THE LAND BILL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 14191, 13 October 1906, Page 6

THE LAND BILL.

OPENING THE FIGHT. ■ THE MINISTER OF LANDS AT THE HUTT. A VIGOROUS SPEECH. ' £F*ok Our Correspondent.] WELLINGTON, October 12. . The Minister of Lands opened the campaign on the land question at the Upper Hutt last 'evening in a most • auspicious manner. There was an audience of over two hundred, many coun- . try people, and all evidently keenly ; interested in the subject. The Minisr ter delivered a very effective speech, defending the new land policy forcibly and'announcing his intention to stump the country during _ the recess in its interests. Tli& meeting concluded with a vote expressing hearty approval of the Bill, and tho Minister was cheered enthusiastically. An adverse amendment was not seconded. , . Mr M’Nab commenced by referring to the International Exhibition. _ He said'that the members of his audience and every other elector in the colony had to do their best to make that undertaking a success. Latterly, however, no one could have believed that the Bill could have passed its second reading and been otherwise dealt with before the end of October. The Lands Committee, which had greatly improved the Bill, had kept it for a month, and the House would probably have taken longer. From that fact, and from.the demand to have the provi-' sions of the Bill placed before the country, and an opportunity given to study, it, the situation of which his audience was already aware had developed. If the Government had pressed the second reading and tried to force .the measure on to the Statute Book, He believed it could have been done, blit the changed condition of the Bill as it would have passed, compared with its condition when it. went, into committee, would never have been fully realised. The Government would have carried with it the hostility of a large section of people, because of proposals, which they believed still existed but were no longer in the Bill. Taking ail the circumstances into account, it musthave been, patent that the best course to adopt was to postpone further consideration of the Bill till next session of Parliament. This was the first occasion on which a member of the Ministry had faced a country audience to explain the provisions of the Bill. Since it had been, decided not to go on with it this ' session it- was, he said, intended to take every opportunity during the recess to meet the people of the colony and .explain the Bill by, word of mouth, and '.outline the' proposals- of the .Government, and show how they won.d benefit the people and the country if they were placed on the Statute Book. He felt that the result of going from end to end of the colony would be ■ to give the people .an opportunity of saying what they desired in the way of reform. .Mr M’.Nah then went_on ■to deal with the proposals, of the Bill, : an< j to trace the development of the land'settlement policy'in New Zealand. The greatest part of the opposition to ' the Bill, he said, had come from the large land-owners and wealthy people, "who would be affected by, its provisions. .-.An attempt had been made to unsettle • the minds of the p'eopl© by talking of the danger to mortgages, and the possibility of increased difficulty of borrowing. . As a matter of fact, the Government was on© of the largest lenders of , money in the colony, and was not m -the least likely to prejudice its own business. The Bill amply protected - the bona fide' mortgagee, but it stood in .the way' of the mortgage© who. wanted to become a land speculator. Ho ..wanted the freeholders to notice that :tho land to he brought, into the market' under these portions of the Bill 'would .be dealt with ae freehold. Then, hk to the Grown lands, it would he 'noted first that the Bill proposed to ■abolish the lease-in-perpetuity, a form <of tenure supported by no party. In place of this was to bo put a sixty-six years’ , lease with, right of renewal for k further term of sixty-six years, and • this - wotdd apply to all Crown 'lands

r exoept the pastoral and grazing runs. ' '.These areas, amounting to some thirteen. million acres, mould he let in the future as in the past, on a short lease of fourteen or twenty-one years. ■ The Minister proceeded to explain the cou- ; dltions-of the renewable lease, laying emphasis on the advantages offered' by • the right to pay to the Government tip to 90 per cent 'of the unimproved value and he.freed /jfrom. all restrictions. The Governjrnent, he said, was offering the people form of lease more attractive than any other ever offered in the colony. (Applause.) ' It was true that a maiority of’ the members of the House had been returned pledged to the freehold for Crown tenants, but only a minority supported granting the freehold at the /original; value. The alternative was - the’ freehold at the present value, a /■proposal infinitely less attractive than rrthe Government’s offer of a practical '.“freehold, the tenant paying in 90 per "cent of-the original value, and paying , ■ rent based on the remaining tenth. He ''did not know the opinions of the meeting, whether they were staunch freeholders or not, hut he asked them, "would they support the proposals which the Government had pht before the House, or the proposals to give the ' freehold at the original value? There could bo no doubt as to what the answer would be, and that was the reason why' he had not- the slightest hesitation in going before any country ' meeting or audiences of farmers to explain the provisions of the Bill. While _at first it might he" regretted that the rßill had not been gone on with, he • believed that the decision to allow it to stand over till next session was the best thing that ever happened to the mea- , sure. With a certainty as to what the result of the fight was going to bo, it would be far better for members who were returned to support the freehold tenure to support the propositions put forward by the Government, in preference to the freehold at the original value. There bad been no definite expression on the question at the last general election because there had been no occasion , for it, and consequently there was no uniformity in the views of members. Take his own case. He was one of those who was returned not to give the freehold at the original value but ' at the present value, but the proposals (.submitted by the Government wore ■ milch better than the latter. In other 1 words, a tenant could get 90 per cent ;of his holdings at the original value ■ father than the. whole at the present .value. When the country realised the ‘true significance, of..the fight between 'the leaseholders and freeholders, there •would be no doubt of the result. ‘‘ In conclusion,” said the Minister, “ J. nsk you if you think these proposals are proposals in the best interests of the colony, to do your part in helping to place them on the Statute Book by bringing your influence to bear upon the members of ■the House. If the people’s support of the Bill is indicated from on© end of the colony to another there will bo no doubt about -the result. I ask you to strengthen our hands. Some papers blame us for already running away ■from our caused. We are doing nothing of that lurid. Our determination is fixed and certain. If the policy is not placed on the Statute Book after the country has had an opportunity of considering it, and. Parliament has met •nd given its decision, no member of tba present Ministry has any desire to

