THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JUNE 5, 1931. SIR JOHN M'KENZIE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21361, 15 June 1931, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, JUNE 5, 1931. SIR JOHN M'KENZIE.

The unveiling on Saturday of the cairn on Mount Puketapu in memory of Sir John M'Kenzie was fittingly made the occasion of tributes to the national service rendered by the statesman who was responsible for the introduction and adoption of the system of closer settlement in the Dominion. Forty years, have elapsed since' the Ballance Government came into office and thirty years since Sir John M'Kenzie passed away. The present generation knows only by hearsay of the bitter controversies and sharp animosities that were excited by the land policy which was identified with 'the name of Sir John M‘Kenzie.' As was said by Mr de la Perrelle on Saturday, the inspiration for that policy came from Sir John M'Kenzie’s knowledge of the hardships that were inflicted on small farmers in the Highlands of Scotland at a time when human rights were less fully respected than they are, now. With rugged eloquence Sir John MTCenzie pleaded on the public platform and within the_ walls of Parliament for the enactment of laws which would prevent the aggregation of land in New Zealand in the hands of a “ squattocracy ” and enforce the subdivision of large privately-held areas. The policy that was brought down by him met with strong opposition, largely because of the principle of compulsory acquisition by the State which was a cardinal and, indeed, as must now be conceded, a necessary feature of it. In retrospect, it may be generally agreed that it was a policy which has been in the public interest. It has stood the severe test of time. The expansion in production which has been recorded during the past quarter of a century would hardly have been possible had it not been for the subdivision of large estates into farms of moderate size

and for the impetus given to closer settlement by the amendments in the land laws that were effected at Sir John M'Keuzie’s instrumentality. One feature only* of his policy has been abandoned. The system of the lease-in-perpetuity which Mr de'ia Perrelle described as one that gave the farmer a title equal to a freehold, at a moderate rental, was actually inconsistent with -Sir John McKenzie’s own firmly held, conviction that the leasehold system was, from the point of view of the public, preferable to the freehold. There is reason to believe that Sir John McKenzie himself was not greatly enamoured of the principle of a 999 years’ lease and that he accepted it with reluctance as, in effect, a compromise between the freehold system on the one hand and his own conception* on the other hand, of the form of tenure which should be granted by the Crown to the settlers on its lands. The adoption of the lease in perpetuity led to the creation of ah army of settlers in the Dominion who, possessing a virtual freehold, were exempt from obligations that fall on freeholders, and, until it was abolished, the System secured only half-hearted support after the death pf Sir John, M £ Kenzie, who, having accepted it, defended. it with dour and characteristic pertinacity as long as his health and strength permitted. The Land for Settlements Act remains the national monument of the services which, at the sacrifice of his (health, Sir John M‘Kenzie rendered to the country of his adoption.