THE COMING LAND BILL

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14284, 26 August 1910, Page 7

THE COMING LAND BILL

"WHAT'S INTIL'T?" "Guessers," with and without a, license, says the Wellington "Post/ 1 have been busily speculating about the probable positives and negatives, or mixtures of positives and negatives, in the Promised Land Bill. Sir Joseph Ward's announcement yesterday that the Bill would be in the open within a few days has stimulated both parties, , and it has been plain to-day that members' thoughts will be landwards from now onward. As Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Massey remarked to a "Post" representative to-day that lie did not care to discuss the possible provisions of the Bill. He stated, however, that it was very little use making conjectures as to what the intentions of the Government really were. The Government seemed to ha.ve a difficulty in making up its mind not only on the land question, but on almost every question that had to be dealt with by Parliament. From his reading of the signs he was inclined to believe that the Bill would be on the same lines as the last one, and if it was on those lines it would have a very stormy passage in the House of Representatives. "There seemed to be a sort of implied j threat in the Prime Minister's remarks yesterday," continued Mr. Massey, "but we are getting accustomed to that sort of tiring, and we take very little notice of it." In Mr T. E. Taylor's view the Land I Bill appears as a freehold pill. "This is j pure conjecture," he said at the outset, and added that ho based his conjecture | on the occurrences of last year and the display of temper in the House of Representatives when the last Bill was inI trodueed. "1 shall not be surprised," he declared, "to see the Bill containing provisions for the limitation of area or value on the lines of Mr M'Nab's Bill of 1907. I shall not be surprised to find some proposal for an increment tax, a general increment tax, applying alike to Crown and private lands. It appears to me that the concession of the socalled freehold, us desired by the Opposition, may bo coupled up with a | proposal for a general increment tax, I and for limitations in value, with some expectation that both the House and the country will agree to them." ! Mr. G. Llturenson, a well-known leaseholder, said he was not speaking "J", the book, but he believed that the Bill would not interfere with national endowment lands. 'He thought, however, that m all probabilitv it would make concessions with the 999 years' leases m the direction of giving tenants the right to acquire the freehold on terms which would give the State some share of the unearned increment. As a set-off against these concessions, he had an impression that- the Government would take some steps in the direction of taxing the unearned increment of all lands, freehold or leasehold for the future. Mr Laurenson remarked that the Government had to face the fact that any attempt at retrograde land legislation would be met with the strongest opposition from the larger section of the Government party. Anv attempt to force such legislation through the House

would meet with disaster. It could he done only with .the help of the Opposition, and if that was done so far as the Government was concerned, it could write Ichabod over the top of its door.