remain longer on the Ministerial benches. (Applause.) I do not want anyone to go away with the idea that w© will hold on to office twenty-four hours after w© are satisfied that the people of the country are not satisfied with our proposals. I trust that you will do all you can in this portion of tho colony, and with the assistance of other portions of the colony, I express tho hope now, on behalf of the party and tho Ministry I represent, that next session of Parliament will not close until a measure has been put on the Statute Book of this colony on the lines of that which a leading paper of the Old Country has characterised as the greatest advance in the history of land legislation in the world.” ' (Prolonged applause.) Messrs J. M’Lachlan and G. Laurenson also spoke., Mr Laurenson reforred to Mr M’Nah as being the first nativeborn New Zealand Minister of Lands —(applause)—and went on to refer to the state of things in Canterbury, where the large land-owners flourished. The meeting received his remarks with considerable applause, and when ho said h© believed the Bill would become law the meeting interjected “Yes” in no uncertain way. He intended during the recess to abandon his own business, and at his own expense go through the country, explaining the provisions of the Bill, because he was convinced it would be a grand thing for this great and noble country. The Minister then answered several questions put by persons in tho audience. It was then moved —“That this meeting of Hutt electors, while thanking the Minister for his address,- cordially approves of the principles of the Bill.” , There was no seconder for an adverse amendment, and the motion was I carried amidst cheers, with only one dissentient. The meeting concluded with cheers for the Minister. PROSPECTS OF THE SESSION. [From Our Correspondent.] , The Land Bill' seems to have entirely passed out of Parliamentary life.' Already members recognise, whatever their political beliefs, that- their. business now- is simply to get through the rest of the work of the session as quickly as possible. The Public "Works Statement is expected to come down early, next ..week, probably on Tuesday, and on that day the Premier will announce the Bills with which the Government proposes to proceed. It is not expected that the list will include any of a very controversial character. The Government will aim at rising on Friday, October 26, or Saturday, October 27, and thus has before it, only eight or nine sitting days. The time is likely to be fully occupied with the Public Works Statement and Estimates, the Supplementary Estimates, the necessary Supply Bill, and the • several amending Bids which it is obviously desirable to place on the Statute Book this session. In addition, the Premier has promised the House an opportunity to debate the San Francisco , service. The interest in the session has gone, and members are evidently casting their eyes homeward. [Per Press Association.] DANNEVIRKE, October 12. A meeting called under the auspices of the Farmers’ Union, was held here to-day to discuss the Land Bill, and attended by about fifty settlers, including some of -the principal runholdens in Hawke’s Bay. Mr Banders, provincial president of the Union, presided, and spoke against the Bill. Several other speakers opposed the endowment clauses, sixty-six years’ lease and abolition of the option of” tho freehold. Mr Matthew Tansey proposed:—“That as the Land Act Amendment Bill is so opposed to the unanimous wishes of the farmers • it cannot be in the best interests of the country, and all the forces of the Farmers’ Union throughout the colony are requested to co-operate in opposing it.” Carried unanimously. Considerable interest has been taken in the Land Bill at Gust since its introduction, and it was anticipated that there would be a large attendance at the meeting called for Monday by the Farmers’ Union; On account of the withdrawal of the Bill, the Union announces that the meeting will not be held. PRESS COMMENT. [From Our Correspondent.] WELLINGTON, October 12. The “New Zealand Times” says editorially “ The first impulse of the friends of the Laud Bill, upon reading of its abandonment by the Government, will be one of fierce indignation that, after their hopes of a desperate fight for the measure,. they must cherish sharp disappointment for months. As participants in this immediate emotion, we must sympathise with this attitude, but we are already reconciled to the outlook, and for this recovery the speech of, the Minister of Lands at Lower Hutt last night is mainly responsible. It is idle to deny the force of the Minister’s contention that, had Ministers attempted to pass the Bill, they would have carried with them through the whole course of its treatment the hostility of a large section of people who, if they had better understood the proposals and their operation, would have ended by supporting them.” ’ DUNEDIN, October 12. The Otago “Daily Times” says that the Government has suffered the first serious blow to its prestige in dropping the Land Bill. The length of the session ■ is of the Government’s - own making, and the “Times” holds that the reason for abandonment of the Bill is that members have been impressed with the opposition evinced throughout tho country, and that the Premier recognised the doubtfulness of putting tho Rill oh tho Statute Book even..in the form as shaped by the Lands Committee. It says pointedly that the Ministerialists' are hardly likely to welcome the idea that the House may be deprived' of the tactful guidance of Sir Joseph Ward, who will bo attending the Imperial Conference at the time when the Bill will again be under discussion. The “ Star ” thinks that the Government has failed alike in sagacity and courage in not forcing the Land Bill through this session. Too much has been heard of the Exhibition in connection' with the fortune of the Land Bill, and Mr M’Nab and his colleagues have committed a grave error in judgment. They have missed a notable opportunity, and given an opening for a long course of misrepresentation and Wirepulling. .