LAND BILL.

Waipa Post, Volume IV, Issue 159, 1 November 1912, Page 3

LAND BILL.

AS AFFECTING TEASDALE SETTLEMENT.

A good deal of doubt exists as to how the new Land Bill now before the Upper House will affect the lessees of Teasdale Settlement sections. The following wire from the member for

Waikato (Mr J. A. Young) will help to clear the matter up. It is as follows:—"Concerning Teas-r dale settlement lands, freehold in Bill applies to renewable leases only. These will be

granted on acturial basis. The original value applies to L.l.P.'s under Land Act and not to settlement lands copy of Bill posted."

The position therefore is that on the passing of the Land Bill all the Teasdale Settlement renewable leaseholders will be

able to acquire the freehold if desired. The LLP. tenants will be provided for in next year's Bill. The question of what it will cost to acquire the freehold has now been made quite clear. Roughly

'it will be the original value plus one-fifth of tie increased value. That is to say, if the original

value was £IOO and the preset value is £2OO, it wili cost £l2O to acquire the freehold, provided that nearly the whole of the 33 years' lease has yet to run. If, say, 2 or 3 years of the lease has expired, it will cost, say, £2 or £3 more, the price for the freehold increasing as the unexpired term of the lease decreases. Itmay be asked, Why does the Crown part with a section worth £2OO for £120? That is where the absolute fairness of Mr Massey's Bill comes in. The present lessee has by virtue of his lease the right to the advantages of the increase (£100), until the expirv of his 33 year term. The Crown cannot claim it till then, so that if he pays the Crown £2O cash thirty-three years before it is due, it is, at compound interest at 5 per cent equal to £looin 33 The State, therefore, gets" equal to £2OO for the section while the tenant only pays £l2O. The balance £&o is the value of the goodwill of the lease. An equitable and just arrangement indeed.