X 
LAND AND THE LAND LAWS 
99 
earnest and sustained effort to meet a difficult problem, 
i.e., how to regain possession of land which has fallen 
into what are held to be the wrong hands. There 
seem, however, certain unsatisfactory contingencies 
that are likely to arise. Thus at the end of six 
months and one day it is obvious that the holder of 
the licence, if not already in actual occupation, cannot 
fulfil conditions. At the same time, the Government, 
having given a two years’ licence, cannot regain pos¬ 
session. The land, therefore, will lie waste for two years, 
or the licencee will attempt development confident in 
the belief that any considerable improvements effected 
will be a source of such embarrassment to the authorities 
that they will not dare to enforce a summary eviction. 
With regard to the minimum amount of develop¬ 
ment required, no one can reasonably say that it is 
unnecessarily high ; indeed a desirable or suitable 
settler could not very well spend less. At the same 
time, where so large a proportion of land-holders, 
possibly a majority, have not complied with this con¬ 
dition and have failed to do so with impunity, it is not 
surprising that the condition is usually regarded as 
somewhat of a dead letter. The majority of settlers 
would like to see flocks and herds included in the 
schedule of improvements, and on the face of it the 
man who keeps 400 head of cattle or 2,000 sheep is 
a more genuine man than he who puts up some miles 
of unnecessary fencing. The Government, however, 
urge that this form of development would lead to 
abuse and that the same herd of cattle would do duty 
on many farms. Most of those interested consider 
this argument unsound. 
The revisal of rent is to the settler the most un¬ 
popular proviso in the lease. In their antagonism to 
h 2 
