MINISTER OF LANDS AT TAPAWERA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 26 July 1927, Page 5

MINISTER OF LANDS AT TAPAWERA

A gathering probably unique in Nelson’s history was held in the Tapawera Hall yesterday. Practically all the Crown tenants in the locality assembled to meet the Minister of Lands (the Hon. A. D. McLeod) who had come from Wellington for the express purpose of hearing their grievances and explaining the Government’s policy. The Minister dealt at considerable length wtih the prospects of the farming community generally and with the position of the Crown tenant in particular. Mr R. P. Hudson, M. P., and Mr A. F. Waters, Commissioner of Crown Lands, accompanied the Minister. A very important announcement was made by the Minister. Refering to a petition from a number of Crown lesses that their rentals were too high, he stated that it was his intention to bring down legislation during the present session to give every Crown tenant the right of revaluation. With this in view he proposed to set up a permanent Revaluation Board, consisting of the Valuer-General, the Under-Secretary of Lands, and the Land Purchase Controller. . Under the present, Land Act a lessee has a right of revaluation not earlier than three .years or later than six years after the commencement of his lease. The proposed legislation will also remove any anomalies between Crown tenants whose land is subjected to the Deteriorated Land Act and those whose holdings lie outside the proclaimed areas. Under the proposed legislation all will have equal opportunity of having their rental values reveiwed.

Mr J. Pagan, who presided, said it was a red-letter day so far as Tapawera was concerned. It. was the first time 'a Minister of tile Crown had come to visit them, cully 95 per cent of the tenants iri the two ridings of Motupiko and Wangapeka were in the hall. Proceeding Mr Pagan said that much of the land was classed as second class, whereas .similar land in other parts was classed as third class land. It was essential for the stability of New Zealand that farmers should be able to build up reserves for lean times. Too much of production was going away in interest and rent. The tenants were not making anv progress whatever. “r R. P. Hudson, M.R.. followed. Ife said the Minister was present to deal with individual tenants. He, however, could not help joining in the welcome to Die (Minister who had come over during the Session at great inconvenience to"himself. The first arrangement was for the Minister to meet the settlers in Nelson. Mr Pagan had pointed out, however, that it would not he convenient for the tenants to go to Nelson and the Minister had said he would go to Tapawera or anywhere else.

DIFFICULT YEARS FOR FARMERS

The Minister in reply, said it was always a pleasure to him to meet Crown tenants or any men on the land. It Was his duty as Minister of Lands, and apart from that he had been a farmer all his life. The years since the postwar slump of 1921 had been extremely difficult ones for farmers, not only in New Zealand but throughout all countries depending largely upon exports of primary produce, and-tile problem of establishing any basis giving all round equality of sacrifice between the city dweller and the man on the land, was a source of anxiety to the governments in many countries. Recent figures gave Liberal-governed Canada as having over 7000 unoccupied farms. In Queensland where for twelve years a Labour Government had been in office there were 20,000,000 acres less occupied than in 1920. Victoria, which he recently visited and which until amonth or two back was governed by a coalition. Country Party—National Government, had arrears in Crown rentals totalling over £‘5,000,000. “I ask for no bouquets for the Government .of this country, although more than half the. Cabinet as well as more than half the party had only (heir farms to fall back upon the moment they went out of politics, which might lie any day. ’There were those to-day in all sections of the community, perhaps more particularly among n section of the Farmers’ Union who were repeating the parrot cry or the Labour Party that the Government was in the pockets of the commercial and manufacturing people of this country. ] claim that we have honestly endeavoured to serve fairly, all interests in the Dominion, and to those who cry that from the Prime Minister down we are setting any interest superior or above that of the primary producer. 1 say to them that they lie. and if no other proofs were needed, although such abound in plenty, sudice it to sav that by («r government's laws almost twothirds o! the 85,000 farmers in New Zealand pay neither land tax nor income tax. a tact, which obtains in no other dominion of the Empire, although all hwe higher jji.s ect tve tariffs than, olirs and are otherwise similarly situated.”

EVIL OF INFLATED VALUES

Proceeding, the Minister said there' had been more than one contributing factor /q the present position and out"look of farmers. The first had been the war inflated values prior to 1920, when men ceased to be farmers and became gamblers in land by the thousand. The second had been I lie world llueluulions since 1920 in values of primary products, which had caused the complete , loss in thousands of cases of the whole! of the necessary working capital. Third- . Iy, and by no means least, the pessimis 1 tic cries of those who had hopes of gaining something, the more pessimisticthey appeared. It was common know ledge that in almost every district there were a lew settlers upon Crown lands, having nothing to lose who had ton j sistently cried values down in the hope j that they might get their own values reduced. The type was well known to him, as he found them in almost every district, and in nine cases out of leu they would not make a farm pay if they had it for nothing. It was an" old saying 1 lint finance was a shy maid at any time, lmt was it any wonder to day that fin,'nice was fighting shy of land with the number of croakers that were about.

