THE ABANDONMENT OF THE LAND BILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13307, 13 October 1906, Page 6

THE ABANDONMENT OF THE LAND BILL.

"A BITTER PILL" FOR THE LEASEHOLDERS. - GOVERNMENT'S ACTION CRITICISED. [bt TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) Wellington, Friday. Scarcely anything has been talked about in political circles to-day but the abandonment of the Land Bill by the Government, The question is also being very much discussed in the city. To the majority of Wellington people the action of the Government came as a great surprise, because both the newspapers had been strongly advocating the Bill, and leading their readers to believe that every effort would be made to place it on the Statute Book this session. In the House of Representatives the leaseholders are particularly despondent, and some of them make no secret of the fact that they are bitterly disappointed. One Government supporter (a. leaseholder) says he is going to put a" band of crape on his atm and another on his hat, because of the premature demise of the Bill. Another Government supporter, who is of a sporting turn, and at the same time a staunch freeholder, is as joyful as his fellow Ministerialist is sad, because he has Avon no fewer than five suits of clothes on bets that the Bill would not get through this session., One leaseholder said, " It is a bitter pill for us to swallow," and another remarked, "I am very disappointed indeed, but in view of the present state of the parties in the House, the decision of the Government will eventually be for the best. We will have to put enough energy in the fight in the country to make up for our defeat in the House." A number of members of the Lands Committee are also aggrieved that the work they put into the Bill must to a great extent go for naught. " I think the Government has acted very badly indeed towards the committee," one member remarked, "when questioned as to his views. " The committee endeavoured to knock the BUI into shape, and succeeded to a large extent in doing so, but the Government jettisoned the Bill. I am simply disgusted." MR. McNAB'S VIEW OF THE POSITION. A PLATFORM CAMPAIGN. In his speech at the Hutt last night the Minister for Lands (Mr. McNab) said they had heard a great deal about the Parliament having been elected to support the freehold, and he admitted, if they counted the names of those returned in favour of the freehold, they might be a majority, but some of these men had been returned to support what was known as the original valuation, and another large section to support the present valuation. The men who supported the present valuation would not support those who favoured the original valuation, and the latter would see the former, hanged before they would go into the lobbies with them. (Laughter.) One member for a Northern city, who supported the present valuation, .had declared that the supporters of the original value were robbing the people of the colony. (A voice: "So they are." Another: "No.") How was Mr. Massev to run these men into the same lobby? (Laughter.) If they took a division on the different classes of freehold, they would find those who supported the original valuation were in a hopeless minority. The House would not give the freehold to tenants of the Crown at the original valuation, and the only thing .left was the present valuation. It' was true, 90 per cent.'reduction on the 999 years' lease was not a freehold, but in the circumstances it was good enough for those who wanted the freehold, and their generation. If this had been before the country at the last election there would have been" no uncertain voice on it. He had no hesitation in saying that the original valuation proposals brought down by the Government were infinitely superior to those of the freeholders who would like to give the freehold at the present. valuation. Had they gone on with the Bill, and attempted to put it through the second reading and committee stages, they would have carried with them through, the whole course of treatment the hostility of a large section of the people, who, if they had better understood the proposals and their operations would have ended by supporting them. It was the intention of the Ministry to take advantage of the platform during the recess to explain the Government's proposals to the country. He believed that once the country came to realise what the Government's* scheme was, and its true significance, and the fact that the freeholders themselves were split into camps, it would support the proposals which had beer) laid before Parliament. It had already been said that they were running away from their guns. Nothing of the kind. Their determination was now as fixed as ever. If after the country had had an opportunity of considering them, and Parliament expressed its opinion adversely, then they had no desire to remain for a single moment longer upon the Ministerial Benches. (Applause.) In conclusion, all he desired to say was that . next session of Parliament would not close, until the Government had an opportunitv of placing on the Statute Book a measure that some of the leading papers of the Mother Country had characterised as the greatest advance ever made iu the history of land legislation in the world. (Cheers.) In the course of his speech, the Minister quoted the areas and annual rentals of Crown lands held as pastoral, small grazing runs, and miscellaneous leases, which would be available for national endowment purposes. The figures are as follows: — Area. Annual Acres. rental. £ ■ Auckland c.. 339.890 3.467 Ilawke'R Bay 413.958 1,598 Tar an aid ... ■■■. ..' 17,785 563 Wellington 282.877 6,208 Nelson ... '.i ••• 331.479 .1.96^ 1 Marlborough s.. 1.161,120 7.774 Westlawl ... ».i >•. 675.393 1,549 Canterbury ■ » ✓. 3.681,775 42,800 Otaco .. .» * - 5,023,071 41.576 Southland 1,604.895 5,518 Canterbury (Cheviot Estate) ... • ... ... 49,043 7.420 Totals ... •" • • 13,583.786 £123,436 If an area of 3.245.759 acres, at present unleased, but available for leasing for national endowment purposes, is added to this, it will give a total area of 16,824,545 acres, and an approximate annual rental of £184,256. MR. MASSEY CONGRATULATED. i Mr. Massey, Leader of the Opposition, says lie has no wish at the present to say 1 anything about the situation that has : arisen. If any explanation is necessary, it is for the Government to give it. He mentioned, however, that he was already " beginning to receive letters and telegrams of congratulation regarding the abandon- ' ment of tho Bill. One message, typical 5 of the majority, reads, " Congratulations on your great victory. Hope it will be 1 followed up by activity on the part of all our friends. Meantime the Bill is still a . disturbing menace to all business of the 1 colony."

the opening ceremonies will not be so seri-. ous-as to incapacitate Ministers and members from any further work this year." The Ministerial -journal takes the Government to task for its abandonment of the measure. In its leading article, it' says: " The staggering fact confronts us that at the command of a faction which made no secret of its intention to obstruct the Bill and use the procedure of Parliament to rob the country of a greatly - desired policy, the Government has surrendered its position and retired without a struggle. Nothing that Ministers could have done could be more keenly, disappointing to their friends, and while it is impossible to withhold a measure of sympathy ■ from a Government so oppressed by an unusually harassing combination of circumstances, we are bound to say that the Premier has not shown the firmness which we all . had a right to expect from him." FARMERS' UNION RESOLUTIONS. "The following resolution, passed by the Hawera branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, has been forwarded bv the secretary to every member of the House of Representatives : — This branch is of the opinion that the Land Bill, brought forward by the Hon. the Minister for Lands, is entirely inimical to the welfare of the colony, and strongly protests against the Bill being passed by Parliament, as they consider it an insidious attempt to do away with the present system of freehold tenure." [By TELEGRAPH.PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Dannevirkk, Friday. A meeting under the auspices of -the Farmers' Union was held here to-day, to' discuss the Land Bill. It was attended by about 50 settlers, including some of the principal runholdens of Hawke's Bay. Mr. Sanders (the provincial president) presided, and spoke against the Bill. Several other speakers opposed the endowment clauses, 66 years' lease, and the abolition, of the option of freehold. Mr. Matthew Tansey proposed, " That as the Bill is so opposed to the unanimous wish of the farmers, it cannot be in the best interests of the country, and all the forces of the Farmers' Union throughout the colony are requested to co-operate in opposing it." This was carried unanimously.