THE SELECTORS' LAND REVALUATION ACT.

Otago Witness, Issue 1926, 15 January 1891, Page 6

THE SELECTORS' LAND REVALUATION ACT.

This aot was in operation for one year, and expired at the end of 1890. It was introduced by the Government in the Upper House, passed without amendment, was considered by the House of Representatives, and was there also passed with a unanimity which led the Minister of Lands to remark that it appeared almost overdone with approval. The object of the Act was to give the Waste Lands Board power to modify the prices which deferred payment settlers and perpetual leaseholders had agreed to pay for their lands prior to the beginning of 1888. In other words, it was a recognition by the Government that values had dropped, and that it was unjust to extort from the earlier settlers more for their land than from their neighbours who came after them. The State, in short, did what a wise landlord would do when he found his tenants unable to implement their bargains. Indeed, the State has no other choice. Having reduced the selling price of the unsold lands, it could not have got any more for the settled lands if they had been forfeited and re-sold than the market value plus the improvements, and had the State decided on forfeiture it would have torn to shreds the vital principle underlying all land acts, the desire of men to make homes for themselves The act applied only to Government deferred-payment settlers and holders of perpetual leases, and it was urged at the time by Mr Ballance that it should extend to all purchasers of public lands, whether under the administration of Government or of the Boards who hold lands in trust for education purposes. But these bodies already possess the power to modify the terms on which their lands are taken up, and, as a matter of fact, are continually doing so. The Ofcago School Commissioners made a revaluation last year extending over a large area, and restored tranquility among settlers disturbed by neighbouring reductions. The University Council is continually modifying the tenure of its runs to meet altered circumstances, and the High School Governors have to some extent modified the tenure of their settlers at Mokoreta. It is not our present intention to review the nature of the modifications which have been made. It may be assumed that the ample facilities given, the pains which were {taken by the Boards to aot justly, and the almost oomplete removal of complaint on the part of the settlers bave answered the purpose for which the Aot was brought into existence, and given to all concerned what may be termed a fresh start. It would be worse than idle to deny that many cases of apparent individual injustice have arisen under the Act. If it is an ill wind that blows nobody good, there is no fair wind that blows nobody harm. Those who had bought for cash found the capital value of their land reduced, in some cases by more than one-half, by a mere stroke of the pen. Yet, when the position is examined, it will be clear that the revaluation was merely the recognition of a decline in selling value. If a man had purchased at £2 an acre for cash, and had borrowed, say, up to 80s upon it, and then found that the price of land all round him was reduced to 255, he would naturally think that the plank had beau cut whioh bridged the depression. This ia precisely the fallacious reasoning of thoße institutions among us which

still obstinately refuse to recognise that writing down is imperative, and that land will not realise a given sum per acre or its equivaltnt ia rent or interest, merely because it is put down [at so muoh in a company's books- Since i the State has recognised the principle that it may readjust uncompleted contraots regarding land, a principle which was previously admitted in the Act which gave similar powers to local bodies — since, in short, it demolished the dogma of finality relating [to the purohase of j landprivate holders, or holders other than the State, must perforce follow suit. The extent to whioh the settlers have taken advantage of the act may be partly judged from the statement published by us on Monday, which showed results in the Ofcago land district. Nearly 500 holdings have been revalued, ani the revaluation haß been reduced by between £70,000 and £80,000., The bulk of these ara deferred-payment holdings, the balance being on perpetual lease, and there mufefr be added to them the holdings revalued -by "the School Commissioners, the High Sohool Governors, and the Olutha River Trust. Neither have there yet been taken into account the very largo reductions made by the Southland Waste Lands Board, nor those by boards and trusts elsewhere, which will doubtless bo published in due time. The relief whioh has thus b?en afforded to struggling settlers has been very great, although it has of course been given at the expense of the country. The land fund ia the Chief sufferer, because the engagements into which the various trusts have entered have naturally deterred them from reducing their income below a certain point, as they would have nothing but the generosity of Parliament to fall back upon, and Parliament is not always disposed to hold the^ balance fairly when presonl necessity is opposed to future benefit. Large as the reductions are, and great as may be the amount of relief given, we regard these as being altogether overshadowed by thfe importance of the principle laid down in the Aot ; for it must be remembered that although the revaluation of deferred-payment land was a single aot— an aot of clemency on the part of the Grown, it was called by Mr Downie Stewart— whose effect will terminate with the completion of the purchase, the revaluation of perpetual leaseholds is a fdr more important matter because it fixes values for a longer term, and a precedent has thus been created for future claims for adjustment. These may cut both ways ; so that the Act ia nothing short of an instalment of a syßtem of fair rent,