CROWN TENANTS' GRIEVANCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2309, 2 June 1898, Page 15

CROWN TENANTS' GRIEVANCES.

In response to an advertisement by Mr N. A. Niederer about 30 farmers from Otara, Haldaue, W&ikawa, Waian, Dipton, Limehills, Oteramika, and Croydon assembled in Hanan's Hall, Invercargill, on Friday, to discuss the question of the excessive valuations and high rentals charged by the Government for lands taken up on perpetual lease.

•The convener o£ the meeting was vojied to j the chair. He said that several applications ! had bten made bo the L>uid Board for reduc- j tions, but that; body had iufoirned them that I it had no power to do so, so, along wifch others, i he thought it best to convene a Meeting | among themselves to bring the matters before their representatives in Parliament, becau»e he had been told the remedy could only be obtained through the Legislature. The land that was now j being leased was of very poor quality — scrub and -j swamp— and it took a eettler two or three years j to find out the true nature of hie holding. By j the time he got ib in ordar it cost him from j £6 to £10 an" acre. In many cases where | land had been taken up during the last 10 ! years the owners could not get » price for it, j and in some instances could not give it away. | He knew of men, broken down in health through struggling against these adverse conditions, who were advised to go to a warmer , climate, but were unable t» sell out, and consequently had to remain in their present un- ! healthy conditions. Most of the land sold by the Government was too dear. Hundreds of farmers who had paid cash for their land 20 j years sgo could not make it pay and had to go shearing aud haWesting in order -to make ends meet. Tba New Zealand Government had sold I their land dearer than any other Government in the world. In' South America, where the land was good, it could be obtained for2s6d an acre, and in many ca«os if or nothing, while here it was i only the refuse that was for sale, and that was j vsry poor land. The Crown charged about £75 I for'lOO acres, on which the holder had to pay | £4 or £5 valuation, and the value put en ib by | the Government valusra nt>,% higher than whab ! any person co'ild get for it. The farmer had | to pay freight for 15,000 miles on his prcdnqe (io compete in the Fuglish market, and, as if that were not sufficient, he had to pay heavy duty on the goods he used. It was a wrong policy to cripple them with & rent out of all proportion to the value of the land and the ] main object of ti?B Government seemed So be to j extort as much rent as they could from their I tenants. If a man got a piece of laud lying | ÜBelees, he was fined at once if he made it j productive. Excessive rente were detrimental j to the State, for they crippled the spending j capacities of the tenants, thereby inflicting | losses on tradesmen and merchants. In many ! instances the farmers' wi*es and children had to bear a good deal of the. imposition, for the' children had to forgo school and the wives bad to work jn the dairies in order to secure the necessaries of life ; and it tvfts their duty an husbands and fathers to see that their helpmates got some reward aud did not allow everything to be taken from them by the Government. They ought to get the land at one-half of vhat the Government charged. Handsome salaries were paid to the Government officials snd eeryants for a very limited amount of* work, and why should uut the Grown tenants — who were also servants of the Government — receive some consideration ? They had been advised by the Land Board to surrender their sections and it would deal with them, but moat of them bad borrowed money on their improvements and had to pay interest on it, ao that none of them liked to surrender and sea these improvements, which had cost a lot of tnoDey, go to ruin.

Mr Frank Kinp (Ofcsr*) said that his opinion of the value of the land was that it should be based on what could be got out cf it when first taken up. He had a general knowledge of the Otaia forest in its native state, and -ill that cculd be done there was t>« ruu csMlo. He con-, sidered that the outside value of bush "and to give a man a chance was l-|cl or 2d an aero. In the early days the pick uf Southland and Otago lands was offered at £1 and £1 5s an acre, and now the Government asked ths same atrount for the poor land.

Mr JameE Pet?r«en (Waikawa) apid thit he had got a repors from the Laud Board iv connection with some poor laad in hie district aud a petition sent to" the Government. What the Government did with it he could not say, but the Land Board eout gome of their members out to visit the district, aad they reported in the petitioners' favour ; the sleeker read the board's decision. Tho practice of allowing s,irveyois to fix the price of land <n&s a bad one, for both good aud bad we»e fixe>l at the same figure. These gentleman kr>ew nothing about the quality of laud. He maintaiuad that in some districts tussock land would carry more stock than when cultivated. He gave an instance of 14 acres be had sown wiih oats, costing £3 an acre, and all ha got eff it was three tons of chaff. He had been told by a member of the board that nothing could be done for him nr.lesM he fcurrenaerocl. He sent in a loiter j of surrender, and in reply was told that the board had postponed consideration. Four out of the five members of the boarrl visited the district. They were all practical men, and , strongly recommended surrender to the Government, but now that was declined without any reasons being given. Mr Peterson spoke in strong terms of the harsh treatment farmers ■ had received in the Assessment Court ; he had been a witness in a case at Wyndham, and had j never received such snarling and biting remarks from anybody as he got from the judge. " j Mr George Biggar (Croydon) said that two i years ago a. deputation had waited on the Minister for Lands at Gore, and presented a petition praying for reductions. The Minister informed them that he had not the slightest doubt that their land was too dear, but a revaluation would take place shortly and reductions would be made. Two years had passed, and no steps in that direction had been taken, -except the last valuation for revenue purposes. He had been senfdown by the settlers in his district to assist in whatever steps were taken for alleviating their grievances. It wag needless for them to go into the valuation question, l for they had been defeated on that, but he held that the valuers were not competent, for they knew nothing about bush land. These men might make good auctioneers aud hotelkeepers, but they made bad valuers. o Regret was expressed that some 3 of their parliamentary representatives were not present, and the opinion was expressed that they did not seem to think much of the needs of the Crown tenants. An effort is to be made to get the rents reduced this session, for, as the tenants could not surrender, they could not keep t-hinge going rs they were.

A committee consisting of Messrs James Petersen (Waikswa), James King (Waiau), F. King (Otara), G. Biggar (doydon). N. A Niederer (Ofceramikat, and James M'Donald (Dipton), was appointed, and subsequently decided tbat a petition be forwarded to Government praying for a revaluation of the land aud a substantial reduction in rent. Ib was also agreed to ask the co-operation of all Crown land settlers in the colony. All the Southland members will be asked to meet this committee at Deschler's Hotel on June 17 to receive the petitions and have the question laid before them. — Southland Times.