THE LAND QUESTION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10517, 27 July 1910, Page 2

THE LAND QUESTION.

THE QUESTION OF TENURES. NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION ACCEPTED. J By Telegraph. ! (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, July 26. There was an expectant air in the House of Representatives this evening when the debate on the Financial Statement was timed to commence, and on the motion to go into Committee or Supply Mr Massey's uprising was tiie sign for applause. "Mr Massey, by means of aii amendment on the land question and his remarks tiiereon, had the House electrified bv a proposal to .sell the national endowments and land for settlement land held on renewable lease, and when the amendment was accepted by the Prime Minister as a waut-ot'-coiifidence motion it was' looked on to provide an interesting debate. Mr Massey said that he intended to move as an amendment The Prime Minister: We know what it is. . ,

Mr Massey: Yes, but the House might not k.iow. The Leader of the Opposition e..id that his amendment was ,to strike out all the words, after ''that,'' with the object of inserting the words "ns the prosperity of this country depends so much on the settlement- of land, in the opinion of this House the "Legislature should make provision this session for additional facilities fi>r the 'occupation and most profitable use of the lands of the Crown: (a) by extending the optional .-vstem both to .Crown lands and lands for settlement land ; by removing every hindrance to the exercise of the option which enables settlers to take up Crown land on the system "of occupation with the right of purchase: l.b) by providing that all lessees under the ' Icaso-iu-porpetuity system should have the right to purchase the freehold at the original value either by instalments or otherwise, but where thev have been paying -1 per cent, they shall in addition pay such an amount as will make their payment equivalent to what they would have paid had they held their leases on a 5 per cent, basis; (c) bv securing the limitation of area of the trochoids so acquired; (d) by utilising the moneys derived from the sale of" freehold for the acquisition of further lands for settlement; (e) by uroviding for the speedier opening up If the surplus native lands for settlement purposes, thereby making such lands contribute their lair share to the general and local taxation of the country.

'— ~f National Endowments. — Mr Massey said that be had not attempted to deal with every phase ot the land question, and he had not mentioned the endowment lauds or laud for settlement held on the renewable lease, but- the question must arise very soon as to whether the option of purchase ought not in- granted to settlers going on endowment lands and whether the mouev so received should not- be used for the purpose of other lauds more suitable and valuable for the departments thev proposed to benefit. He intended to re!or to another question: there was a provision in the National Kudowmeius Act that, any settler going on Crown laud with the optional tenure and taking up laud on renewable lease the fact made them endowment land:;. Jt was a position not fair to the settler and one that should be remedied. Subsequently he would bring down a proposal giving the right of 'purchase to settlers taking settlement lauds on renewable lease- on conditions fair to the sella r and the State. He asked nothing for the tenants which belonged to the State and for nothing for the State which was the tenants: but lie submitted that if the loase-in-perpetuity tenants were allowed to acquire their laud at the original value the money could be used to better purposes by putting it into the hind for settlement i'uu'd. —Native Ownership.—

The most important part of this amendment related To native land. Native ownership in its present form was: n riißi 1 to the community, and he wished southern members would visit the North Island to realise the extent

of ih'e evil. He quoted statements made at an Auckland conference showing how hi;.; counties wero at disadvantage because the native lands returned, little or no rates. In one year the Ka-ihai County Couneii obtained only £3 Os od from native 'laud and had to write off £1307 due from native lands. The position .should not he tolerated, and in saying this he meant no injustice to the natives. The kindhearted and e:i.sv-uoin.'£ Native MinisUi' had refused to' allow the local bodies to obhihi judgments ae;aiu-,t tlie nalivis For rates.

The Hon. .Lis. Cornml (Native Minister.: Only when the local' bodies put dead men on the valuation roll. Jii- Massey went on to .say that tiu' natives had reeoirod no henoirt from the European settlement which ii'ul gone on in the neighborhood oi' Taumartinui. Only that day ho rec.avod ;\ telegram from Kotorua stating. "Willing to lift, the Thermal Springs Act: lot the pakoha liny a fair price for the hind, no tiiiii karara. no taihoa. may. God help vou.'' —(Laughter.) 2J]r'G. W. Ho thought yon wanted sonic help.—(Laughter.) What- the- country wanted, continued

Mr Massey, was a progressive hind settlement policy and security of tenure. — (Government members: Hear, hear.) ITo admitted th.e Government Intel done something to provide lands for tho settler, hut not nearly enough. He described as nonsense the allegation that tin' I ' Opposition favored tiic aggregation of laivc estates. Jde congratulated the Government upon bringing down the Fiuaneiad Statement early. Ide behoved that as a result the session could be got through without long hours. There was ;*s usual no policy t!) he found in it. It was always expected that the Statement would eontain an expression, of the Government's programme, hut he looked in vain for one.

