DEPUTATIONS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXIX, Issue 9943, 24 January 1893, Page 6

DEPUTATIONS.

KNIGHTS OF LABOUR. A deputation of the Knights of Labour waited on the Hon John M’Kenzie, Minister for Lands, at the Commercial Hotel, on Saturday afternoon, to lay before him a scheme for a co-operative settlement on the Cheviot Estate. Mr B. M. Taylor, introduced the deputation. He remarked that it would bo a good thing if the Government could tska some other large estates in the same manner as it had taken Cheviot. Mr W. W. Collins said that he knew of no act of the present Government which had given wider satisfaction to the workers of the Colony than the acquirement of the Cheviot estate. A scheme had been proposed by some organised labour bodies to form a co-operative settlement on the estate. They wished the Government to grant say 5000 acres, and would undertake to settle 100 families thereon. They wished .a concession in the shape of the rent being allowed to accumulate for two years. To obtain implements and other necessaries they would be willing to pay a rent of five or six per cent on the capital value. They would be willing to accept 5000 or any other number of acres which the Government might grant, and they hoped that the Government would be willing to grant the concession of foregoing the first two years’ rent, to be added to the capital value, Mr J. M. Douglass endorsed the remarks of Mr Collins.

Mr M’Kenzie said that he was very glad to find that the purchase of the Cheviot estate had given so much satisfaction throughout the Colony. The Government had been forced into a corner in the matter, as it had either to take the land or forego a considerable amount of revenue. Whether its action would prove a success would depend entirely on how it worked the estate. Unless the Government could show that the acquisition would be a financial success, it would be a great blow to the policy of acquiring such properties. With regard to the purchase of similar estates, he might say that the finances of the Colony would not warrant the Government doing so voluntarily, ns there was now no loan money to be spent. As to the settlement of the estate, his idea was that some of it should be disposed of to persons with capital, who would employ labour on it; that part should be disposed of by perpetual lease, and part to Land Associations, but that whatever was done should be in the interests of bona fide settlement. With regard to the co-opera-tive scheme now brought before him, the Government had no power, without legislation, to give the concessions asked for. His idea on the point was that a Bill would have to be introduced into Parliament to give the Government power to deal specially with the Cheviot estate. Therefore ha could not give any definite promise to the deputation, but he would lay the matter before his colleagues on his return to Wellington, and in dealing with the whole matter due consideration would be given to their proposals. Mr E. M. Taylor asked if it was to be understood that none of the Cheviot land was to be disposed of until the meeting of Parliament ? Clause 16 of the Land Assessment Act provided that land so acquired might be disposed of in such manner as the Governor-in-Couacil might direct. Mr M’Kenzie said the Government was advised that clause only empowered the Government to dispose of the land for cash, so as to recoup the consolidated revenue the amount which had been taken to pay for it. Until legislation was obtained, all that the Government could do was to set aside for special settlement certain portions which were suitable for settlement, and in the meantime dispose of such portions as were not suitable for small settlement. What special arrangements were made with regard fco the portions reserved for settlement would depend on tbe extent to which Parliament might amend the existing law. One of the deputation asked if the Government proposed to part with the freehold of any of tbe land. Mr M’Kenzie said that, under the circumstances which be had explained, it would not be fair to ask him to state the opinion of the Government; he could only give his own individual opinion. A scheme for dealing with the estate would be submitted, but it would not be right to expect him to reveal its details as yet. All Governments must, to a certain extent, be taken on trust for a time, and this was a matter in which this Government should be.

Messrs Collins and Douglas said fclmt the bodies they represented were so well satisfied with what the Government had done in the past that they had no desire whatever to hamper its action in the future. They thanked the Minister for hia courteous reception of the deputation, and the interview closed.

NORTH ISLAND LAND ASSOCIATION,

A deputation, representing the North Island Land Association, Whakatane, waited on the Hon the Minister for Lands on Saturday morning, and asked to have the Association brought under the new Act; it also asked Mr M'Kenzie to send an engineer to report on the best method for draining the swamp, whether by closing the Orini and Awai-iti, at their junction with the Eangataiki, or making a drain, parallel with the abovenamed streams, through Maori land into the Whakatane The Minister asked the deputation to submit the matter to him in writing, and said he would send an engineer, under Mr Moeller, the Chief Surveyor at Auckland. - The deputation thanked Mr M'Kenzie, and withdrew.