THE TEVIOT SETTLEMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21406, 6 August 1931, Page 3

THE TEVIOT SETTLEMENT

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —At the present time there is a mild agitation, urged on by one or two members of the Teviot settlement, for a wholesale reduction of rates and rent — in other words, a complete writing-down of all Government rents. Just how tue Treasury is to be compensated for this loss of revenue is apparently beside the question. It does not seem to occur to these people that when a person takes up a block of Crown land or draws a block in a ballot he incurs a liability for the rent the same as he does for any other form of debt.

We hear a lot about repudiation and the Labour Government of New South Wales, but “the writing is on the wall” for something of the kind in this settlement. There is little doubt that Sot a few of the settlers in this district are in this agitation for what they can get out of it, and are indulging in a little “ tryon ” with the Government. ■ They have, no doubt, in mind the occasion of a few years ago when rents were reduced very considerably. One hears a lot about the hardships of the men on this settlement, but it is worthy of note that, with an odd exception, they all run motor cars—some of them most up-to-date models. There are properties on Teviot the rents

of which are too high, but in cases such as these the Act provides for a revaluation without recourse to an agitation that permits one or two individuals to earn a little cheap notoriety, when they could be better otherwise employed. There ia no doubt the Government paid too much for the Teviot estate, and it is perfectly evident to any practical man that in earlier times too' much land was put under the plough, and has now run to fog and thistles, and requires 'regraesing. Let me say that to write off rents and rates in the manner the Government is urged to do would be most unfair to the man who has farmed his land in a proper manner, and would most certainly be unfair to the State.—l am, etc., Miller'e Flat, August 1. Lex.