The Opunake Times. FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 1895. FAIR RENT.

Opunake Times, Volume III, Issue 129, 27 September 1895, Page 2

The Opunake Times. FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 1895. FAIR RENT.

The problem of fixing a rent between landlord and tenant, such that will give the landlord ample remuneration for his vested interests, an'd also enable the tenant to make a living, has occupied the minds of thinking men for a very long time. In parts of the United Kingdom the difference of opinion as to what was a fair rent has led to very great trouble and even bloodshed. Looked at from the landlord's point of view, he owns the land, in virtue of being the registered owner, aud as such holds that he is entitled to secure the greatest annual income possible from it without regard to the feelings or sufferings of the tenants. The tenants, on the other hand, consider that every man has the right to live and that the landlord has no moral claim to any greater income from the land than the residue, after he and his family are provided for. There is one thing certain and that is that with a Fair Rent Bill there could be no such thing as fixity of tenure. The agitation in the matter of rent always emanates from the tenants, because landlords, once bound by a lease, accept the bargain whether good or bad as the inevitable, and patiently wait until the agreed term expires, when, of course, in releasing they will avail themselves of the great°st market value available. The great difficulty is the want of any standard value for produce by which the productive power of laud can be ascertained. In periods of depression when prices are low, as a natural consequence rents would be low, and tenants entering on leases during that period would probably find when the price cf products went up that they would have a large saleable interest in their lease, but if the landlord had the right to step in and get the rent raised it would lead to very strong opposition on the part of the tenant, who would consider this increased value the proper reward'for his foresight. If the lease should be taken up during a period of high prices, and correspondingly high rents, then when prices went down the tenants would consider that as the land was not of the same productive value as when the lease was entered into, that the landlord should accept a reduction. The Hon J. McKenzie, Minister of Lands, has, as far as New Zealand is concerned, undertaken to solve the problem, aud has introduced a Fair Rent Biii in the House. In it FailRent is defined to mean

(1.) In the case of agricultural or pastoral land, such a rent as a teuant, cultivating in a husbandlike manner, can fairly be expected to make out of the land, over and above

(a.) The necessary cost of cultivation and and production; and also i (h.) Reasonable interest on capital invested in stock and working-plant; and also (c.) The reasonable maintenance of himself and his family:

(2.) In the case of town and suburban land " iair rent" means such a rent as the tenant can fairly be expected to pay, having regard to the site, buildings, aud business advantages of the property if let for business purposes for which it is best adapted, and its site, buildings, and residential advantages if let for purposes of residence : " Land " means land of every description, by whomsoever owned, or in whomsoever vested, and includes Crown lands, public reserves, and native lands.

For the purpose of giving effect to the Act the colony is to be divided into districts, and each district is to have a Board. All costs of administering the Act are to bo paid out of the consolidated revenue. Such Boards are to hold half-yearly sittings, and to have authority to fix what they consider a fair rent of any land held under a written iustrument of lease for a term of years, whereof at least two years, have expired and two remain unexpired at the date when the application is made. The application may he made ciihcr by the landlord or the tenant, but no application shall be entertained unless an attempt has first been made to fix a fair rent by private agreement. In fixing the fair rent the following conditions shall be taken into accouut: —The quality and situation of the land ; its access to markets; the present and probable future cost of production and price of produce; the state of trade and price of commodities; and all other general conditions. Permanent improvements effected by the tenant shall not be taken into account for the purpose of fixing rent. The rent fixed oi:ly stands until altered pursuant to a fresh application to refix it, and such fresh application may be made by either party, so that if the Bill becomes law we have on doubt there arc some tenants who will spend nearly as much time with the Board as on their holdings.

