THE LAND BILL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13420, 18 October 1907, Page 5

THE LAND BILL.

Per Press Association. VALUATION AND COMPENSATION. THE COMPULSORY I'OWKRS. WELLINGTON, October 17. On meeting at 2.30 p.m., i.lie Hour's went into committee on tlie Land Laws Amendment, Bill. The Hon. .Mr Mo.Nab moved a. new clause in substitution of'clause 66, which provides (1) That in pursuance of any requisition gazetted After the last day of March, 1908, Am compensation shall, be payable to any/person by'reason of taking land compnlsorily other than the compensation ivjs-efi.sed' arid determined in accordance with the provisions l of this section; (2) compensation etiaTT be separately assessed in respect, to unimproved value l of land and improvements; ■ (3) the unimproved value to be deemed to be the amount assessed in the district, valuation rpll in force under: the Land Valuation Act, 1896, at time.'when the. requisition of taking the land .is gazetted.; (4) ir the iland taken or part thereof 'is ' not separately valued, but, is only part -of larger areas so valued, the taken be cl?emed a proportion of the larger ami as the Court determines; (5) the, value of the improvements .shall be assessed as at the date 'of gazetting the. requisition ; (6) in every case shall be added to the . total the ajmoiint payable' in respect value, calculated as . follows (a) not ■exceeding £50,000, a percentage of 10 per celit; thereof, '(b) exceeding £50,000, a. percentage of 10 per tent. in. respect of £50,000, and of 5 per cent.' in respect' of the residue; (7) the owner of any estate or interest separately valued in the valuation. roll may intimate to the Valuei'General he requires tho valuation to be increased,, and the-, Valuer-Gene) a£ sert ..valuation on the Y subsidiary .'roll ; ; (8) every-fiiich. notice to be given either in March or within one month after - -the , Valuer-General -iui-trfi.es a revision of .the valuation.; (9) no- requisition fpr taking , land to "be gazetted at any tim? within" ;one month after • the data of the. Vahier-Geneial's notice of revision; (10).: improvements and unimproved value tp, -have- .the: same: meanings?• its under : the Valuation:: of:- Land .:Aet- Amerid)irjeiit Act, ! 1900; v ; (.11).. . wh: n the - valuation rbll .contains valuations ,;of; unimproved: land 1 ' in re«>p,ett to separate..interes,tS'} of ■t'vyo or mbre ! persons,the value of -.such, land shall be I [deemed ,fo .be tim aggregate • 'amount "of such . Separate ■valuations 1 r' - : (12) ' in ' 'every case shall:- be- added to., the -total''amount of, 'eompeneation payable a- aiiiii fequal i,to [ 2£; ..per cent. ,by v way,: of - for coiiipulsory: taking and for any loss iricurred thereby. • •; -• • '

. The Hon.. Mi*• McNab, in explaining- the clause,i-aid .-that;it ' Was desired to 1 give right- to 'raise;the valuations to. atiy.'extent they pleased,-■ and the valuation - so placed; upon'the '-land •: would be accepted by the ' Government in''acquiring land' under the''- compulsory: powers. The; improvements;. ,would valned (separately, and tli-e land . tax would be. paid on;'the .owners' own valuation.''

: -Mr Massey contended that 13*9 new clause was no improvement, oii the '.•existing 'Taw,- but rather .-the reveree - except from the ; point of view, of the taxation-depar triient, .the Government,. - or*'the single t-axers,- as it - proposed to- increase 'Very seriously the taxation on people who were already 011 the land; ■ Tliis • wnra without question the most 'in the'Bill from the point of view : of "the settlers.- H-£j moved to strike -out the fi-rat part , of the original clause as a prior amendment. \

