758
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 14

My Advisers consider that, owing to the rapid disappearance of the last remnants of unalienated Crown lands, legislation must be passed providing for the more effective subdivision, for closer-settlement purposes, of freehold estates of £25,000 unimproved value and upwards. To this end a Bill will be introduced giving the Crown power to take these estates compulsorily at a price to be fixed by the Land Purchase Board. The Bill will provide that the land so resumed shall be sold to small settlers under a deferred-payment system; and in the event of the proceeds exceeding the price paid to the owner for the land, such excess, with interest, will be paid to him, or should the price realized be less, then the deficiency will be deducted from the amount payable to the owner.

In order to promote the speedier settlement of unoccupied Native lands my Advisers deem it necessary to strengthen the staffing of the Native Land Courts and of Native land surveys. Provision will be made whereby surplus Native lands shall be sold or leased on behalf of the Native owners through the Crown, on the best terms obtainable. Such provision will operate concurrently with a vigorous prosecution of the purchase by the Crown of surplus Native lands. In order that the areas reserved for the use and occupation of the Maori owners shall be effectively occupied by them, special provision will be made under proper safeguards to assist them financially, and with advice and instruction in modern methods of farming.

More stringent provisions will be made to deal with the aggregation of landed estates in contravention of the law, and power will be given the Courts to forfeit all land which has been aggregated in breach of the law, unless the Court is fully satisfied that the breach was unintentional. The existing system with regard to the limitation of area will be revised, and provision will be made for standards of living-areas, based not merely upon the productiveness, but also upon the position, roading, &c., and all other main considerations affecting the areas in question. These standards will be so fixed as to give an area which, properly worked, will provide on a safe average ample means of subsistence for a man, his wife and family, and a sufficient margin for saving, with a view to independence.

Legislation will be introduced to prevent the present trafficking in Crown leases, and provision will be made that where a tenant sells his lease, without satisfactory cause, before a certain number of years has expired, a portion of the price he obtains for the goodwill of it will be taken by the State, and the shorter the period the tenant retains his lease, the larger the share the State will receive.

MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,—

My Advisers will place before Parliament a statement of the finances of the Dominion, which it is gratifying to know are in a buoyant and satisfactory position.

The graduated land-tax will be adjusted and made more uniform, the rates being increased from the point of £30,000 unimproved value upwards. The main purpose of the new graduated land-tax will be to compel subdivision in order to insure closer settlement of the lands. An alteration in the method now applying to towns and cities will be submitted.

The land-tax will also be revised, and exemption for taxation purposes will be raised to £1,000 so as to give further relief to farmers and occupiers of small holdings.

Legislation will also be introduced to distinguish for taxation purposes between earned and unearned incomes, so that earned incomes shall bear a smaller burden of taxation than those which are unearned, also to reduce the tax payable by widows with limited incomes, and to distinguish between incomes of parents who are educating and maintaining a family and those who have no such responsibility.

HONOURABLE GENTLEMEN OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,—

My Advisers fully recognize, also, that the increasing complexity of many social questions demands a competent and impartial investigation of the facts