LAND POLICY,

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLI, Issue 317, 5 December 1906, Page 4

LAND POLICY,

THE MINISTER IN THE NORTH, j THE (LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN REPI/i\ (Press Association.) ' j AUCKLAND. Monday. Mr Massoy, lieador of tho Opposition, revlieh to Mr AfcNab, Ministet of. Lands, to-alfi-ht at OnehUn- ' ga, chiefly with regard to the Land ■ liili. There was en <?hthusi)afetic meeting, divided in Bentlmeht, l>Ut a resolution ih favbur of the Govet"nnient'g land proposals,.- was lost on a show of hands. i Mr Massey.. said Mr (Mc^ T al^ 'had I not given the whole, facts of the proposals in the Land Bill. He de- \ clared ithac if Jfr McNab had been to the North"" before the BHI -was presented to Parliament the measure would never have been pre-. sentcd in that form. (Leasehold would be fatal to Northern lands, wWch wore mostly second'-class or third-class'. It hit Ww North worst of all, and would discourage settlement by removing the only etinmlus to improve the land. The proposals " were the most absurd ever placed before the community, , and they were based on antiquated views, whish oven tho ' population o( Russia were rejecting, namely, a system of State tenantry, The Hill absolutely ignored the vast area of native land held and locked up unused. The weak point in the Bill was that it permitted a speculator getting ihe benefit of undeveloped land while it discouraged and harassed the legitimate farmer. Any system would be better than this, provided it left t/ho frwhold alone. Mr Massey. said he bditsved that- bettor results would be obtained by adopting tho continental system ■of dlatribM-bloti en death, by a 'jfradutttod land tax, and by the Land for •Sebtldihent Act. The BUI was neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor good red herring. What tho Government should dp was to submit the issue of freehold or leasehold to the country arid light it Otlt fit fth election. ., A nioliori . 'thahjeiher .Mr Massey, but .approving of the 1892 Land Act in regard to optional tenure was proposed. An amendment that the meetinK approved of the prosent land proposals was siihmiittod and lost on a show of hands, and the motion was declared carried, with cheers and groans.