NATIVE LAND LEASES.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 October 1935, Page 4

NATIVE LAND LEASES.

There will be general relief throughout Taranaki that the legislation governing West Coast native land leases was amended during the recent Parliamentary session. It is stated that the amendments made safeguard the interests of the lessors and of the Maori owners, and that they make legal the interpretation of the leases adopted by lessors until the Supreme Court ruled that such was not correct. It had ‘always been assumed since the leases were granted that when the time came for th£ir periodic renewal, or for relinquishment if renewal were not desired, the improvements made from the time the land was taken up would be taken into consideration in arriving at a fresh rental, or in disposing of a leasehold when a lessor did not desire a renewal of his lease. The Court held that only the improvements made in the period covered by the last renewal could be taken into account, and this in many instances represented a serious diminution of lessors’ interests, the cost of the greater part of the improvements having been' incurred when the land was being broken in and the necessary buildings and fencing erected. These improvements, assumed to be the unquestioned property of the lessor, had enabled holders of native land leases to obtain loans from various public and private financial institutions. They, in turn, found their security considerably reduced by the ruling of the Court. The attractiveness of the leases was also diminished, thereby reducing the value of the lands to the Maori owners, and in all the circumstances an amendment of the law seemed the best way of overcoming a difficulty that might have had serious consequences upon individual lessors and upon native land settlement in Taranaki. The merits of the lessors’ case appear to have satisfied Parliament that fresh legislation was desirable, and it is satisfactory to note that arrangements suitable to owners and lessors bsve been made possible in that manner.