ENDOWMENT LANDS

Waikato Times, Volume 92, Issue 14263, 14 January 1920, Page 5

ENDOWMENT LANDS

DISABILITIES OF LEASEHOLD. THEIR SALE SUGGESTED. TO SECURE SUBURBAN AREAS. (By Telegraph.— Press Association.! AUCKLAND, Tuesday. In the course of his remarks on the future policy of the North Auckland Land Board, the Crown Lands Commissioner (Mr R. P. Orevillo) alluded to the difficulty of bringing many of th - jJoorer undeveloped lands m the Not t Auckland district under the Homcste-d Settlement scheme, to which they *oio suited, because of the fact that - were national'endowment lands **• could only be leased. Air Grcvillc remarked that the lands could not be dealt with by the Board while the National Endowment Act remained in its present form. He Kd .riven a lot of thought to the matter, ami was inclined to think that there was a question as to whether the - D 13 ter should not bo empowered to sell t ie poorer land where it was m the public interest to do so. The money thus realised could be invested in cither rural or suburban lands, where there would be a greater chance of the State getting the unearned increment and a bigger return. Where the lands were very poor there was not much inducement for settlers to take them up on leaco. knowing that after bringing them into profitable occupation the lands would not be their own. Moreover, there wa= the difficulty of financing on leasehold property. Men were paralysed in the matter of getting extra finance where their holdings were leasehold. These opinions, however, added Mr Grcville, were only his own. Mr Trounson (a member of the Board): I think they are the Board’s opinion, too. . The Commissioner further remarked that he did not doubt the wisdom ot settipg these lands aside as national endowments. Their sale would be a serious matter, but the value of the land could still be preserved. There was no doubt that a great deal of the land on the southern and northern lines would increase in value 100 per cent in the next ten years.