LAND SETTLEMENT.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 169, 28 July 1908, Page 2

LAND SETTLEMENT.

HELP FOR THE WEALTHY,

THE CULVERDEN ESTATE.

WELLINGTON, July 22. A return presented to the House on the motion! of Mr G. Witty gives the names of the applicants for sections in the Culverden Estate, and also details of the capital possessed by the individual applicants. It seems that' many of the applicants were in a very good financial position. Seventyfour of them were possessed of £200 or over, and amongst the larger sums set down in the list are the following : — £8,000, £6,800, £3,900, £2,500, £3,500, £3,250, £3,500, £4,000, £3,000, £6,800, £3,975, £3,390, £4,300, £6,302, £5,000. Referring to the. matter in the House, Mr- T. H. Davey said that the return showed that some of. the applicants for sections possessed as much as £8,000. The Land for Settlements Act was not intended to benefit settlers such as these. — (Hear, hear.) These rich people were simply exploiting the State. — (Hear, hear.) It was time an Act was introduced to prohibit a man, once he had beeni successful, from ever participating in' another -ballot. ■ Many of the Cheviot settlers had sold out at a handsome profit and entered into competition with landless people at other ballots. There was need also for some general regulation regarding the conduct of ballots. At Oamaru, in the^, case of the Otekaike Estate, a man*, his wife, ahd his 6on were permitted to take part in a ballot. This was not right. In the course of an interview, a membeT of the Canterbury Land Board had stated that one of the chief duties of the Board was to ascertain the financial standing of applicants. The Board had actually asked for a guarantee of three 'years' rent or an equivalent from applicants for Culverden sections. > All these matters required careful review.