An Open Letter to the Electors of New Zealand

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLV, Issue 6218, 5 December 1914, Page 3

An Open Letter to the Electors of New Zealand

( I'er favour' Tuapeka 'Times.) Mii iIA.SSEV'ij LAiND LAWS AS THEY AFFECT T.UF OMABAiIA LFi-uSEEiS AiND OTllElt WEALTH V LESSEES. l'ellow electors, a good deal of dust is being raised to blind your eyes to the real significance of Clause 17 of' lust peal's Laud Act Amendment, and also other land enactments passed by the Alassey Government-. Let mo point out to you what they signiiy according to the law as Jfr ilassey has amended it.

lhe Lessee of lOmarama, a lady resident in Loudon, has this statutory right given her by law. Lp-on the, subdivision ot' that run she can select, in delianee of Board or Minister, uny subdivision she chooses, and 1 take it' on her own choice oi tenure at upset, and against all comers. What is more, it the ground is Ciown lands, not set aside as endowment, sho can purchase the whole subdivision for cash and alienate it for all time from the Crown. That is the law as recorded in clause hi oi the Land Act Amendment, 1914.. Let me give you another instance. In i'uupeka district there is a gentleman, who owns some 12,(J00 of freehold and also holds a big pastoral area. When his lease thereof expires he also has the mandatory right to pick a subdivision, and if the land happens not to.Jje endowment,, he can purchase the whole subdivision for cash, and' add'it to'his 12.000 acres of freehold. Another illustration. In the case of the well-known Puketoi runs, some of the choicest land in Central Otago. The leases are .held by a gentleman and his wife. Mark this, I have 'every respect for the gentleman in question who is a line citizen, and I merely use the case as illustrative of thelegislation. Both this gentleman and wife can pick a sub-division each, arid; neither Board nor Minister ,aan provent them. Ihose" are the facts, and. clause 17, passed whilst the Otago Land Hoard was trying to prevent ani absentee lady to pick the eyes out of (Jmarama, has made her right to do so mandatory, and destroyed the Land Board's powers to prevent abfrom even buying for cash such subdivisions as are not protected by being endowment lands.—l a m, i&c., a, j ' J- Ji RAMSAY. ; Alexandra, Nov, 2[7th, 1914,--