The amendment was seconded hv Mr A. S. Mnlolm (Chuha). —Want of Confidence Motion Accepted The Leader of the Opposition explained that he had sent a copy of his amendment to the Prime Minister at noon so as to give him full notice of it. He had also asked the Prime Minister whether he would accept it a.s -a want of confidence motion.

"I never received it." said Sir Josenl Ward.

T am very sorry.'' said Mr Massey, "but I certainly sent it to you by special messenger." The Prime Minister said that he most certainly would accept the amendment as a want of confidence motion. "The mountain has been in labor and has brought forth a mouse." declared Sir Joseph Ward. With that remarkable taste for which he is noted Mr Massey. without waiting for a reasonable

opportunity of discussing the subject intelligently, has brought forward land proposals before he is' in a. position to see whether they could he .serviceable. His proposals for the sale of lease-in-perpetuity land would roll New Zealand ojr a very large sum if given effect to. Nothing apparently would satisfy the lion, gentleman unless he wa.s 'doing everything himself. —Remarkable .Settlement.—

The Prime Minister said that he wished the ..House and the country to know what the Government and its'predecessors had done to promote land settlement. The ntimbsr of people settled on the land under permanent tenures (which did not include pastoral ruusf under the late Mr Seddon's Administration was 26.734 unon an area of 6.234.939 acres; from .1*906 to 1910, under the present Government's administration, b'SOS neople had been placed on ,2.280.952'acre5, making a grand total of 33.542 settlers on" an area of 8.523.991' acres. A fair estimate of the total number of persons put on the land bv the two Administrations amounted to ]80.009. The Opposition to the acquisition of lands for .settlement land and the provision of money for the settlers came from the Opposition Party. This could not be denied. The value of the land settled was nearly £6.000.000, and the tenants upon the land 4G32, while the area held was 1.125,145 acre's. It was absurd, then, to speak of inactivity. —Native Lands.—

Iu regard to native land, Mr Massey had again' shut his eyes to facts and indulged in generalities. On native lands- alone 73 surveyors were now engaged, as well as 173 chainmen. Already 1,191,256 acres had been settled outright. The Native Court had' dealt

with 572.270 acres, and the total dealt with for settlement- purposes by private alienation was 1,817,362 acres since .1900. In addition the land dealt with by the -Maori Laud Courts had been 254,871 acres and the lands administered 'under the Thermal Springs Act had been 2182 acres, or a total of all lands of 2,476,291 acres. In addition to that 725,154 acres were now surveyed and were being made available for settlement as well as a further 30,000 acres, a grand total of 3,200,000 acres dealt with in ten years. There has never been anything to equal, it r. the history of the country, commented the Minister. Mr Massey. he continued, had suggested that no- rates wore being .collected for Maoris in occupation of their own land, but- the difficuViy of collecting the rates would oe overcome by legislation this year. —Th? Check to Settlement. — There had not been as much land taken up this year, as Mr' Massey had naively remarked, the Prime Monster continued, and it was a matter that Parlian-ent- would h-i late upon this session, but it was because the % large owners had jumped the price of their lands to an unfair and improper price, at which no Government would be justified in buying them. Mr Massey: It was your own Act. The Prime Minister: Then you will have an opportunity of amending it. With these high values standing against the Government where, if the land were to be taken oompulsordy, it wouu have to be plus 10 per cent, of the owners valuation, it was no wonder that the Government could not acquire the lama It we.s a question whether a proposal should not be introduced by .wnich the Si ate could compel persons wit-n such hauls to allow those who wished to settle on them to have the right of occupation at a fair rental. The Opposition, the Prime Minister continued, had opposed the land for settlement policy and the great majority luul opposed the i compulsory acquisition of estates and -. ! the State Guaranteed Advances J-'open- ! ment. . __