall be deemed to stand in the position of the original occupant. A similar provision will bo made for any purchaser compelled to leave the district previous to bin being entitled to his Crown grant, or before comfleting the requisite tom of occupation, t will be a proviso that no purchaser shall bo allowed to hold more than 100 acres. Failure to comply with the regulations involves forfeiture of all interest in tho land selected, and the latter may then be sold by public auction to a ton A fide settler, who shall be deemed to stand in the position of tho original purchaser. No person who is a holder of fond on deferred payment, or who has acquired any freehold under that system, or who is holder of any land under perpetual lease, or who holds more than 820 acres of freehold land, shall be entitled to become a purchaser under the now regulations. Mr Ballance also referred to tho subjects of local government and taxation, but only to inform hts constituents and hearers that they would bo fully dealt with shortly by the Premier when visiting Dunedin. As this may give rise to some anxiety as to what the Government are doing in the direction indicated, I may state that consideration of the lowil government scheme still proceeds, but nothing lias yet been definitely settled, or anything like it. Ministers recognise that tho subject is of too much Importance to be dealt with except in the moat careful manner, and only after very minute and deliberate consideration. The question of tho incidence of taxation lias not yet been discussed in Cabinet.

I understand that it is not altogether improbable that Mr Ballaaco may visit the Mokmi before returning to Wellington.