GENERAL EVIDENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 18

GENERAL EVIDENCE.

Thomas L. Oswin, of the Government fiending Department, recalled, stated that '' the amount of current mortgages on free-" holds in the Southland district was £395- ' "" 13s. The amount of current mortgage on> • Drown leaseholds was £16,525. He alsogaye the following figures regarding South- - land district: — Total number of Orown lease- ;. holds mortgaged, 129 ; mortgages on Crown s leaseholds, 14-9 ; the number of lease in perpetuity securities Ireld by the office was • ',"64-; 0.r.p., 20; perpetual lease, 31; deferi-ed r 3 ; and small grazing runs, 5. ' Then there were mixed mortgages which i numbered 6; half of the total securities, therefore, were lease in perpetuity. Th© ' XHtness added that the foreclosures on Crown - jesaehold securities since the inception of - *Ke lending scheme in the Southland district had been nil. The applications on Crown., leaseholds declined by the Lending ißoard during the last three years numbered )50, and the amount was £3185. George It. Hilton, who had been previ- . >usly before the commission, produced papers from the Advances to Settlers Office Refusing him a loan, he had asked for. He Uso read a letter from the Premier, who tad refused to interfere in the matter. He jicught that the Premier, if he saw a wrong • r&s being don© in hindering a settler, see that that wrong was put right. • - ' Isaac Lawrence Petrie, master mariner, i aaid 'he owned 11 quarter-acre sections in jbhe suburbs of Invereargill, as well as land- . 5a . Cromarty (Preservation Inlet) and at Stewart Island. The land in Stewart Island ■••jwas" "bought for cash under the act of 3.892, but he had not put the required - smjxro.vem.ents on it in the time allowed, land had therefore not obtained the title. i. j/The Chairman pointed out that the improvements had to be made within seven fcrears. *- The witness said he was not aware of ther fact. If he had been made aware of it ho jfcvould have made the improvements. Th« Chairman said the law was very explicit, and it was witness's place* to apply

The commis-

to the Land Board for help, sion could not help him.

The witness said there were others in the same position as himself. They had not been informed that the land had been forfeited.

Alexander Piper, district valuer, in reply to a question, said that little of the land about Drummond exceeded £10 in value. A section of 300 acres in the Merrivale settlement had changed hands three years ago, the lessee obtaining £300 for goodwill. A good many of the Otahu settlers had given tip their land at Beaumont. A good many sections had been surrendered at Orepuki, and some leases had changed hands. The ' goodwill in some cases was £600, chiefly on 1 account of timber. At Winton land had risen considerably in value. He believed that in bush land ragwort and Californian thistle were increasing- and so reducing the value of the land. In making his valuations he allowed for weeds. In land cut out by sawmills the noxious weeds had I got into the bush in considerable numbers. ' They depreciated the value of bush land. J The' Californian thistle was practically all over the Wallace district, together with ragwort and yarr. On the stations where there were sheep there was very little ragwort ; when sheep were taken off the land the ragwort often reappeared there. A great deal of grass seed was cut in the district every year, but he did not think that the noxious Weeds were taken out before it was cut, and the result was that the ■ grass seed with I noxious seeds in it was scattered -throughout •the- colony.

■-John-H. ZEreseder, district road engineer, said* he had been in Southland about 17 or 18 years, and in the JEtoads Department about two years and a-half. He supervised the expenditure of money raised from loading. It was work that was done by co-operative labour.' The amounts dealt with varied from £100 to £1000, and the works included bridges, macadamising, and so on. Generally speaking, the co-operative works system was not satisfactory ; it would be better to do the work by open tender. The men wanted to pick their mates, and one man would not work with another because he did not consider he was a good worker. Of course, if that was allowed all th& worst workers would be left out, and when they were employed a big price would have to be given to enable them to make a fair wage. Witness had the fixing of the gangs. The average wage earned was 7s or 8s a day, but often the men made 10s or lls a day. The Land Board fixed the loading.

Mr Matheson : Do you think that money spent under the co-operative eystein would do as much work as if spent under the contract system?

Witness

Mr Hall : Under the^ co-operative system, is a good man handicapped by being put in a team with weak men?