Now coming down to those of them who had signed the petition lie held in his hand, there were some 24 signatures thereto. If he were to make a, shrewd guess he would say that most of them had signed against their bet ter judgment at the persuasion of one or two who were no friends of Hie bona fide farmer.

"As Minister. I have recognised the enormous difficulties with which many of you on this class of laud are confronted, and ns a result have introduced legislation from time to time (o enable my Department to inert your cases as fairly as possible. I owe ;t

duty to the general taxpayer as weh as to the individual taxpayer, and remember, whatever is written off you, is carried hv the general taxpayer, who often is the everyday labourer, and his family, who like yourselves are large taxpayers through the Customs."

Practically all of those who signed had been given the opportunity months ago to apply for revaluation under the Deteriorated Land Act. arid many of them had already applied Was I not fair

NOT GOING TO TAKE THAT”

ABOUT A REVALUATION

COUNTY AND ROAD BOARDS

HEART TO HEART TALK WITH CROWN TENANTS 7 j IMPORTANT LEGISLATION FORESHADOWED REVALUATION FACILITIES FOR CROWN TENANTS DEPARTMENTAL POLICY “FRAMED TO ASSIST THE TRIER’*

for him to ask of them that they might have waited until the Deteriorated Land Board reported upon their cases, before joining up in an organised agitation.

FINDING A WAY OUT ‘'Mv job almost since I became Min - ister has been to fmd a fair way out for nu n situated such as you are,* and unfortunately there are many hundreds in various parts cd the Dominion. The work to be effective and permanent must take time, but I can say without hesitation that not to my knowledge has there been a single farmer worthy of the name pushed off any Crown section since I took over. To continuously give concessions to those who won t work and to those who are always finding fault is to dishearten and- demoralise good men. and .1 am a fra id Aha t too much leniency has been shown to such in the past. * Opportunity was .still open to any one to have his case' reheard and every consideration would be extended to him. - -

~,l n. yeplv to Mr 11. G. Berryman, .(be Minister declared neither lie no<r the presenf Government had had anything to do with the classifications .of the*Land; but they were endeavouring to place all matters on an equitable basis. " “ Mr Gibbs interjected the classification was too high. " The Minister replied that he had sfeen some land coming along that morning that was no class at all. The best classitication was to keep off it. (Laughter.)

Later the Minister asked: Is it not uio mortgages that are pressing? Mr Ragan: No. If fanners became incapacitated they would have to-walk oil. -

The Minister instanced the case of a man paying £l7 a year rent. ■ . What could that do for him?

rt^'Fagan : It would make a good deal of difference.

tl M* 0 ln ' s^ci ’Fm not going to take

Mr Pagan said that pretty well everyone there was not getting a fair reward tor his labour. They were just .existing. lhere were 84,485 acres unoccupied in the Nelson district.- : : - • Iho Minister: If I gave voii the hiatwy of that land you would* understand. Mr Waters said that, much of the land v\as pahiki land, and bush farms in’inaccessible places opened by request; -and as all knew, there were hundreds of thousands of acres of unoccupied laud in the Nelson district.

Ihe Minister: 1 have one case before me where the capital value of the leitse was reduced from £224 to £l7O, the land reclassified as third class and .'the lent remitted tor a period of ten years. T can’t imagine anything fairer* than that.

Mr Berryman : I think you hit the nail oil the head when you said some-of the land was not worth taking up. The Land Board should take the cost of living into consideration. It was wrong to put men on the land with no chance of making a living. The only thing to do was to make the holdings larger. Air Pagan alleged that in some.cases rents had been increased in a stupid wa v. r

The Minister replied that if the case \\eie carefully inquired into thev would find that £2OOO to £3OOO had been given tor the goodwill.

In reply to further remarks the Minister asked: That is io say that -the larnier who buvs the land is not'competent?

Mr Pagan: Yes. Hie Minister: Unfortunately that is often so.

Mr Gibbs quoted a case where rent bad been increased.

Pbe Minister: Let me admit/that- land \a ues have been falsified under recent conditions. That was why the Deteriorated Land Aet_ _ was ' put -on the statute Book. Had application been made under the Act? 7

Mr Gibbs: No, but the lease bad been extended for five years. • • Minister added it was a. very difficult thing for the Land Board t'o work m contradiction to the ■ Valuation I epartment. The Audit Department came in and wanted to know, all about

Mr Berryman asked if there was any chance of the \ aluation Department ’revaluing the whole of the district. The time had come when there, should be a revaluation. The rates in many cases were more than the rents. And did the Minister not think that the private mortgagor should cut the losses as well as the farmer.

I lie Minister: 1 hey are doing it, writing off thousands' and thousands—meeting the position very fairly. - Continuing. the .Minister said they uad to avoid injuring the linin' who v.as portedly sound. ‘'Every case uf fe.'t loil are comes under, my personal notice ami where a man is putting up a battle, and even if ■he is m arrears lie will not, he touched-until I here is an opportunity of adjustment. In soiue cases a man was entirely unfitted lor a large block and was-placed on a smaller one.