Found a shoe. Messrs Nolan, Tonks and Co notify additional entries for next Tuesday's sale. Tenders are invited for the erection of a stockyard at Pihama. Tenders are cailed by the Taranaki County Council for the erection of two bridges on the Main South Boad. Mr W. D. Scott reports leasing Messrs Twoiney and Shearman's farm at Pihama, containing 274 acres, to Mr Evan Lloyd. An entertainment, consisting of songs, recitations, and dialogue in connection with the Band of Hope, will be given in the Town Hall on Wednesday next. So far the only case set down for hearing at the sitting of the Court of Appeal, on the 14th October, is an application for leave to apply for a new trial of Louis Chemis. It is proposed in Texas to levy a tax of £lO on all unmarried men of 30 years or over, who do not swear under oath that they have tried to enter the matrimonul state. A small slip occurred at Ashurst at the end of the Gorge at noon on Tuesday. The Napier train was delayed at Ashurst. It had been raining for 24 hours. Mr W. D. Scott notifies an unreserved clearing sale on account of Mr M. Deegan, Watino Boad. Mr Deegan has been supplying the Punehu dairy factory and has taken great care in the selection of his dairy herd. Mr Lowe, like Mr Eeynolds, states that New Zealand cheese suffers mucb in popularity and value from being too strong in flavor. A milder cheese would be worth a farthing to a halfpenny a pound more than the article now exported. Louisa Violet Poole, a young woman, at Invercargill, informed the police that on the Bth September she attempted an illegal operation, and that the father of the child was a local constable. She was committed for trial. At a conference of local bodies, held at Ashburton last week, it was stated that the Ashburton Council, during the past twelve years, had expended upwards of £4573 in the purchase aud distribution of poisoned grain, and that the depredations of small birds caused the grain growers of the district an annual loss of £20,000. The Crown Lands Board have granted a lease for 66 years of 30 acres of ironsand deposit at Mokau to Mr Purser/subject to the erection of smelting works in 18 months, and Is per ton royalty on iron manufactured. Mr E...M. Smith, M.H.8., wrote a letter to the Board strongly urging caution as to the granting of a lease of the ironsand deposits. The Board also granted a lease of the Waiotapu petroleum'deposits to Mr Patterson, in order to their being utilised. Although Mr Simeon has sold out his interest in the Eahotu Hotel we understand that it will be some little time before the family are likely to leave the district. They will be greatly minsed, as they were always foremost in any public enterprise, charitable or otherwise, which was got up in the place. Mr Simeon has spent considerable sun\3 of money in building and pushing that risiug township ahead, and will be very much missed if he decides on severing his business connection with the place.

Eecently the Salvation Army wrote to the Trades and Labor Council, Wellington, inviting that body to discuss with General Booth, who will shortly arrive in the colony, the latter's social scheme, but the Council replied that it regretted it could not comply with the request. However, they wrote to .the committee of the Eight Hours Demonstration, suggesting that the General should, as a visitor, be invited to the demonstration on the Basin Beserve on the 9th instant. The latter body considered the request, and rejected it.

A return has just been prepared showing the transactions of the Advances to Settlers office to June 30th 1895, as follows :—Applications for loans for the purpose of releasing mortgages, 1101, amounting to £570,033 (the advances authorised being 440, amounting to £228,013); advances applied for on freehold securities, 1345, amounting to £713,159; leasehold securities, 779, amounting to £155,579 ; on freehold and leasehold securities combined, 22, amounting to £15,715 ; total number of applications, 2156, amounting to £884,453. The advances authorised are : Freehold, 701 for £314,822 ; leaseholds, 256 for £35,840; combined 8, for £4245 ; total 955, for 354,907. The total number declined was 617 for £231,124.

Many cases of pocket-picking continue to be reported from Auckland. James Ferguson, a recent arrival, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for picking a lady's pocket on Sunday in a church. Fredk. Bryant pleaded guilty to three charges of larceny from hotels, and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment on each of two charges, and four months' on the third. A charge of false pretences was adjourned. The prisoner arrived there from Wellington recently. Owing to the numerous cases of pocket-picking in churches and burglary during the past two months, Mr Northcroft, S.M., recently stated his intention to deal severely with all convicted offenders who appear befere him.

We have recieved a letter from Mr J, Bussell, mason, of New Plymouth, in which he informs us that he and Mr Lloyd intended to stait on Saturday night for Waitara en route for Mokau, where they will start lime works, turning out about ten tons per day. He writes :—" The lime is, I suppose, the best in New Zealand, Dr Hector's analysis showing 88'0 of pure lime. We shall be able to supply, for cash, the builders in New Plymouth with lime at £2 10s per ton, and farmers' lime at £2, bags extra. The present price of Nelson lime is about £5 10s per ton, which is too high for farmers to use on their land. Mr Lloyd says he hopes to have the first supply in New Plymouth in about a month's time.—Herald.-

An intoresting return of mortgages, registered during the year ending 31st March last, has been laid on the table of the House. The total was 9111, aggregating £4,853,760, and of these the interest on £995, 400 was unspecified. The amounts under 4 per cent, were insignificant, but £73,730 was lent at that figure; £195,327, at 5 per cent; £146,598, at 5i per cent; £822,891, at 6 per cent; £95,416, at CJ per cent; £721,526, at 6.Jpercent; £14,002, at 6? percent; £871,910, at 7 per cent; £142,805, at 7;] per cent; £511,212, at 8 per cent; at B.J per oent; £90.803, at 9 per cent; £114,807, at 10 per cent. Various rates of interest were charged on small sums—up to 40 per cent which was registered against a £SO mortgage, and 22. J per cent against 40 ; but 20 per cent Avas registered against £9Ol, and 15 against £2435, and'l2 and 12.} against £1329 and £1590 respectively.