Witness : I generally classify the teams,

George Mackie, of Glory Harbour, Stewart Island, said the scenic value of the forest would not be impaired by sawmilliner operations, but rather enhanced. It would be a great mistake to withdraw from public use the great stores of timber to be found in Stewart Island for the benefit of a problematical number of tourists. His remarks also applied to Chalky Inlet and other districts in which there was forest. The forest was better 'for tourists after the miller had been through it than before. Only one person seemed to care "about the forest before it "was touched, and that was the miller looking for timber. The second growth of bush was better than the virgin bush for scenic purposes. He would also prefer the second growth for botanismg and as a living picture. A large portion of Stewart Island was reserved, and what he advocated as regards sawmilling applied to the reserve as well as the area outside of it. If dead wood was left behind there would be no danger from it in summer time. The climate was very wet. Speaking of the constitution of the Land Boards, he thought that no change was necessary. He favoured the right of purchase being given to tenants, l)ut he believed that in the interests of the country the leasehold tenure was better than the freehold. He believed, however, that there was absolutely no such thing as freehold

Patrick M'lnerney, who had previously been before the commission, advocated that steps should be taken at once to cope with the noxious weeds. If the Government, the County Councils, and individuals did not do their part there was trouble ahead, and the land would come down in value. Ho thought the Government should take out of the hands of County Councils the powers they had at present in that direction. Many of his neighbours objected to the lease in perpetuity because they could not sell out. They would sell to better advantage with a. deferred payment seotion with the right of purchase. He did not know that lessees in perpetuity were every day selling out their interests.

Bernard M'Gearey said he had a 10 years' lease of a 24-aore section in Wallacetown Extension. Eight years of the term had run. When he took up the lease there was no provision for improvements. He had improved 15 acres with grass and fencing. What he desired to know was whether ho would get value for his improvements at the end of the term. His rent was 2s an acre. He had been to the Land Board, and could get no satisfaction. Ha would he

- satisfied- to get a renewal of his lease at the present value without improvements. . Mr Anstey asked the witness if he was i> aware that tenants under the lease in per- . " petuity oould sell their goodwill along with I their improvements. — Witness said he was r ' not. [ Mr Anstey said such a thing had been done, and instances had been given to the "_ commission tha-t day. One man got £500 for his goodwill and improvements — £200 ' j for improvements and £300 for goodwill. [ As for the witness's case, he knew that r there were a. number of lessees in practically ; the same position. The tenants had put I ' certain improvements on the land, and ' should have the option of renewal at an [ ! arbitration rent on the unimproved value. He thought it was a matter that the commission might well recommend the Govern- . ment to allow. John Hay, Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands, Southland district, said that if there j was to be any change of tenures, he thought the deferred payment would be an excellent tenure to introduce. The period of payments should be extended over, say, 20 years, giving no right of capitalisation. The tenants would pay off as they went on. In some cases after paying off for a number of years the tenants had capitalised the balance and paid interest on it. Some of them were still paying interest on it. It 1 would be less trouble in every .direction to j adopt his suggestion. The deferred payment j system of early days was a most excellent ! system. A great portion of country between Otav.tau and Winton was settled under the deferred payment system. He would not apply this system under the Land for Settlements Act. With reference to land for settlements tenants, he thought they should be allowed to get an advance as soon as ample and good security in the way of substantial improvements had been placed on the land. At present, no matter how good the security, the Advances to Settlers Office would not advance anything ' until the tenant had been 12 months in ' occupation, and sometimes that was a great hardship. He had known instances in which ; a tenant had four or five times the security ; j-oftered. and could not get even a small sum. He would suggest that in the first j year a tenant might be allowed an advance ; j equal to one-half of the improvements. It | would not be advisable to give too much in , the first year. He produced a map showing that in the Southland land district the Crown tenants occupied about 1,725,000 aores. There were 271 tenants under occu- ' pation with right of purchase, the area they held being 59,089 acres, producing an annual rental of £1515. There were 737 lease-in-perpstuity tenants holding 125,410 acres, and paying an annual rental of £11,900. There were 31 small grazing runs of an area of 67,244 acres, th-e annual rental being £937. The pastoral runs numbered 96. their area bein? 1,473,576 acres, and their annual rental £3715. He also produced j a map showing the lands in Southland avail- ■ able for settlement. In Stewart Island there I were 135 acres. On the mainland the figures were as follow : — Surveyed rural land open for selection, 34,000 acres ; surveyed and unsurveyed land in state forests suit- j able but not withdrawn from State forests, ' 29,200 acres ; showing a total area of j 141,500 acres which are suitable, or will be suitable at some future date, for settlement. | j This closed the taking of evidence in Invereargill. To-morrow the commission I proceeds ro Wyndham. j | The following itinerary has been drawn up as a continuation of tour after taking evidence at Lumsden on the 9th inst. :—: — ' Friday, March 10. take evidence, at Queenstown ; Saturday, 11th. at Pembroke, taking evidence ; Monday, 13th, at Cromwell ; Tues- ' . day, 14th, at Alexandra ; Wednesday, 15th, , at Oraakau; Thursday, 16th, at Ranfurlv ; ' Friday, 17th, at Nasebv ; and reach Dunedin . Saturday, 18th. " j*

Saturday.