LAND LAWS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 166, 4 October 1927, Page 14

LAND LAWS

RIGHT TO REVALUATION AMENDING LEGISLATION (THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Monday. Instead of being restricted to certain periods, during which revaluation may be applied for. Crown tenants are now enabled to apply at any time to a specially constituted boa.rd, which is authorised to function under the Land Amendment Bill, which was introduced into the House of Representatives and read the first time this evening. Under this measure the restriction imposed in the Land Laws Act of 1924, which prohibits Crown tenants from applying for revaluation of their lands within three years from the commencement of their leases or licences, or after six years, is to be partially removed, while right to apply for revaluation is to be extended 1o cover holders of land under the various Land Acts now in existence. Lands purchased on deferred payments may be revalued. Any reduction which is made is to be with respect to purchase price and not with regard to the rate of interest. Application for the right to exercise privilege of having revaluation made at any time is to be made to the board, consisting of the Under-Secretary of Lands, the Valuer-General and the Land Purchase Inspector. The Bill seeks to overcome the difficulty in disposing of land contained in streets and roads which may be closed by making it possible for adjoining owners to become entitled te possession. Rangers of Crown lands will be called field inspectors. The provisions in the Land Act of 1924, relating to the submission of disputes to arbitration, are extended by making it mandatory for arbitrators, when they decide to exercise their right to appoint an umpire, to select a magistrate.

The Bill seeks the repeal of the clause which makes it compulsory to pay into the National Endowment Trust Account the value of any inferior lands which are taken from national endowments for special settlement purposes. 1

The right of licensees to occupy Crown Lands with the right of purchase is to be extended until 1930 instead of expiring this year. Several amendments are also made in the Discharged Soldier Settlement Acts, and authority is.to be given for the remission of rent in case of laqd disposed of to a discharged soldier, but which is now held by some other person. Land boards, with the consent of the Minister, are to be empowered to remit, in cases of hardship, the whole or part of the interest payable to discharged soldiers with respect to their mortgages on land held under the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act, 1917. The benefits of the Deteriorated Lands Act, .1925, are extended to soldiers holding Hand under the Act of 1917.