Mr James Allen said that tlis amendment. wo,a moved .with the object-of deciding .whether any -alternative .should-I>V made in the law regarding the taking-'-of land compulsonlv. ■ This:- clause 1 applied to small a.« well as , large ■ estates. 'He characterised the propoeakas a cruel 1 one;-; . The. Hon. Mr MoisTab pointed;.>out that under the existing -law/ lamko.wnerii , were allowed to swear: anything in a .court. A land-owner swore to- one .valuation-for ar,ssssment purppsssi ~say..r£6- per- acre, and i if, jthe. Govepimentulesired'..-toyacnuire the j land .he would sweqr that £9 .per.-.aei®. would not..bp a circumstance. , The clause would ojierata . fairly.,: ■ The 'Valuation would 1 be for three purposes-,,, namely, Mrid 'ax, compulsory purchase,: and death duties; and.. no . other j:rarpose.-;■ Department had .not got, officers -who were Mr T, Mackenzie said the reason why the clause was proposed .was, because-the depart-' ment had not got officers, who, were capable! of judging -when they '.had r a good. .value offered them. The Government, would-not trust the courts or the man who had got to sell the land; The consequence was that they were going to place-this Act,on the ■Statute Book. He urged that if they de- , ■sired'to .reach -a certain class of estate they should not- apply : it to every .estate. : Mr Lang contended that if this, clause became law each farmer would have, to place < an extra value on his lartd over- what , it, was worth m' order to "prevent his land being taken from him, consequently lie would have to pay more in i:ates. What the Government were giving away in the direction --of' the tariff they" were taking back under the land proposals. ' , Mr Hornsby said that ;the,' Opposition ' members had contended Vlieh. the Cheviot proposals were made,'- that' they would prove a-failure, 'admitted ' they had been a good thing for> the country; Time and again men had - stated in the Compensation. Courts that r tlieir-lands were of far higher value than they had, previously in tlie-iAssessment Court.' ' This clause would bring, about the much-desired effect of making,- people pay a fair taxation ■ which in. - the. past-they. "had successfully evaded. He supported;: the clause because lie believed it would end the practice which amounted to a> .scandal of. ." ringing in }' witnesses to bolster up the value of liind in .the .Compensation Courts .when such, land by :the State. ,y , : -, Mr Hahan contended "that the clause w.as, an equitable one. In the- past, the.,country had paid fon land '■ through .the,nose." and > most outrageous prices had -consequently been-paid.; but this state of affairs jvould - be ended when the clause was: placgd pn . the Statute Book. Mr Izard contended that there was not a single farmer in the colony who if asked would not admit that the vatee of. his land was in excess of the valuation placed on l it by the Valuation: Department, He intended to support- the clause. * : Mr W. Fraser contended thai there was not a single country in the Avorld which levied taxationp on the - full market value of land, yet this wife what the. Government, proposed' to do under the clause. It was recognised that : land should but not on the full, market value; The Premier explained that the system of-taking ..lands, had proved .unsatisfactory and the state of atfaife ' that existed ;was jjucli as-to inake the Lands fox*-Settlement Act exceedinglv hard'to operate, He contended that tliis attempt to create a feeling of . uneasiness the small farmers was unjustifiable. The cilfallest estate- that . had bf-cn ■ compulsorily- acquired under. ' the Lands for Settlement-s Act was acres ,in extent. It was absurd to say that this.clause: would cause . uneasiness as when the land was acquired- compulsorily the .owner was allowed by h\w to reserve 100 acres; of..firstclais land and this he explained lneaut that he v could reserve by application of tliAgridiron (he did not use the teiw ofli?n-. sively) 2000 acres. He added that if! the; valuations were fair the land-owner had; no "cause for fear, and if they were unfair lie had the right under the clause to have the valuation revise® and increased,

