THE LAND COMMISSION

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIII, Issue 13715, 4 April 1905, Page 2

THE LAND COMMISSION

SITTING AT WAIMATE. [From Our Correspondent.] WAIMATE, April 3. The Land Commission crossed into Canterbury this morning, and was greeted by wet, squally weather. The Members left Oamaru at 7.20 a.m., and arrived in Waimate shortly before ten o’clock. Arrangements had been made to drive them over the Waikakahi Estate, but the cold ■weather convinced the majority that a study of their notes before an hotel fire was desirable. Four members, however, bravely faced tho weather and their duty, and were rewarded by a view of the best land they have yet met on their tour.' The settlers on the Kapua and Waikakahi estates seemed universally prosperous. A remarkably heavy crop of rape was one of tho first sights, and after that camea- succession of well-built, roomy homes, opulent stacks, and smiling pastures. One settler who'’had. three hundred acres on a twenty-one years’ lease, at 9s per acre, had seventeen heavy stacks in a thirty-acre paddock, and another, with one thousand acres of flat, at Ss 3d, was carrying some three thousand sheep and cropping nearly four hundred acres. “ No wonder they want the freehold,” said a Commissioner of leasehold tendencies. These sections wore let on a twenty-one years’ lease, with right of renewal for a similar term after revaluation, and settlers expressed the opinion that the Government should have retained tho right to further divide, tho sections after the first Wonty-ono years. At 4 p.m. the Commission met at Vaimato to hear evidence. James Coskerie, a lease-in-perpetuity iettior on the Waikakahi Settlement, was the first witness, and said that ho was satisfied with liiis holding and tenure. He had tried the freehold, and now advised every man to go in for tho leasehold. The aggregation of large estates was going on in several parts of the district. He did not approve of the grouping and second ballot system, and he thought the Advances to Settlers Act should be amended, in the direction of allowing a man to borrow' money up co tho full value of hie improvements. There was still a large demand for land# especially among young men. He was not troubled by the restrictions imposed on Crown tenants. Alexander Wyatt said that he had had GOO acres of pastoral estate at Redclifi. Hs had sold it and bought the goodwill of a Government fifty acre section under the Isase-ia-perpotuity. He was quite satisfied with the change. : though lie thought that some of the ■ restrictions imposed needed modification. There was some little aggregation of estates going on, successful men buying out their neighbours. He considered the freehold a good tenure to have in a country, but the Stats should retain at least enough of its land to provide for the poor settlers j for all time. Successful Crown ton- j ants would probably want the freehold of their sections, but it would be bad public polity to let them have it. Maurice Leonard, Crown tenant and freeholder, said that he would like to see all land held by the State, other-

wise the benefit of it went to money lenders and commission agents. William Nish, Crown tenant on Waikakahi, under the lease-ia-perpetuity, said that he was quite satisfied, and had no desire for the freehold. He thought that the Crown tenants should elect one member of the Land Board. Alexander M'Lean; freeholder, , ventilated, a personal grievance in regard to the River Waihao, which was washing away his property. Thomas Hawkins,, a settler under the lease-in-perpetuity tenure at Maytown, said that he found the cropping conditions very unsatisfactory, and thought the Land Boards should have more discretion. He represented the views of the Maytown settlers. , He thought that Crown ten ant should have the right to pay off two-thirds of the value • of their holdings, the Government to return control. Alfred ’Bitchenor said that he held freehold nnd leased land' from a private person. He-supported the freehold, because he objected to restrictions in working his land.. The leasehold was valuable in promoting settlement, and the area of freehold one man might possess should be limited. Ho had had no experience of Crown leases. Mr M’Lennan said that it was curious that Crown tenants did not ask for the freehold, while outsiders demanded that they should have it, apparently for selfish ends. The chairman said that members of the commission should not impute motives to witnesses, and Mr M’Lennan withdrew “ selfish ends,’’ and substituted “ peculiar motives. 3 ’ The Commission then adjourned for °When the Commission resumed in the evening Alfred Walker, county counciilor, and owner of 110 acres of ireeWd stated that the purchase and subdivision of land by the Government had T-ortly benefited the district, winch had previously- been landlocked. He quoted figures to show that the value of freehold and the goodwill of leasehold have very greatly increased under the operation of.the Land for Settlements Act. The capital value of the county had increased between 189 b and ISO 3 from £2.225,V*J1 to The unimproved value aid SOT bad been £2 281 145, and in 1905 in was j?2 , 't07 , 773. He thought that perpetual’ lease with revaluation was the best tenure in the interests of the colony, and that it_ would bo robbing the taxpayers to give Crown tenants the - freehold at. the original valuation. Had the settlements been a failure the colony <-cnerallv would have had to we ot the loss, and as the settlements bid been successes the colony generally should r eap the benefit. The cropping regulations needed revision in the diction of giving settlers facilities for dealin" with noxious weeds. He thought that there should be an in-

crease in the progressive land tax to secure a more equable distribution of the financial burdens of the colony; There should be no further sales of Crown lands, and he thought that it would have bceu much better had no Crown lands ever been sold. If a Crown tenant wished to purchase his holding he should have to_ buy it at public auction, less valuation for his improvements. William Hobson Lnndon, labourer who stated himself to be “that' infallible authority, the oldest inhabitant,” put forward the views of the Working Men’s Homes Association. He claimed that the working men were being neglected in the administration of the land laws. He objected strongly to the sale of any Crown lands whatever; The Commission then went into committee. MOVEMENTS OF THE COMMISSION. To-morrow morning the Commission will go to Morven and take evidence there. It will arrive at Timarn in the evening, and spend the night there. On Wednesday the Commission will sit in Tiraaru, and later proceed to Fairlie. It proposes to work north as far as Cheviot and then return to Christchurch on the Thursday before Easter. After duly observing the holidays the Commission will leave Christchurch for Westland on the following Tuesday, later working round the north of the Island, and probably as far south as Kaikoura.