LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7154, 19 July 1901, Page 3

LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

Under the Land for Settlement; Act Amendment Bill, procedure is provided with regard to the compulsory taking of land, and for dealing with unrepresented absent claims. In order to. prevent any evasion or avoidance of the- provisions of the principal Act, which . gi \ ; the right to an ojyner to select and retain any limited part of an estate to be acquired bjf the Crown, it is provided thait the area of the whole estate shall be computed as at the commencement of negotiations for purchase, and no subsequent disposition, jof an estate, or any part of it, shall operate to defeat the powers of the Crown, to acquire the land.' -

THE MONEY-LENDERS BILL.

The ■ Money -lenders Bill, .introrluml b}the'Minister of Public Works and circu-lated,-.it is proposed, shall come into fence on Jan. 1 next. It provides that where proceedings are taken by a money-lender for the recovery of money, the Court may revise the transaction if it considers it harsh and unconscionable, and may alter ifc if. it thinks fit. Similar powers may also be exercised in regard to a money -lenders' proof, in bankruptcy proceedings. Every money-lender must be. registered only under his own or his usual trade name, and with all the addresses at which he carries on business, and 1 may only ■-'.catty oil his busi--ness 1 da* that .name and at tihose >addf ease's, under * penalty for a breach -of the^provisiont of ; £100 for- the first offence rind three 1 months' imprisonment for the second or subsequent. offence. I .' The penalty ior inducing «"person to borrow- money by "false representations :is imprisonment ■ for " any term not exceeding two years, with or without lard labour, or a penalty not exceeding £600,' or 'both.