LANDS ADMINISTRATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15558, 7 March 1911, Page 6

LANDS ADMINISTRATION.

We do not suppose that Sir Joseph Ward took the portfolio of Lands away with him when lie left Auckland yesterday en route to the Imperial Conference and the Coronation festivities, but it is a iittle curious that it is not mentioned in the telegram we publish this morning telling us how tho administrative duties of the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General are to bo discharged during their absence from the dominion. Probably it has been entrusted to- Mr Buddo, who takes charge of the Land for Settlements and the Land Settlements Finance departments, and we. may hope that while his chief is away the Minister of Internal Affairs, who ought not to be overburdened by the work of his own departments, will And time to look into two or three questions concerning the land policy of the Government that are being a good deal discussed just now. The recent reletting of pastoral runs, for instance, has emphasised in a very significant way the absurdity of the regulation whioh prevents a person occupying over 1000 acres of land from entering the ballot and at the same time fails to place any limitation on the amount of other property an applicant may possess. Of course, 1000 acres of land may be worth no more than £IOOO, while 900 acres of land of a better quality and nearer a market may be worth £30,000 or £40,000, but under the law governing the leasing of small grazing runs the occupier of the former would be excluded from the ballot while tho absolute owner of the latter would be admitted. A person, if ho did not happen to occupy 1000 acres of land, might have half a million lying at interest in the bank or invested in town property and still be qualified to compete for a small grazing run. The man who leases over 10C0 acres of land, however poor it may bo, is under just the same disability as the man who owns a similar area, and the man who ha« half a million in the bank is as free to enter the ballot as the man who has to borrow the stipulated amount of capital from some confiding friend. As a matter of fact thero were several applicants for the smaller runs in tho Mackenzie Country last week who were known to be worth £30,000 or £40,000, and several others with comfortable fortunes, who entered the ballot merely for tho joy of gambling. This is one of the matters on which Mr Buddo well might prepare a useful report for tho guidance of the Prime Minister. Then, if time is still hanging heavily on his hands, lie might make inquiries into the constitution of the land boards. There can be no question that the members of these bodies make many personal sacrifices in the performance of their onerous duties, but we are not sure that they are all fully qualified for the work they have undertaken. Wo are inclined to think that better results would bo obtained by frankly recognising that the labourer is worthy of his hire and appointing a couple of thoroughly practical men to sit with tho commissioner in each district at salaries that would entitle tho country to tho whole of their time. There are, wo know, instances in which capable practical men are giving up many days of the year to the business of the boards and receiving only their bare expenses in return; but these are the exceptions that- provo the rule that it is unfair to expect public servants to sustain themselves indefinitely on a sense of duty well done. The difficulty Ministers have experienced in persuading the right class of men to accept scats on tho boards must have satisfied them that in this respect the present system is by no means perfect. Mr Buddo would bo doing his chief a good service by showing him how it could be improved.