LAND BILL EXPLAINED.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3776, 24 October 1907, Page 3

LAND BILL EXPLAINED.

Hon. MoNab Interviewed. Interviewed by a Times representative,- the Hon. R. McNab, Minister of Lands, threw some interesting sidelights on the new and the old Land Bills. “ I consider that the most important amendment made was the J addition to the clause in regard to ,( the land sold by the Crown in the future,’ ■ said the Minister. “The effect ot that addition, which was made on Friday night, will be to . prevent land sold by the Crown from being at any time in the future aggregated into estates of a greater size than 640 acres of firstclass land, or an equivalent in second or third-class land. I look upon that as the most far-reaching provision in the whole Bill, if the machinery provided proves to be effective. It is a fact worthy of notice that the ne\y provision was added without a single dissentient voice. ■ PASTORAL TENANTS. “Another amendment that is of importance to the whole country gives fair security for improvements to pastoral tenants. In the past these tenants have received scant justice, but now they will have the knowledge that at the -«nd of the lease they will receive a sjum equal to the full value of their buildings, fences, and other improvements to , the incoming tenant. “We hope that as a result of this change pastoralists will take heart, and stem the deterioration in the properties that has been reported, particularly in Canterbury and Otago. THE RENEWABLE LEASE. “ Another amendment that is importance provides that the renewable lease shall take the place of the small grazing-run lease in connection with pastoral lands acquired under the Land for Settlements Act, In place of the twentyone years’ lease the tenants of the pastoral lands will get a thirty-three years’ renewable lease, with protection for their improvements. “We have provided that high country and low country may be held not only under one title, but Actually as one block. Then the reduction of the rent from 5 per cent, to \Yz per cent, for the first term of the renewable lease will do much to reconcile tenants to the shorter period • so necessary in the interests of the State.” r CONCESSIONS TO TENANTS. It was suggested by the interviewer that the reduction would not apply merely to the first term of the lease. “ There is a point there that the House did not seem to grasp,” replied the Minister. “ Every concession given to the tenant will increase the capital value. of the holding, and at the end of the term the State will get its share ot the benefit through the revaluation. “The rent will not exceed per cent., half of the capital value, but alter the first term the concession made will produce an automatic adjustment. This reduction in the precentage on which the rent is to be calculated will have another effect. The tenants who hold leases-in-perpetuity at the present time will be able to secure a small reduction in rent by changing to the renewable lease •under the machinery provided in the Bill, and this power will be useful in cases where tenants complain that their rent is too high. “ The Government will have an answer to future petitions from Crown tenants in this respect. I know of many Crown tenants who say that they are. going to make the change staight away. relieved OF RESTRICTIONS.

“ Then we reduced from 50 per cent, to 33 per cent, of the capital value the amount to be paid in by the holder of a renewable lease or lease-in-perpetuity in order to be relieved of restrictions. A point to be remembered is that after 33 per cent, has been paid in the tenant may use the Government as a bank of deposit litfto 90 per cent, of the capital Vailite. Any sums paid in above the 33 per cent, will repayable on demand. Principles unaltered. “ The Bill Will leave the House of Representatives with its principles unaltered. Those principles have been discussed very thoroughly, but it may be useful to enumerate the most important ones as follows: 1. The abolition of the eternal lease. .

2 The substitution of the sixty-six years’ renewable lease for Crown land and the thirty-three years’ renewable lease for settlement lands.

3 The creation of a lease tenure free from cropping conditions and restrictive covenants on the payment to the Government of a precentage of the capital value ®f the holdings. 4. The granting of the option of the freehold at the present valuaI tion to lease-in-perpetuity holdi ers on ordinary Crown lands. 5. Relief by conversion offered to those who complain of excessive rentals 6. Power to lease land under the renewable lease without rent for a period of ten years in special cases. 7. Power to acquire estates to the owners’ valuations, plus a percentage, 8. Power to dispense with residence in certain cases. 9. Provision to suppress “dummyism” by requiring two years’ actual residence instead of one year’s “occupation” before a transfer can be granted. 10. Preference to the landless, and

power to set apart areas for married people with children, and for those who have proved unsuccessful at previous ballots. 11. Provision for dealing with flax country by means of four-teen-year leases. 12. Safeguards to cover the rights of executors and administrators, and also beneficiaries under a will. 13. Fairer conditions in regard lo pastoral leases. 14. Provision for encouraging the wood-pulp industry. A VERY BIG ADVANCE. “ I think that this Bill marks a very big advance towards a satisfactory solution of the land question,’’ added the Minister. “ There has not previously been any legislation in the colony that has gone so far in the direction of limitation of holdings in freehold and the creation of a leasehold tenure that is a true leasehold.

‘ 1 Leases for a very long term must always result in a tendency to eud them by sale, and if we wish to keep any portion of the land of the colony under Grown leaseholds, it can only be done by haying a lease that will expire within the lifetime of living men. There is no saying what may be the result of the successful operation of the new limitation proposals referred to in ray opening remarks. “I have heard some strong leaseholders discuss the possibility of their success resulting in moderate leaseholders and moderate freeholders meeting on common ground, I mean that those who support the leaseholders because ot its ability to limit areas will be willing to join hands with the many freeholders who are strongly of opinion that excessive areas should not be held by single individuals. “ I think that not only the people of this country, but the people of other countries as well, willwatch with interest the operation ot the limit put upon freehold that may in future be acquired from the Crown ”