Mr Lang contended that under clause 13 of the Act., the Government,-could aequna small farms and oil the owner could roliorvei was 10 sieves. Cltiuxft 13 dealt with acquiring land for homes and included'lands within 15 miles of a I.own. Mr Baume, in supporting the clause, said one estate acquired by the Government had been valued' for assessment.- at £'20,760, yot the Government- had had to pay £48,000 for it, and in four cither ea'slos the payment for estates, so acquired had -been''considerably, over the value for assessment purposes. if)n the Houso resuming at 7.30 Mr, W. Hevries pointed out that a. difficulty arose in increasing the valuation of land, as frequently no notice given of the intention to hold a Court, and a land-owner tlul not know of the Court being- held' until it had actually sat and ,Jhei valuation fixed, which was for two years. He contended that, the proposals would be most burdensome on settlers and. particularly so in regard to local rates. ,- ;i Mr Duncan contended that owners of large taken over by the Government. had been paid more than was n. fair price for lands. The Owners of the Flaxbourne estate had received £30,000 mora than they; should liaye. The Hatuma. estate' was /another ease, He thought. the effect of the clause would be to raise' the price of. estates higher-than ever before. The Hon. Mr -MeNab said-his aim wan that there should be a fail" relationship between the price at which the Government bought the land and the_ amount tt-t. whicli'it was valued for taxation. When • the Bill was on , the-Statute ,Book the experience :of it iii practice would be to show that' if the Government ervred. oil any side they -erred against small farmers in theiV efforts to get , from the lar&e estates the land that: would satisfy their genuine demand for land for settlement; ' . ■ The Prewfer stated' that discussion which had been in progress for: four hours and a half had been, largely u repetition and reiteration of tlia same views as they had' heard earlievin the day. " "' ' Mr Marfiey'fi 1 amendment was negatived bv 45 votes to 21 .Votes. "The Minister then moved the _ new clause. , ' v : . Mr James Allen nipv<?<l.an amendment to sub : clause 5 (with*; a view to 'substitute iiig Public Works Act, 1894, for . Lands for . Settlement,. Act in asse.r.sing the value of improvement's. The amendment was negatived by 4-5 votes to •22 votes, and the. sub-clauae pafused. ■ -i -.. ->*• i-. , ■ -Mr Hervies moved an • aiir.iendment to provide that if: the total amount payable does riot- exceed £15,000 , the percentage payable, shall be 15 per ,c^nt., ; his object, being to . protect the Asm&ll.f-farmer. The amendment was negatived by 38'votes to 23 vctas, ( , Mr James'i Allen mov<*d jtn -amendment" to- provide that the. subsidiary roll shall nokjbe .used for the purposes ot assessing; death - duties.' . Negatived, by4l yotgjj, tp, IX yptss. ,:i ■ . Tiiei Hon. Mr r< McNab : ployed 'an ftddition to,. sub-clause 7; to provide that the! subsidiary roU- shall only be available) for Land ' Act /purpose's. • .-.. ... ■., ; ; ■: , Agreed to on the voices. , . , ! Clause 66 tie amended passed oil til© voicegv' '• :. '-i .O'iii

G'laupo 67 to 73.. passed unamended. * mended. rv

-.. New clause 7.4 dealing with loaves of grazing-. farms at Cheviot : paused . • uim-' mended. Progress was imported.: .. i ; The House rose at 1 o'clock. . >

TRADES AND LABOUR-VIEW. '■ :i 'tlx ••• . DUNEDIN, October 17. The, following: ; i!eso'lutioa>=wa3.,';pass€!d.a't ! to night's meeting of the Trades and Labour Qounpil —' 'That-this mfeeti-ng believes^itluvt the time is opportune for t-otal/abnlltinlif of the sale of land-for speculative l purposes, .in th a speuil.sor m every instance goes »' for the -nneaipied which-..is causedby. tile, settlement of Qii-.thftiJniidrand' by theuv industry: theiiefortuvit. .shoul^; 1 bs-i long ,to the people and not the speculator,? The Council fuKther urges upon the, Government, to- legislate; ., making it: ft criminal, offence for. any Psgjjn buy W sell land/for sp.eciihi&Vev.pw'poses."