HAWKE’S BAY LAND BOARD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2117, 17 February 1908, Page 1

HAWKE’S BAY LAND BOARD.

ADDRESS BY MU. EUSTACE.. LANE. • ',, s An address to Crown tenauUj mid others wns del i\ ('rod by Al l - . Eustace Lane, a candidate lor the Land Boa id election, lit the -Farmers! Union Club rooms;, on Saturdi.v alforuoon. Air. W. Dover,v occupied the olniir, , , . ~ Tim following us tbo text of l lm ndd mss : '. . , “1 thought' by coming to Gisborne, being :i Cjovernnii’iit tonnnt like yourselves, I'might i. ecu re some support and assure you 1 have the necessary energy to represent this very largo land district. J am a practical working far,lnor, now driving my own teams anil working my own ilogs, but [ have also been moderately successful as a business man and as a writer. One of my teams is idle at homo till I return, and t arn anxious to get my autumn crops in, but I have volunteered .lor this vacancy because i have felt that I had special qualifies* .jutikiiis, and even if 1 do not win your confidence to-day, I shall have done so before leaving Gisborne. I know something of vour district and back country already, lor I walked through it last winter with my swag on my back, over the Urowbra and down the stock track on to Alotti and jOpotikr. It has bocm decided,- by the Government- of this country that the tenants of the Crown shall ho represented on tho Board which administers their affairs. This is a,fair and wise step, and calculated to restore confidence in a Government which, originally professing Liberalism, had seemed to some of us to ho departing from the broad democratic principles conceived by Richard Hidden at tin l commencement of bis political career. Only a year ago the Alinister for Lands was touring this North Island and threatening lease in perpetuity holders that unless they exchanged their leases for' the renewable lease the restrictions would be strictly enforced. Now, I bad a personal experience when J arrived in New Zealand, an intending settler, which opened my eyes to the dangers attending Stato ownership of land, and though my mind is absolutely free from any feeling of personal bitterness, it is Unit personal insight into the working of land laws, that peep behind the political scenery, that introduction to political kicks which now brings mo to the front, seeking to guard tho tenants’ rights and privileges anil to protect them from any harsh enforcement of restraint. You will be interested to hear how this election is regulated, and I wil read you the chief points, I may add that a candidate if elected must vacate his scat in two years. The Board is at present constituted of very conscientious gentlemen, and one of them, Air Hyde, is also a member of the Land Purchase Board, so that the body which administers the land also lias a hand in purchasing it. However, the provineo is so large and now contains so many settlers (there are 1200 votes) that I

fail to see how these gentlemen can be expected to have more than' a superficial knowledge of the lonants and their farms; whereas the Commissioner gives the whole of his time to administering Crown lands, and consequently it has been said that there is only one man on tho Board, and that is the Commissioner. This is not a reflection on the other members of the Board, but points rather to the necessity of having the tenants especially represented by one of themselves so situated as to be able to attend meetings held at Napier or Gisborne or Daimovirkc. Tho duties of tho Board are legion, and commences from the time estates are purchased or Crown lands thrown open.. Settlements have to bo surveyed into sections, and various rents fixed, all to the satisfaction of the Board. Applicants’ qualifications and means have to bo considered and preference given as ttie law provides. At the monthly meetings very heavy business sometimes comes before the Board, and yesterday in Napier one of the many knotty points came up for decision—it was with regard to leases of small grazing runs which arc falling in—they really expired six months ago. The rent is now being raised from the Ist of March, when new leases start and the question was, should not the tenants pay up the difference in rent from September, when the old lease expired ? The question has been referred to the Crown Solicitor for instruction, but had the tenants’ representatives been on the Board he might have given a vote which would have decided it without reference to Wellington. It has beoil said to me, “What good is a tenants’ representative? What can he do against four?” Well that depends upon the man you select, and it is not what lie can do against four at all, for it would bo very unwise' to forthwith create an opposition on tlie Board—though I Hold that there are occasions when the best tactics to adopt are plain unvarnished statements of fact —to take the cow by the horns and come straight to the point. Yesterday, in Napier an application to be allowed to transfer an l.r.p. lease was made by a man in one of my districts, it happened to be at his house 1 bad dined tho day before, and I knew that his application for relief, which was accompanied with a doctor’s certificate, was genuine; but the decision of tho Board was that they could not grant- a- transfer. Here is something Hie tenants’ representative might have done. In fact, I am confident that lie could be of a great more assistance to settlements than the M.P. for the district, seeing that bo has always the opportunity of making suggestions, and urging the Board to bring its influence to bear with regard to the establishment of schools that arc wanted as at Alangatahi; telephone systems as at Argyll; of the construction of a few miles of road as at Elstbrope. ■ The law relating to transfers is now very strict indeed. A lands for settlement tenant may not transfer for five years, and even a. Grown tenant may not trims for for two, nor take a partner, nor surrender within two years; hut 1. feel that a tenant’s representative might somewhat ease the situation, and justly so, seeing that a successful applicant at a ballot is disqualified for a period of five years from agnin going to a ballot. It seems to me that is the way to cheek specution and givo a lair chance to all to go on to the land, if they really want to farm. If they wish to soil I would allow them to do so, but they could only buy into another farm, not ballot into one. But the law at present says they must not even sell—which scorns hard to me, if there is a substantial rise in land values, which a man wants to take advantago of, tho same as a freeholder belore it drops again. Possibly the Government will not enforce tlie,so clauses more strictly than those of the old Act .which was similarly worded. It was illegal upclcr the old Act to

transfer a soetion immediately after ballot or to take a tonunt in common—but it was done, and now that disqualification follows it scorns more reasonable to mo. At . yesterday’s Board meeting another decision was come to, which if correctly reported, strikes mo as not Only harsh enlorcemenb, hut actually contrary to law. An application was made Lo transfer which was in order except that the buyer licitl a section winch did • not adjoin. Now there is a clause in the new Act —1 know it quite well, for 1 helped to got it inserted—which permits a man to acquire a second section even if it is not contiguous, and the old law allowed him to do so if it adjoined. Here again the tenants representative might have 'been ol use. And I should liko to refer again, before leaving this heading, to the assiktanco which your representative might bo in urging on the Board the necessity of providing roads in the baokblocks. I was astounded as I trudged along that -abandoned road from R-mitahuna at tho tremendous mistake which had been made by abandoning its construction after such an enormous sum of money -had boon spent upon it. I represented tlie matter very strongly in the press when I reached Napier, and I feel Unit as a member of tbo Board that I could get the Board to make its influence felt in the right quarter. That is some of tbo seed, gentlemen, which I hopewill take this fine growing weather. 1 hope I have been able to rouse you to a sonso of tlie importance and usefulness of this election. It is very difficult for me, a stranger almost, to enlist your sympathy, but 1 shall try very hard during the next few days to obtain it, to make you feel that 1 am quite a local mail as well as a Crown tenant like yourselves, and a working farmer of only moderate means.” The speaker concluded by urging reasons why preference should bo given him on the polling day. At, the conclusion ot the address, a number of questions were asked and answered. Asked again in regard to small grazing runs, the sneaker replied that when the terms expired they had a right to renewal for a further 21 years. Some discussion ensued, and it appeared that the speaker was conversant with a different grazing run lease to that obtaining here. “Are you in favor of L.I.P. tenants having the right to purchase at the original valuations?” Air. Lane replied that the question did not affect this election, as it was not within the province of the j,nnd Board, but speaking personally lie said, “Yes. Outside of this matter of the election altogether, 1 am positive about it, but wait until I come before you as a politician.” On the motion of the chairman, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr. Lane.