THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Friday, August 13, 1943. THE LAND SALES BILL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25303, 13 August 1943, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Friday, August 13, 1943. THE LAND SALES BILL

An admission that the Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Bill—to give it its full title—is ill-considered, as the Leader of the Opposition said of it, was contained in the announcement by the Minister of Lands, in the speech in which he moved the second reading of the measure, that the Government will propose several amendments in it in the committee stage. The Minister will have the whole country behind him in his claim that the members of the armed forces should not be allowed, on their

return to New Zealand, “ to find that house and land values have increased beyond reason.” It is not necessary, however,- in order to make this claim good, to pass legislation of a complicated kind which, Mr Holland justly declared, provides in its original form for pure and unadulterated State control of all land transactions. The State already possesses ample

machinery for the acquisition of the land that is required for the settle- ' ment of soldiers. This demand for land is hardly likely to be as heavy as it was after the war of 1914-1918. The prices of land were at that time seriously inflated for the simple reason that the products of the land had commanded exceptional prices during the course of the war. The impression which the soldiers returning to civil life based on this fact, that settlement on the land would open an avenue to the speedy attainment of a competence, was one that could be eradicated only through the collapse of a boom. The prices of the products of the land are not so alluringly high at the present time as to justify an assumption that great numbers of those who are taking part in the war will make frantic efforts to secure of land when they return. The Minister himself expresses the belief, the ground for which he has omitted to mention, that “ we are on the verge of a land boom similar to that after the last war.” But he qualifies this statement by saying that it will be “in the towns more than in the country ” that this boom will be experienced. The anxiety, however, which the Government professes 'to protect the servicemen on their return against, the danger of exploitation does not extend to those among them who propose to settle in the towns in the same measure as it does to those desirous of securing country lands. For it' will have been observed by all who are interested in the Government’s , proposals—as every person with a stake in the country should be —that it is not now intended that the power of com- - pulsory acquisition shall apply to houses or to urban land. This must mean that the desire of members ofthe forces to obtain homes in the towns can be met only by the energetic prosecution of a housing scheme. The Government, however, while it is unable itself ,to satisfy the demand already existing for new houses, is effectually preventing private enterprise from meeting the need which will inevitably be intensified upon the demobilisation of the servicemen. Ahd, of course, even if the Government were in a position to provide homes ih' the towns in sufficient numbers, the occupants of them would have to become tenants of the State. It is perfectly idle for the Minister to say that the Returned Services’ Association is 95 per, cent, in favour of the Government’s proposals when these would deny to the servicemen the right of a freehold tenure of the properties occupied by them. Moreover, a statement which has been issued by the R.S.A. since the Land Sales Bill was circulated shows plainly that it is far from satisfied with the measure. Nor is this at all surprising. The criticism which the Bill has aroused—notably the disinterested criticism offered.by the New Zealand Law Society—has proved the existence of such distinct weaknesses and positive flaws in it as point to the desirability of its being thoroughly overhauled. But the end of the session and of the Parliament is in sight, and the Goveriiment is exhibiting an impatience of any interference with its plans for a dissolution within the next fortnight. For this reason among other reasons which we have mentioned—including the fact that there is no urgent need ’for the enactment in this Parliament of any fresh legislation providing for the settlement of members of the armed forces on'the land—the Government would exercise a wise discretion if it were to withdraw the measure and afford the electors an opportunity of expressing thßr judgment concerning it at the. general election. *