The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, 24th AUGUST, 1883.

Southland Times, Issue 4721, 24 August 1883, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, 24th AUGUST, 1883.

Administering the system of lands on deferred payments seema the most difficult, as it is now one of the most important duties of Land Boards. The dummyism lately exposed as rampant in Otago shows what vigilance is needed to prevent the public estate, set. apart specially for the benefit of working men and small capitalists, from being swallowed up, or at least for a long time monopolised, by men of wealth, for their own purposes. Tbe Otago Board is certainly to be congratulated that it took so shrewd and* persistent a stand in vindication of the law. And the press of Dunedin has for the same reason claims on the gratitude of the public. Through the labors of the . Parliamentary Committee, it is certain that the mischief intended will be prevented or undone, and steps will be taken, partly by amending the Land Act, and partly, in all likelihood, by increasing the powers of Land Boards, to prevent similar scaudals'in. thefuture. The Committee seems to have done its work, as far as possible with the materials in its hands, with great wisdom and thoroughness, and the public satisfaction will be complete that light has been let freely into transactions that, but for the Committee's labors, might have continued doubtful and obscure. But these are extreme instances of the difficulties with which the Land Boards have to cope. The whoie system of deferred payments is delicate and complex, and dishonesty much l«ss bare-faced than that of pronounced dummyism has to be guarded against, and lapses tiiat have in them no taint of fraud have to be distinguished from those that mark the mere traffickers in deferred payment lands. The Acts regulating the system are, on the whole, very well fitted to prevent its abuse, and it is quite true that a rigid administration of these, wonld at least ha^e the effect of protecting the from imposition. ' But something more than tbis is required. | There is no disguising tbe fact tibat to

act up to the letter of the law in all cases would bring widespread and intolerable 1 hardship on the very class that the deferred payment system was intended to serve, and would defeat so far the very end of its existence, How many men are there of the labourers and small capitalists whom it was intended to : , raise into. 3ho. position of yeomen by giving them credit in purchases of land— '■ how many pfjtbese- ate there whocould, in defiance 'of every cbntingency— failure „ ? okCTOpS,,lgs-&$ Of health— -be sure of keeping their engagements with Government -to the hour ? , Ijhfe tfain^l7^rd*bli"^Brim^)os'sibility," and yefeltlie iron alternative in. case of failure is forfeiture — forfeiture, it is true, softened iby ilak concession at the will of the Land Board, of 75 per cent, of improvements,but involving- the loss, of all increased ,vaiue! in the land from other causes, and the !■ penalty of disquaUfication f&r Hse-; lectitg again under 'the system. Jfc;: is quite iclear that no Land Board could sit, aud^ with eyes shut to all qualifying considerations, simply pronounce forfeiture when rent day ; hadpassed without payment, when cultivation was short at the stipulated season, or when. a^ , ; settler had been forced by failure 6f ' health or stress of weather to leave his home for . a. time. After any Act had been passed, however comprehensive inits indulgence, there wouid remain some unwritten considerations proper to modify further its positive and rigorous institutions. It is possible to administer the deferred payment system only by regarding the spirit of the Act in cases where failure to comply with the letter involves no wilful or inexcusable neglect of duty. It should never be forgotten that the primary object of the system is to settle people prosperously on the land, and not to pull them up in mid-career when they are making a strenuous and honest effort -so to settle themselves. Waste Lands Boards are not very likely to commit gross errors either on the side of harshness or on the side of leniency. They have the Acts before them, which are their rule in all ordinary cases. And in cases that are not ordinary they are kept in equilibrio by pretty strong opposing forces. The Comptroller and Auditor General is an official who keeps a very watchful eye on the arrears into which deferred payment selectors are apt to fall, and his reminders are peremptory enough to secure energetic action on the part of Land Boards. Admonitions are also received from other quarters. The zealous and efficient Secretary for Lands gives a pretty broad hint, in his last report submitted to Parliament After specifying arrears, he says: — " The law " requires prompt payment of instal- " menfcs every six months. Some of the " Land Boards have hitherto assumed " a discretion in not pushing settlers for " payment under certain circumstances. " This clemency has undoubtedly been " carried too far in those cases where " selectors have been .allowed to fall " behind two and three years with their " payments." Part of this rebuke is well merited, no doubt, and indicates that in some instances the limit of discretion has been widely overstepped. But at any rate this is the kind of watching and lecturing that will keep any ordinary Board safe from the sin of ovor-indulgence. But when the effort is made to bring defaulters to book, another sort of influence comes' into play. We know that so long as the titate continues a landlord, so long will political influence interfere between it and its tenants. Not long ago, in view of stringent and necessary measures threatened by the Waste Lands Board \of Southland, the member for.Mataura plaintively asked the Government whether it was true that so many hundreds of deferred payment settlers, in arrears so many thousands of pounds, through low prices of grain and other causes, had been summoned to pay up by a given day under pain of forfeiting their boldings. The Government very properly replied that they saw no reason to interfere with the proceedings in the matter of the Southland Land Board. Perhaps no Board has better held the- balance between the Crown and the settlers than that of Southland has done, and the assertion of the Chief Commissioner, at a recent meeting, in regard to its administration, could very well be sustained. We trust that when defaulters . that may be left on the list come to be dealt with, I there will be nothing in the decisions either to- oppress struggling men or to encourage slackness in fulfilling engage- [ ments deliberately undertaken.