Taranaki Herald. THE NEW LAND POLICY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 14510, 13 November 1909, Page 2

Taranaki Herald. THE NEW LAND POLICY.

The new land policy outlined by Sir Joseph Ward in his Financial Statement is a fairly tomplettsurrender to Mr. Maseey and the freehold party in the House aud country. " The colours which were nailed to the mast have been struck; the back which was to the wtill has been turned; and the land nationalise™ have been thrown over- Recognising that the growing political influence of this last-named party lias caused some misgiving among propertyowners, Sir Joseph has .emphatically stated that "every man who now owns a freehold is entitled to it, and tinder no conditions would the State be justified- ii' taking' any step to weaken hii^ freehold tenure." This declaration will he welcomed by all winnow own laud. Passing on tc describe his future land policy the Premier laid down two,grea J principles which, he 'said, tin State should observe — first, Tsuit ably close settlement must be pro moted aud encouraged by every reasonable m»ans; i>nd second; the Statfe mufet, in justice to its present and future people as a whole, reserve to them some part of that value which, public-expen-diture will create in the lands it is now parting with to private hands. After declaring that nr part of the niue million acres ol land constituting the nationaPendowment will be disposed of on ! any tenure except that of leasehold, Sir Joseph went on to say that, subject to conditions hb to ' limitation of area and occupation', he proposed to offer the' 'option of the freehold to lease-in-per-petuity tenants aud holders of renewable leases, in either case whether of ordinary Crown lands ior of lauds acquired uudt'r the j Land for "Settlements Act. All I ordinary Crown lands offered in i future will be on the optional system. So far s.p good. Dealing particularly with l.i.p. tenants, three options are to be offered them: To retain their present tenure; to purchase the freehold within two years at a price equal to the original valuation plus one half of the difference between that value and the. unimproved value at the date of exercising the option ; or to purchase the freehold at the original valuation subject to five recurving charges at intervals of "M years, the land to become an absolutely uncharged freehold at the end of 165 years from the date of^the leasts The last option may, we think, be dismissed us too complicated and too lonsin operation to meet with any fnvour. Tfee choice is thus narrowed to the first two options. A faction of tenants have claimed the right to purchase the freehold at the original valuation, which is asking for too much. Mr. "Mnssey's proposal, and the one we have conrtibli'iitly advocated, is that the tenants should be allowed to acquire the freehold at the original valuation, plus the difference between a four per cent, anxl a five per cent, rental capitalised. l«\>ur per cent, is the rental the tenants have paid, and five per cent, is what they would have

paid had they taken up their laud on the occupation with right of purchase system, ' and we hold that it would be fair to all parties to allow them to exchange to the latter tenure onthe terms we have advocated. Sir Joseph Ward proposes a compromise between this and the contention of those who hold that the tenants should pay present value if they wish to acquire the freehold. We welcome the concession of the freehold principle, but do not think it fair to ask tenauts who have by their own exertions made the value of their holdings to pay the State for that value. There are hundreds of them in Taranaki whose holdings have increased in value almost solely by their own efforts and to no appreciable extent by public expenditure. Where there has been little or no increase in the unimproved value tenants may exercise the .right on the terms now proposed to purchase" the freehold, but very few tenants, we imagine, will be disposed to exchange the l.i.p. tenure for the freehold if they have to pay a heavy price for the privilege, to pay, in fact, a second time for what they have already paid for in cash or exertion- The l.i.p. tenure is a bad one for the State, and it would be good business, we think, to encourage tenants to exchange on much easier terms than those now proposed. The terms offered to holders of renewable leases ore open to the objection named above, that they are too complicated, but the renewable lease is not nearly so good a tenure for the tenant as the 1.i.p., and the new proposal may therefore meet with some favour. A few words about Sir Joseph Ward's great principles to be observed, the promotion and encouragement of settlement, and the securing to the State of some part of the" value which public expenditure vill create. He appears to have some difficulty in reconciling the two. He seems *tc realise ihaf »!iv freehold is the best tenure for the promotion and encouragement of settlement, and at the same time to fear that in parting with the freehold the State is losing the increment public expenditure creates. Really this is -not so. In granting a lease in perpetuity the State parts much more effectually with this increment than in selling the fee simple, for in the latter case it not only receives payment for the land, but it is at liberty to tax the la nil for all time, not. on the original value at" which the sale was made, but at the value from time to time. And another consideration is that a prosperous freeholder contributes more to the general revenue of the. country than a struggling leaseholder. Generally speaking, however, the new policy will commend itself to the freehold party, who, if it does not concede all their wishes, will thankfully accept the important concession it does make.