0.—4

XXVII

We believe that interference with existing titles in any direction is dangerous and likely to establish a precedent which would have an unsettling and extremely unsatisfactory effect on the people of the colony. If a title can be granted to-day and repudiated to-morrow by either the State or its tenants, we fail to see how any stability can exist or solid progress be made. Your Commission would therefore lay down the principle that no alteration of existing tenures should be allowed in any case, except on payment of full compensation therefor. The provisions of a title should" be held sacred, excepting in cases where it is found to conflict with the interests of the community as a whole. Then, and then only, on the payment of the fullest compensation, should it be terminated or its provisions varied. We recommend that provision should be made by statute securing to all tenants under proper limitations the right to full valuation for their improvements, and this should be made to apply to tenants on all public reserves. It must be recognised that there are two interests in the lands of the colony —the State's and the tenant's—and a system of tenure to be fair and equitable must conserve the interests of both parties; therefore, all future leases for Crown lands should contain a provision for the periodical readjustment of values. It is of the utmost importance that a large area of land should be maintained under a leasehold tenure by the Crown for the benefit of men with limited means who are unable to buy freehold, and, as the area of land remaining in the hands of the Crown is very limited, it would be a wise provision to retain it for that purpose. A serious objection to parting with the freehold of these lands is the probability that they will be required for closer settlement in the future. An area which is considered moderate to-day very probably will be too large when the population of this colony will have doubled or trebled, and will then require to be repurchased at a greatly enhanced figure. The high prices being paid for the acquisition of the large estates to-day should be an object-lesson in this respect. Two things stand out as essential to the successful occupation of land—viz., security of tenure and good access. The evidence taken by the Commission in the bush districts of the colony emphasize the fact that the question of roads is of far greater importance to the settler, and a far greater factor in his success or failure than any question of tenure. The remaining Crown lands are situated in districts remote from settlement, and, from their rugged and inaccessible nature, will require a large expenditure in roading, more especially m the bush districts, before settlement can be effected; in fact, in most cases the cost of satisfactory roading will exceed the value of the land. This was emphasized by Mr. Robinson, District Road Engineer, in his evidence before the Commission at Wellington, in dealing with the estimated cost of roading near Utiku, in the Awarua Block of Crown land, just opened for settlement. It is in the first few years of settlement that the settler requires the most assistance. Good roads should be afforded him immediately, or within a reasonable time of his taking up his holding. Any financial assistance required should be liberally afforded by "the Advances to Settlers Office, and for the first few years his contributions in the way of rent should be made as light as possible, even in some extreme cases an exemption altogether for a period up to ten years. It is on this system that your Commissioners believe that future settlement should proceed, and as a large expenditure by the State will be required to carry out its conditions —viz., good roads, and in some cases relief from rental for several years, a tenure which may possibly recoup the State in the future for this outlay, should be substituted for the present forms. We therefore recommend a lease in perpetuity, with readjustment of rental by arbitration at periods of, say, fifty years for the first term and subsequent periods of twenty-one years, the tenant's interests in his improvements to be fully conserved to him in all cases, the value of which to be also fixed by arbitration.