THE LAND BILL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13536, 12 October 1907, Page 3

THE LAND BILL.

, . , MACHINERY CLAUSES DISCUSSED. VALUATION OF IMPROVEMENTS. QUESTION OF DUMMYISM. CLASSIFICATION OF LAND. ft Prom AnooMtioa. WELLINGTON, October 11. At 2.20 this afternoon, tile House went into oommittee to consider the Land Laws Amendment Bill. The whole afternoon was devoted to discussing the machinery clauses. Sub-clause 3 of clause 26a provides that lessees shall pay costs and expenses incurred by the Commissioner in ascertaining and recording particulars of improvements. Mr James Allen moved, that the cost of ascertaining and recording improvements should not be borne by the lessee, but should be defrayed by the Crown. The amendment was negatived by 40 to 20. Mr James Allen then moved that, "In estimating for the purposes of this Act the improvements, the fact that they have not been recorded under this section shall not be taken as evidence tfiat improvements have not been made on the land." The amendment was negatived by 37 to 22. Mr Okey then moved that the provisions of the clause should apply to West Coast Reserves. — Negatived by 41 to 11. When the House resumed in the evening, Mr Massey moved a new subclause: "In every year in which a cen- I ails is taken each settler holding land under lease-in-perpetuity or renewable lease shall be required by the Lands Department to furnish a return of all permanent and substantial improvements placed upon the land occupied by him during the previous five years." He did this in order, he explained, that a tenant's improvements might be justly and properly conserved. The sub-clause was negatived by 40 to 21. Mr Herries moved a new clause that every such record of improvements should be available for and might be used as evidence in any Assessment Court under the Government Valuation of Land Act, 1896. Mr Massey said Mr Herries had placed his finger on a very weak spot. What was desired was that a record should be taken and kept of every impro\ement that was put on the land, and here was a chance of providing for this so far as lands under the/ Bill were concerned. , Mr C. H. Mills contended that subclause 2 provided for all tfiat Mr HerrieR 1 amendment proposed. Mr Herries contended that though the record for which the lessee had paid would be kept by the Department, "\he same Department might object to allow the lessee access to the record if he had to go before the courts on the ground that it was a Departmental record. Mr Wilford pointed out' that under clause 26a it was provided that a lessee on application to the Commissioner was entitled to have the particulars and nature of improvements recorded, and these, he argued, would be available for use as evidence. The Hon. Mr McNab stated the record would be available under the Bill for evidence. Mr Herries said, with all due deference to the law draftsman, that he doubted whether the lessee could produce a record. He pressed the amendment. Tlia amendment was negatived on the voices. At the instance of the Minister the sub-clause was extended to allow of the record being available to any person interested. The clause as amended was passed on the voices. Clause 27a provides that the lessee shall not be entitled, to assign or otherwise dispose of his interest in the land unless he has resided continuously thereon' for not less than two years. Mr Witty moved to strike out the word "two/ with a view to inserting "four." This would tend to prevent dummy ism. Mr Flatman, in supporting the amendment, said it would tend to entor* that bona fide settlers would go on . the hind, and would prevent gambling and speculation. Mr Okey, in opposing the amendment, said provisions were being made in connection with the ballot to ensure that preference would be given to the right class of settlers, and he considered that the additional restrictions proposed were unnecessary. Mr Massey contended that in the case of bush or swamp land a man would be on land eight years before he could transfer^ and in the case of open lands five years. He argued that where the trouble arose was at the ballot where persons who were successful and did not want the sections were allowed to transfer to 'others. This was the primary cause of the gambling that had gone on, and it should be stopped. Mr M.c Nab said that the conditions imposed of continuous residence beforr allowing a transfer would -prevent contracts that were entered into at the ballot, and to a large extent would be a harrier to dummy ism. ! . Mr Hogg, in supporting the amend- I ment, said his experience on a Land Board had proved to him the necessity of some such provision as was proposed in the to prevent dummyism. He added that greater power should be given to Land Boards to discriminate as to who were bona fide settlers. Mr Barber, in opposing the amendment, stated there were cases in which men who had gone on the land, found they were failures as settlers, and it was not desirable to make the residence conditions too long, as it was often in the best interests of these failures that they should get out of their lease as quickly as possible. The amendment was negatived by 47 to 18. The clause was passed unamended. Clause 28a provides that town and suburban land may be le,t for any time not exceeding 21 years at a rent of not less than 5 per centum on the upset price of the land or on such lesser price as the Minister, on the recommendation, of the Board, directs, with right to compensation for improvements at the expiration of the lease. After some discussion an amendment by Mr Herries, making it obligatory on

the Minister to offer town lands at auction, was rejected by 44 to 19. The Hon. Mr McNab moved an amendment to entitle a lessee of town land's to renewal. This was agreed to on the voices, and the clause as amended was passed by 49 to 17. Clause 29 — "All rural lands may be classified by the Board into first, second and third-class lands, and the capital value thereof shall be fixed, for the first class at a capital value not less than one pound per acre, second class not less than ten shillings per acre, third class not less than two shillings and sixpence per acre. This section ip in substitution of section 112 of- the principal Act, which section is repealed." Objection was raised to this clause by Mr Massey and other members, who urged that it was misleading to classify lands in this way. Mr Rutherford contended it would be better to classify lands as agricultural and pastoral. The Hon. Mr McNab stated the system had not been objected to to any extent, although it had heqji in operation for a long time. He recognised that objections were not so much to.- the Crown's classification, but to what ocJ curred subsequently. He would, howover, be prepared to consider amendments covering the objections in a subsequent clause. Mr Massey suggested that the provisions of the Maori Land for Settlements Act, 1905, which provided ! for four classes, should be adopted. He moved an amendment "That land be divided into four classes — First, agricultural; second^ mixed agricultural and pastoral ; third, pastoral land that cannot profitably be worked with an area under 5000 acres, and fourth, pastoral lands that cannot profitably be worked with an ar,ea under 15,000 acres." . On a division, the votes were equal — 31 for and 31 against. Following is the division list : — For the amendment (31): — Aitken, J. Allen, Bennett, Bollard, Dillon, Duncan, Field, Fisher, Flatman, A. L. D. Fraser, W.k Fraser, Greenslade, Guinness, Hardy, Herries, Hogg, Jennings, Lang> Lethbridge, Lewis, Major, Malcolm, Mander, Massey, Okey, Poland, Ross, Rutherford, Steward, Symes, Thomson. Against (31):-rr-E.,G. f Allefi, Barber, Barclay, Carroll, Co^lvinJ Ell, Fowlds, Graham, Gray,- Hanfn, Hogan, Hornsby, Houston, Izard, Kidd, Laurenson, La wry, McGowan, McLachlan, McNab, Millar, Ngata, Parata, Poole, Sjeddon, Sidey, Stallworthv, Tanner, Ward, Witty, Wood. The Chairman gave his vote in favour of the Bill and the amendment was rejected. , Replying to Mr pTi&ser,/' Mr McNaJb said he. could% not agree 'to postpone consideration of the clause, but on reaching clause 55 would endeavour to improve its condition. Clause 29 was passed on the voices. Clauses 30 to 38, Vhich are machinery clauses, were agreed to withont amendment. Progress was reported, and' the House rose at 12.40 a.m.