THE LAND SETTLEMENT PROPOSALS

Otago Witness, Issue 3003, 4 October 1911, Page 10

THE LAND SETTLEMENT PROPOSALS

DISCUSSION IN THE COUNCIL. (Fbom Oub Own Cobeespondent.) WELLINGTON, September 28. ' In the Legislative (Jouncil to-day the Hon. J. D. Ormond (Hawke s Bay) moved that this Council expresses its satisfaction with the land settlement, proposals in the financial Statement, especially that in addition to the present systems lor the disposal of Crown lands, settlement by associations for intending settlers is to be encouraged in conjunction with the construction of public works. The Hon. Mr Ormond said it was a matter of gratification to him to read the announcement that the Government intended to advance association settlement. This system had got out of use for a number of years, but in the past great success attended such settlement. Ale moved in this matter because he had been associated with it some years ago.. He had worded his motion to enaole any hon. gentleman to express his views on land, settlement. The Hon. Mr Ormond condemned the ballot as being ruinous to the bona fide settler, and the sooner it could be altered the better. Very few of the applicants to-day were bona fido settlers. Whole families ■ went in to the ballot, and in this way the bona fide settler got no chance, and he had known capable men who were anxious to get on the land follow tlie ballot round - and round, but they could not get a prize, and in many cases they left the country in disgust, and to his mind no better class of settler could be secured if the land was sold by auction. The ballot system was, in his opinion, a failure, and was not doing what it should for the country, and neither was the settlement under the Native land laws a success. To get this land a man had to know his way about, and how to get the services of the middle agent. A more advantageous system would, be that the Natives should use the ordinary land regulations and systems of the Dominion. Proceeding to deal with settlement associations, the Hon.-' Mr Ormond gave an interesting narrative of the settlement of the Seventy-mile Bush in the early seventies, and in view of the success which attended these settlements, he thought the* Government could be assured of success if it pushed on the system in question on the East Coast. Going from Napier to Tauranga, the Go-' vernment was projecting a railway, which was to go through country which had nothing on it. This would give employment to settlers on the land. All through this land blocks could be secured suitable for farm settlement. The worst of it would be between Napier and Wairoa, but even there good blocks could be secured. Between Gisborne and Opotiki there was one of the finest districts in the whole of the Dominion, and capable of carrying a large population. This land would be immensely productive if the Government decided to acquire it for settlement. If the Government thought of carrying out a scfieme like this successfully it must get money to buy in advance of the railway. The land could now be bought'for a song, compared with what would be asked in a few years. In a scheme of this . kind now the investment -would, he . was sure, be repaid 20-fold in the lives of the men who took the land up. The Hon. Geo. Jones : Would the Natives sell?

The Hon. Mr Ormond said that if the Government was going to carry out such a scheme it would have to do with the Natives as it did with Europeans, and land should be acquired compulsorily from the Natives as from the Europeans. —("Hear, hear.") Mr Ormond proceeded to deal with the necessity for securing the best class of settlers. The system he was sure would revolutionise settlement, and tend to the prosperity of the country '—(Applause.) The Hon. T. Kelly seconded the motion, and urged that in any scheme adopted the Government should give the working man a chance. What was wanted on the land was "workers, and not speculators. .

The Hon. J. Anstey said he thought that though such a scheme might work out all right in the north, it would not be of advantage to the south. Whatever system was adopted they must make due provision against aggregation, otherwise there was bound to be failure. m There was a weakness in the ballot system, but it was'not so much the system as the administration that was at fault. He proceeded to again deal with the Mackenzie Country ballots, to which he had devoted a good deal of attention in the debate on the Address-in-Reply. He was not satisfied with the steps the Government was taking to promote settlement. Good things had been accomplished in the north, but in the south they had no Native land, but there were many small areas of Crown land, mostly light pastoral country, and as they in the south had practically nothing to deal with but private lands, )t .seemed to him a remedy would have to be provided to- meet the case of the south. There were three methods possible—(l) By way of purchase under the Lands for Settlement Act; (2) the Government could offer facilities for private individuals cutting up their land; and (3) the system partly covered by the Land Settlement Finance Act and the graduated land tax had not been effective in bursting up large estates because it was erratic and unjust. It ran along in a plane, and then jumped up, ran along on a plane again, and once more jumped up- The whole system should be revised? Mr Anstey put forward a table giving his suggested revision with what he termed " a very heavy tax at the top." He had, he said, graded the tables in easy stages, each increase of tax being based on a value of

£SOOO. He did not suggest that tlie-pre-sent tax up to £65,000 in value should be interfered with, but after that there was a gradual increase until a J»f ation rate of per cent, was reached. AC this rate no man could afford to hoidtne land. All land of a value of over £150,000 would under this system have to be sold. He was convinced that the Government would have tio bring & ow ? a much bolder programme, in land for settlement.—("Hear, hear.") . The debate was adjourned.