LAND SETTLEMENT FINANCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10571, 28 September 1910, Page 4

LAND SETTLEMENT FINANCE.

T.UK LIABILITY OK KKTTLKKS. By Telegraph. (Krom Our Own Correspondent.) V'.'ollin jit on. September 2S. The committee static oi' tin- Land Settlement Finance Bill early I liis morniu<;- wns ushered in with a protest iiy Mr W. Kraser that he was not satisfied with the Prime Minister's assurance that the Government would no! have any responsibility in the case of default by a member of an association. '"I propose to ask (lie House to amend the legislation/' .said Sir Joseph Ward, "making the association responsible. At present it is not responsible in the event of one of those tenants .Lining oil'." Mr J'Yascr: Thou is 'the Crown responsible. The Prime Minister: I am so advised. I am jioinjr to .sec- that the House and the Crown are not responsible.

Mr Malcolm: You will kill the Bill thoJi. The Prime Minister: Then we can repeal it. Tin 1 Prime Minister added that the Government guarantee was •f,iiiiK behind the land purchasers, and it wa.s lilted that it should also take the responsibility of holding and working the land allocated to defaulting members of an association when its return was not to be 2d in Cltll). This was absolutely unfair, and he would not countenance it. lie would provide that the association would be jointly and severally liable for its responsibility. Mr T. K. Taylor: That's -ood 'business.

The Prime Minister .said that (lie remaining tenants would have a right to work it defaulter's l;uid until it was taken up again. So Car ten estates were arranged for, and lie was advised that the Government was responsible for defaulters' liability. The delimiters' land would he no man's land, for the Public- Trustee had no funds to work it. The country ought not to accept responsibility for guaranteeing an individual. After passing the .short title the Committee reported progress.