Mr W. D. Scott notifies entries for his Awatuna stuck sale on Monday next. The Hawera office will re-open for telegraph business between 7 and 8 p.m. regularly from Ist October. Three members of two families at Lismore, New South Wales, have been discovered to be suffering from small-pox. The Statist does not believe that the British investors will convert New Zealand stocks into 3 per cents until the financial position is much sounder. The Australia, which called in at Mercury Bay on her way South from Auckland, brings news of a curious affair. A party of ten were drinking at Mercury Bay about a week ago. and left for their work in the country. One, named Julius Anderson, a German, seemed ill, and was left on a side track by his companions about nine miles out. One of them returning five days afterwards found him dead where ho was left. A sad incident of the New South Wales bush fires was the burning to death of an aboriginal woman of the Hawkesbury district. Sarah Bidge or " Old Black Sally," as she was called by everyone, was the last of her tribe and for 46 years, ever since she was two years of age, she had lived with Mrs Robert Pitt and family, by whom she was treated as one of themselves, and it was in attempting to do what was possible to save her benefactors' property this faithful old black woman lost her life.

Mr A O'Donnell enters into possession of the Rahotu Hotel, which he has purchased from Mr F. Simeon, on Tuesday, October Bth. Mr O'Donnell, who has been engaged in farming pursuits for the past few years, is not a novice at hotel keeping, as he kept the Oeo Hotel for several years, during which time he and Mrs O'Donnell were extremely popular with the travelling public, and the Oeo Hotel was noted as one of the most comfortable and homely on the coast. In taking charge oi the Rahotu Hotel, therefore, the wants of the public and visitors will be well looked after, and we wish them every success.

At the Mackenzie County Council meeting says the Timaru Herald) Mr Rutherford said the young men in charge of the Mistake Station had been down, and they reported that there were a good many sheep running about. They were very thin, but if they did not die from young feed the loss would not be so heavy on the run as had been feared. It was stated that the winter had been as severe on the rabbits as on the sheep, and that they were to be seen lying dead in bunches —even in tens and dozens. In one place 25 had been counted lying close together. A remarkable surgical operation has been performed by a medical practitioner at Loughborough, in England, Some sixteen months ago a girl between 15 and 16 years of age, swallowed what was thought at that time to be a fishbone. The usual means to prevent choking were successfully taken. Recently, however, the girl, who is the daughter of laboring parents, became troubled with an abscess near the neck. Probing became neccesary, and, a foreign body being felt, the patient was put under chloroform, when the doctor extracted an ordinary safety-pin (closed). The pin had remained in the gullet of the girl for 16 months.

It is not often that a wife is sued for the maintenance of her husband, but such a case came before Major Keddell at Oamaru lately when Timothy Hannigan sued his wife, who had a separate estate. Evidence having been given that complainant was sick and destitute, the wife went into the box. She averred that her husband had threatened to take her life about ten years ago. He had only given her a half-crown during the last eight years and that was on a Christmas Day. It took her all her time to live, and she owed about £l7. Her income was 3s per week, and she had had no coal in the house last winter because she could not pay for it. An order was made for tfye payment of 2s 6d per week by the wife for the support of her husband, it having been shown that she had 11 acres of land with stock at Alma.

Speaking of the business management of cheese and butter factories, in the Marlborough Town Hall Mr McEwan said his first impressions on arriving in New Zealandfrom Canada were not favorable, and they had not been changed. The prevailing system of paying for milk he did not approve, either on a proprietary or co-operative basis. There was too much speculation—in fact, it might be termed gambling—in paying for milk. The pucchaser has to take his risks of the markets, and a fair and equitable proportion of the profit—or losses was out of the question. The proprietors of one of the factories in the North Island had, a short time ago, to ask for a rebate of their payments for milk, and several other unsatisfactory arrangements in the course of the industry pointed to the weakness of the system. In the Canadian system, which took 35 years to build up, all the parties interested in the returns of the market participated equally in the profits—thereby carrying out one of the fundamental principles of co-operation.

It is said that the bullets fired from the new magazine rifle do no harm to the enemy, even when they hit him. They bore holes in him but they bore them so small and so nice and even that like a clean cut wound from a razor they are not felt unless a vital spot is hit. One of the Swatis who was taken prisoner at the Malakand Pass is in hospital now with six Lee-Metford bullet holes in him ; one through the ankle, one through the knee, three through the body, and one extending from the back of the neck to the tip of the tongue, aud the the Swati is getting on all right, able to walk and talk. This sounds rather amusing, but it has its serious side. It raises the probabiliy that these pencil bullets, with their extraordinary penetrating powers would not stop the rush of a numerous enemy determined to get to close quarters, however welldirected the lire. Any one of these six wounds that the Swati received, if from a Snider or a Martini bullet, would at least have stopped him, and any one of those in the body or neck would probably have killed him. It looks as if rifle making had overreached itself by producing weapons too powerful, the deadliness of a shot being reduced by the effort to secure increased range and penetrative power.

A severe rheumatic pain in the left shouler had troubled Mr. J. HLoper, a well known chemist of Des Moines, lowa, for over six months. At times the pain was so severe that he could not lift anything. With all he could do he could not get rid of it until he applied Chamberlain's Pain Balm. ~ I only made three applicaof it," he says, " And have since been free from all pain." He now recommends it to perso:is similarly afflicted. It is for sale by Newman Bros.