SETTLERS AND WORKERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2677, 6 December 1909, Page 2

SETTLERS AND WORKERS.

KEW AND IMPORTANT PROVISIONS.

The. Land for Settlements Administration Bill, introduced in tho House of Representatives provides for the alteration of the present system under which settlement' land is acquired by vest mo- in a separate corporation all such land already acquired, but reservina to the Crown tne administration, control, and disposal. All settlement land and moneys are to be invested in th.» Superintendent, and all sett.ement land is to be deemed Crown land miner the principal Act. "Wiit-h respect to money that has heretofore been raised by the Government- for land settlement purposes, the Audit Office is to certify to the total amounts which are to be entered in appropriate accounts as capital liabilities ot the Superintendent under the Bill, and credited by the Treasury in reduction of the public debt. . , , • For the purpose of raising money to carry on tne objects of the Bill, the Minister of Finance is empowered to issue debentures or other securities. The amount to be raised in any one year under the Act is limited to- one million sterling per annum. The assets and liabilities of the Superintendent under the Land for Settlements .Act are to be separate and distinct from those under 'the Advances Act, and money raised under the Bill is tc< he guaranteed by the Government . ° Provision is made for payment put of the advances accounts account of costs of raising loans, interest, and. repayment of debentures, stock, and other securities created in respect of money so raised. The Superintendent will be required each year to give .a detailed statement of "both the lands for settlement and advances to settlers accounts, and the relation of one "to the other. Under the Bill limitation of area is fixed as follows: —

Four hundred acres of land, or One thousand acres of second-class land ; or Two thousand five hundred acres of third-class land; or Two thousand five hundred acres of two or more such -classes, but without exceeding the limit of area fixed for each class.

The right by which section fifteen of the principal Act is conferred on the owner of an estate acquired to retain an area not exceeding the prescribed maximum shall not be exercisable unless the retained area contains a homestead.

The maximum area -which may be leased to the owner of land acquired is reduced to four hundred acres of firstclass land or one thousand acres of mixed classes (first, second, and third), but without exceeding the limit of area fixed for each class. The maximum area which under section 61 of tho principal Act may bo leased to a tenant of land acquired is hereby reduced to four hundred acres. Power to grant leases to employees in certain cases without competition shall only apply where the person employed by the late owner of the land was employed on the land when it was acquired, and had been continuously so employed for at least five years. In order to give greater facilities for homes and home farms for farm workers it is provided that the land may be compulsorily taken within any borough having a population of not less than five thousand inhabitants, or any town di»triefc having a population of not less than one thousand inhabitants, or within a radius of twenty miles of Suon borough or town distret, or ten acres in any other case. Sucli right shall be deemed to be waived unless in his claim for coihpensation the -owner assorts the- right, and specifies with reasonable particularity. the area, situation, and boundaries of the land he proposes to select and retain. Land so taken may be set apart for workers’ dwellings, or leased, on the renewable lease system to workers. The land is to be classed into urban, suburban, and rural allotments, in areas not to exceed half an, acre, five acres, and ten acres resj>ectively. Persons successful at -a ballot, and disposing of or leasing an allotment are to be debarred from, participating in another ballot for five years, and every applicant who obtains', an allotment of rural land wall be required to reside continuously thereon for ten years.