OUR LAND LAWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1905, 25 May 1888, Page 14

OUR LAND LAWS.

How the Government First Reduced the Value of land by Revaluation— How Our Land Laws have been Continually Altered —How, Instead of Fostering Settlement We have Driven It from Our Shores, &c, &c. Editor Witness,— Sir : When, in 1881, the Con tinuous Ministry granted relief to the deferred-paj - ment settlers in Ofcago, then in arrears with their rents, by valuing their improvements and revaluing the land, few persons indeei imagined that that rt'viiluiiti. n won id <>nc day have to be general. The then G >verumeut. by n-duci'ig the value set upon the land by the settlers themselves, acknowledged the prices thus offered to be <xcessive, and so laid down a precedent that it will be most difficult to retreat from. That, to sell land by auction when settlement is the desiderata is a mistake, all available evidence proves beyond question. Equally so is it a mistake to rely on the Land Fund lor purposes of revenue. Instead of trying to extort the last penny from Crown tenants we should rather labour to start them fairly on the road to success and consequent prosperity. By fostering settlement we thereby augment the ultimate commercial and social prosperity of our colony. Our land la ws.have been subject to so many alterations and amendments that really they can claim to have no finality. Is the continual alteration and amendment of laws relating to the disposal of Crown lands a wise policy ? No doubt errors and excrecences that call for excision occasionally graft themselves on to our statutes ; but are they of such a nature as to call for the alteration of our codes fundamentally? Numerous instances of unfair grades of settlement could he cited. At one time the Legislature'declded to dispose of the rural land for settlement by ballot " at 25s per acre ; shortly after this method was fixed upon and brought into working order, it was thought to be politic to delete the ballot clause and substitute by " auction " and to increase the upset to 30s an acre. This clause in its turn has been amended to " free selection,"- perhaps the most promising clause included in any of our land acts. With so many different laws dealing with the land, can it be expected to be otherwise than that there should bejgrievances. or that some holders will demand redress. I take it that our land laws should be so constructed that all classes who wish to settle on Crown lands should ba treated alike. One class of settlers should not be allowed the privilege of taking advantage of some special act to benefit themselves ; nor should one class be compelled to pay prices for their holdings that their neighbours find it necessary to do in consequence of a change of legislation. The settlers throughout the colony who have surrendered their holdings, getting their Improvements valued, have practically, though indirectly, had the price of their lands reduced, for we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that in most cases the original holders got their selections back again. Now the question arises, " Would it not have been much more politic to have openly reduced the prices of such settlers' land than to have compelled them to resort to underhand and indirect methods to obtain the land they had in view?" To illustrate the machinations of wily human nature, I may quote one case that came under my direct knowledge. At the time the school commissioners put their reserves in the Wendon district in the market, there was one man who outbid all competitors for one of the very best sections in the block, volunteering to pay on the deferred.-

payment prinolple "between £8 and £0 per acre. Being, of course, the highest tenderer for tta section, he secured; it. No eooner t had he done bo, however, than he boasted how he would get it for the upset price ; and he did so too. Having.money at his command he put extensive improvements on the section and then 'surrendered it. Thus was competition effectually kept off, and so it fell quietly into his own hands, as stated above. The clause that affords facilities to settlers in arrears ■with rents to surrender has without a doubt conferred considerable relief on many desirable, settlers; but, at the same, it has been much abused ; and for this reason it is preferable to openly deal with cases where relief is sought. • ' '• In the Chatton district, when the revaluation was made by Mr Eeid, principally the high priced, and therefore the best, land was dealt with. The reductions that were made brought the first-c'ass land to far below what was paid for inferior land by settlers who at the land sale could not see their way to compete for the choice sections. Thus it is that we And men paying more for inferior land than their neighbours are paying for the pick selections of the district. To make matters worse the Government—or, rather, the Waste Band Board— compelled these settlers, if' behind with their rent, to capitalise the unpaid instalments, and thereby to pay interest on a value that did not belong to the land until that vahie was given to It by the settlers themselves, and if the Ministry, in the Fair Kent Bill they intend to bring before the House this session, do not add a clause setting forth " that all suoh interest paid on such capitalised land shall go towards paying off the principal," a very grave injustice will be perpetrated. At present it may be said that perpetual leaseholders and capitalised deferred-payment settlers are on the same footing as regards the payment of interest — i.e., in 20 years, at 5 per cent., a man buys out his holding at £1 per acre, which is only extending the deferred-payment from 10 to 20 years. Another feature in the disposal of Crown lands that is demoralising the entire system is the continually increasing number of settlers who are taking up land alongside of already lurrendered lands at much above the prices that are paid by such surrendered settlers ; or, in other words, the upset is more on lands recently placed in the market than it is on the land surrendered and reduced. Now, it can hardly be expected that these men will retain their holdings longer than they can effect sufficient improvements to keep out possible competition, when they are certain to surrender and so get the land reduced. To effect any permanent or just settlement of the land question, a commission ought to be appointed to make searching inquiry into the whole subject. It is of no use to burk the consideration of the matter or to put it off in any way. It will have to be faced sooner or later, and whether the present Ministry deal effectually and intelligently with it or not will make little difference if it Is not per formed thoroughly. A revaluation of partially disposed of Crown lands will no donbt meet with considerable opposition from those interested in loan companies, because such an alteration will reduce the value of land all round, whether held freer and by right., or mortgaged and held by privilege or on sufferance. Without going vpry deeply into the question of land reform or into the subject of administrative abuses in connection tierewith, it may safely be said that hundredo of settlers— good, tnneat, hard-working men— have b§en compelled to rush into the arms of usurers to obtain the necessary funds to pay Government rents that have crippled them commercially for life, and left themselves and families at the mercy of money grabbing, soul destroying companies. Here we are considering the hundreds that have retained their lands though mortgaged ; but what about the hundreds who have had their holdings forfeited for non-compliance with what, all considered, are unreasonably harsh conditions? And what about the hundreds who have been sold out by mortgagees? No wonder it isthought time to deal with the question of unfair rents. The conditions of the colony have so altered that such a step is urgently called for. The inflated prices of a few years ago have gone by, and we are being gradually educated by experience %o the fact that land is worth no more than it will return to thoße who work it. T intended to deal with another phase of this important question, but space and time will not permit at present.— Yours, &c, G. GOBDOH. Ohatton, May 18.

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