The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, 20th SEPTEMBER, 1907. THE LAND BILLS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13396, 20 September 1907, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, 20th SEPTEMBER, 1907. THE LAND BILLS.

The objections to the Government's land proposals, contained in an interview which is published in this issue, deserve the serious consideration, not only of the " social past," who need look for little sympathy in these days, but ateo of the more numerous class of landowners in a smaller way of business who are not. unlikely to find .their interei-ts aversely affected if the provisions of Mr McNab's Bills are agreed to by the Legislature. The Minister's ideas have already been considerably modified by the Lands Committee especially in regard to the resumption of estates, but the criticism which we print istill applies in principle to t-hs modified Bill. "Mr -McNab has, for instance, been obliged to surrender the scale of compensation which 'lie proposed to pay to dispossessed owners of property. He was only going to allow 10 per cent, over the valuation in cases where the valua oi the resumed estate did not exceed £25,000. Between £25,000 and £50,000 the margin was to be cut do.wn to 5 per cent., while over £50,000 only 24 per cent, wai; to be allowed. That scale was thrown out by the' Lands Committee which drew a line at £50,000,' under which the owner i>3 to be allowed 10 per cent, over and above his valuation, while over the- £so,GOO,the rate will be 5 per cent. As. a matter of abstract justice, we are unable to see any ground for making this distinction, but at any rats the Lands Committee has been less flagrant in its injustice than the Minister proposed to be. There, still remains, however, .the complaint against tlie system of arriving at tlio value of any property which the Government may decide to acquire. Hitherto every owner of a desirable estate has lived under a sword of Damocles, but he .lias had tne satisfaction of knowing that before it could descend, lie would have a fair chance of receiving the full market value of his land at the date of its acquirement. But under Mr McNab's Bill a new terror is added to life life, which can be guarded againeb only by the means described! in our interview this morning. Once the Bill becomes law, every owner will be obliged, in self-defence, to keep his valuation at the highest possible level, lest at any time the Government should make up its mind to turn him out of his 'holding at a price slightly in advance of the value at which it stands in the books of the! Valuation Department. Our informant har; nc.t said it in so many words, but obviously the apprehension with "\\liich lie regards tlio new proposal, arises from the possibility that! the Government officials will keep their valuations down to bedrock, at least in the eases of properties which there is a chance of the State resuming for clcss settlement. In the it. had v been to the Government's interest to screw up values, but clearly enough its interest in future will lie in the opposite direction —wherever .it contemplates the purchase of land for settljment. The onus of hasping up values will therefore bo transferred to the property-holders, with the unpleasant possibilities referred to in our interview. We. must confess that to us those contingencies sewn rather finely drawn, but we are not prepared to deny absolutely that they may occur. A much more real objection, in our opinion, is the point, made by our informant respecting the unfairness of resuming an estate at a valuation which may posisibly have been fixed several yeans before the actual date of resumption. That ii* a point to which ws have not .seen attention directed so far, but it only needs to b.e mentioned in order to-be appreciated, and we hope that it will not .1)3 overlooked when the Land Bill comes up for consideration in the House. Simple justice demands that the value of any estate acquired for settlement, purpose should be the value at. the time it is acquired, and the only way of securing that. <nd is to have it. valued when tlio Government wklkis to displace the owner. I hat consideration alone is enough to condemn the. Minister's proposal to fix the buying pi ice at the late valuation plus a percentage, and practically forces us back to Sir John Mackenzie's system which Mr McNab is seeking to improve off thu statute book.