THE LEASEHOLD PLATFORM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9917, 4 August 1910, Page 1

THE LEASEHOLD PLATFORM.

LAID DOWN BY MEMBER FOR AVON. - RENEWABLE LEASE AND STATE INTEREST. [From Oub Cokresvondext.] WELLINGTON, August 3. "If the Government went to ytlre country on a clear-cut leasehold issue it would win all along the line.," said Mr G. W. Russell in a vigorous speech in the House this evening, " and in that connection I desire to place oil record the leaseholders' platform. It is as follows " That there shall be no interference with tho existing freehold rights excepting to repurchase at their fair market value lands that are required for closer settlement. That the Crown tenants shall pay not only interest iu the shape of rent, but also a fair profit to the State, considering the market value of their land, such profit to be appraised at periodical intervals, and in such appraisement tho tenant s improvements ara not to be taken into consideration, but only such increases of value a,s are altogether beyond the influence of tli© tenant's labour or capital. That the of the tenant toi transfer or sell, his interest shall continue subject to tho approval of the Land Board, but that the State shall protect the incoming tenant as regards the price paid, so that what the State gave the first tenant as cheap land shall not become dear land through the operation of goodwill charges to the second and subsequent tenants. That the State shall reserve to itself the right within reasonable and practical lines to control the questions of residence on the leased land, and also the farming of them, in order to prevent aggregation on the one hand and the exhaustion of the soil on the other. That where tenants transfer their leases for valuable considerations after the full value of improvements has been paid, the goodwill shall be fairly, but not necessarily equally, divided between the' State and the seller. That a land purchase fund bVi established, to consist of (a) profits on rentals under clause 2, (b) a moiety of the goodwill payments Tender clause 5, supplemented by (e) a special land tax consisting of, say, 5 per cent on. the profits of all siUes'ofland. that is to say, if a man bright a block of land for £SOO and sold it for £IOOO, out of his profit of £|oo lie would pay a of £2o to the qtate. This fund coulu be supplemented by either borrowing < ■ a vote from tli© Consolidated fund, or both. That the'leases 6hoUld s be for thirty-three years, with 'to " tlie 1 tSnant or his lioirs, but without the right of purchase. That in the case of bush ana swamp lands, whtnh are not immediately profitable - to the settler., he should be assisted in cash by the Government to carry out improvements, and the payment of the rent deferred until the land is made -profitable." This platform,. Mr Russell said, was fair to every okes in the community. It had been said that it was proposed to convert the whole of the dominion's land into the leasehold, but he 'and other leaseholders had never advocated any form of land nationalisation. The effect of throwing tho present leaseholds of Crown lands into the market, Mr Russell continued, would raise the rate of interest for every farmer and business man for many years. To throw such a mass of securities down would paralyse all industries, as it would draw away _in one direction, all tho money seeking investment. Mr Russell went on to say that only one man in oiglit in New Zealand was a freeholder, and the question the leaseholder was asking was what was to' become of the other seven? By what scheme did the Opposition propose to give the 25,000 landless adults in New Zealand a chance of getting on the land? The leasehold policy was the only practical ono, fully conserving tho interests of State and settlers without doing any injury to the freeholder. The question of tenure was net involved, becausq the production, acre for acre, was equal on the leasehold to that on the freehold. It gave the landless a chance to get on the land and prevented the aggregation of large estates, an evil that could not be prevented under the freehold.