.Mr A. Drummond supported Mr Gibbs. Ihe district had been valued in boom lime and a lot of the .land was not carrying the stock it used to' carry.

51 r Berryman said the County was losing £ISOO to £I6OO by the existence <'d road boards.

I lii) Minister: "That does not come in my Department." Pcrscniully lie thought all mad boards should be abolished, and lie thought most of them bad gone. Mr Derryman : "If you make it pos-

T ADM OR. RETURNED SOLDIERS

Mr 11. .Tones had been asked to speak nil behalf of returned soldier settlers in the. Tudiner district. The unoccupied farms were a menace ti> Die adjoining farms, especially in regard In truces. The Minister said that m what were railed "section two" eases, the l mwn never owned the land. It simply, lent money to buy it. The frown refused all obligations tu fence Crown land.

Mr Jones asked why rent was not reduced to the soldier settler when it was reduced to the man who took over after he had abandoned it. The Minister: ‘Mon can only go on one system.” He did not think ho had seen one ease where the District Revaluation Hoard's recommendation had not been carried out. A voice: We fee.l the Deteriorated Land Act will be no good because there will be the same valuers there. The Minister replied that if the Department erred it. was on the lenient side. Odd cases might slip through, but any man who put his claim's before the Land Board was sure of a fair hearing or failing that a fair hearing by him. They should remember that tho Land Board was bound by the law and any payment made contrary to law could be recovered from the official so erring.

AVAILABLE .FERTILITY DIMINISHING”

Mr M. K. Forsyth remarked that the available fertility in the soil was diminishing. The Minister: That was what was in the Government’s mind in setting up the Deteriorated Land Board. of 400 unoccupied soldier farms in New Zealand over 360 were in the North Auokjand, South Auckland and the Nelson district. A Voice: What about the soldier areas that are too small? The Minister: Well, we are, prepared to deal vjith that. They found that on good land -it took from 16 to 20 cows for a man to make a living. Additional cows went to rental and profits. The land was valued at £4O in the case referred to. Obviously if a man had only a small area he could only struggle on. But reduction in his rent created tremendous discontent among other farmers.

“YOU LOOK LIKE A TRIER”

Mr Eddy explained what lie had done •in improving his place. Mr Waters had always done his best for him. The Minister: You look like a trier. Later the Minister said : "I do know that if a man has to pay in rent and mortgage much more than one-third ot his turnover he is not doing much good.” He could not deal with individual cases, but time and again lie had pointed out that if a man had to give out 50 p.c. of his turnover, he was in a hopeless position and unless there was a prospective value, it was no use his going on. Many men mismanaged their farms, and it was there that the Land Board and the Revaluation Board had to use their discretion. The laws were drafted to meet all possible cases. Many soldiers had got second mortgages and that complicated matters. Mr Pagan was quite certain every farmer was paying at least one-third in rent and mortgage. The Minister replied that, taking an average over four or five years in the case of a sheep farmer, it would require two-thirds of the turnover for working expenses to keep the land up to concertpitch. The man who was not doing this was not a farmer, and the sooner he got out of it. the better.

TI-IE FACTS WANTED In conclusion the Minister remarked it would have been much easier to have talked platitudes, but whenever lie met the farmers he endeavoured to tell them the facts. It was no use evading the point. No one was having too happy a time. The Land Boards knew his mind, which was that where a. man was a trier and doing his best, then every concession which the law allowed must he made for him. Farming, however, was a business. “You do not think of putting a man to the boot trade or setting him up as a tobacconist unless he has the necessary experience.” Replying to an interjection the Minister said: Don’t think of Nelson when talking of making amendments of the law. 1 look upon Nelson as an important part of New Zealand, the most important part (when I am.speaking here). (Laughter.) The Revaluation Boards, continued the Minister, were still operating and if the Land Board were still satisfied a second valuation could be made. A Voice: .“What would it.cost?”

The Minister: “It is not necessary to go to the Revaluation Board, the Land Board could do it.” A Voice: “They have our papers.” The Minister: “The Land Beard also looks into the man himself as well as his papers.” Mr Berryman trusted practical men, men who had been through the mill would be chosen. A voice: “They make a, mess of it sometimes.”

Mr Berryman expressed appreciation of the Minister’s visit. He had enlightened them a good deal.

The vote of thanks to the Minister was carried with loud applause. The Minister again, thanked them. Important legislation would go on the Statute Book this Session. When this was completed he proposed In have pre. pared a booklet setting forth in detail all there was to know about the prjsi, tion of the tenant. He would know exactly where he was and what courses were open to him. Few people perhaps realised that 30,000 out of 80.000 people on the land were Crown tenants, and that another 30.000 to 40,000 -were Crown mortgagees. •

At times (luring Inc discussion inrii vidua! cases were mentioned, ; ,jid afte: the meeting closed other individual ease: were brought under the Minister's no tic-e.