PROPOSED ADJUSTMENT OF THE NELSON LAND QUESTION.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 205, 7 February 1846, Page 195

PROPOSED ADJUSTMENT OF THE NELSON LAND QUESTION.

Paper read by Mr. J. D. Gbeeswood, at the meeting of landowners held at the Institution on the 15th ult.

It is generally allowed that the scheme of the Nelson settlement cannot be carried out as regards the accommodation sections, from the want of sufficient land of good average quality; and the deficiency having been made up by surveying land of all descriptions, many purchasers have obtained sections either altogether or comparatively worthless ; and the knowledge of this has made future sales by ballot impossible. Several plans have been proposed to remedy this state of things, which may in principle be reduced to two : one proposing to compensate the proprietors of inferior land by granting them a power of reselecting ; the other to throw open all the unsold land to public competition, converting land-orders into scrip to be received as cash in exchange. In favour of the first plan it has been argued, that in common justice no more land can be offered for sale until the present purchasers have received such land as the New Zealand Company covenanted to give them ; and moreover that it would be highly impolitic in the colonists to throw any obstacle in the way of such an arrangement, and incur the risk of concentrating the whole influence and interest of the dissatisfied proprietors on their rural allotments. On the other side, it is said that such a reselection would at once absorb all the available land in the suburban districts, and thus virtually destroy the existing arrangements, as well as all chance of increasing the funds for general purposes, such as emigration, public works, &c. ; and besides, by throwing all the available land into the hands of two or three agents, would deter colonists from settling at Nelson by enhancing its price. The risk of producing a division of interests would not be so great as it might at first appear, since it is presumable that a very considerable number of purchasers, having fair average choices already, would not feel disposed to join in any plan tending to depreciate their property.

At the same time, the justice of granting compensation in some shape or other is not denied ; and this is offered by the second plan, if all land- orders have the same exchangeable value attached to them ; which would have the further advantage of not confining the reselection almost exclusively to absentee proprietors. The working of these two plans would, I think, be found very similar in practice. The proportion of resident proprietors is but small; some have already obtained exchanges, others have cultivated their land, and but few would be found either to reselect or to compete at public sale ; and since sale without competition would fail to produce any surplus funds, it would be a matter of indifference to the colonists how the land fell into the hands of others, whether by sale or reselection. But it must be borne in mind that the suburban districts have already received their full proportion of expenditure for emigration and public works, and that all future funds applicable to these purposes must be reserved for the improvement of the rural lands, even if the whole sum originally contemplated could be realized, which it cannot under existing arrangements; because, whether the suburban sections still unsold be disposed of by exchange, reselection, or sale, or be left untouched in the ballot-box, there is only one-half the land available which wai contemplated by the scheme, and no conceivable plan will raise money from those lands to more than one-half the amonnt originally intended. But there is still another point to be considered. Any plan which* reduces the number of suburban sections would be imperfect, unless it reduces the town sections in the same proportion, and gives either a similar power of reselection, so as to allow of converting the surplus into small farms, or allows the holders to throw them up altogether, receiving compensation in an increased acreage of rural lands. It does not, however, seem impossible to allow of such a reselection as is proposed, without destroying the original scheme, or relinquishing the hope of completing the funds set apart for special purposes. Suppose the reselection of town and suburban sections to be made, the settlement will be reduced in size nearly onehalf; and the rural lands being surveyed at the Wairau, where more good land exists than is required to carry out the original scheme, why should not a site for a town be selected there, of about 500 acres, and 25,000 acres of suburban land be attached to it as accommodation sections, offering this to future purchasers instead of land at Nelson or its vicinity ; whilst, for the sake of concentration and as some little compensation for the delays in obtaining possession of what they paid for so long ago, the choice for all rural sections now unsold should be deferred until the present purchasers have made their selection. This plan would benefit the holders of rural land by attracting to it emigration and capital; it would benefit Nelson by completing its funds for endowments, a college, &c, and by insuring a fair and satisfactory application of its fund for steam navigation ; and it could not prejudice it, since it is certain such a town will be established in connexion with the Wairau, which may thus be made to conduce to the general welfare of the Nelson settlement, instead of becoming, as it otherwise might, a private and rival speculation for the benefit of a few individuals, and destroying the last chance of carrying out the Nelson scheme on its original scale, or obtaining the advantages anticipated by the colonists am engaged for by its originators and promoters in England. In addition to such a plan, it would be very desirable for the colonists to have some control over the future expenditure of the emigration, labour, and other funds ; and it should be pointed out to the Directors of the New Zealand Company that a great portion of the fund for public works has, under the pressure of circumstances, been devoted to purposes either unconnected with or opposed to their original destination, for which, under the present improved state of their affairs, their purchasers have a just claim for repayment.