The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1888. THE KUROW RUNS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1798, 24 March 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1888. THE KUROW RUNS.

We congratulate the member for Waitaki, Mr Duncan, on the success which has attended his efforts m the matter of the Kurow runs. He has fought the battle well, and the Government has given way at last. For we learn from the " Oaranru Mail " that " In accordance with the wishes of the settlers and the recommendations of Mr Duncan, the Government have resolved to divide the runs into ten portions. Some of the allotments have been so arranged as to enable a number of the present deferred-payment settlers to acquire, by lease, a fair proportion of grazing country to add to their present small agricultural holdings, and this provision will be advantageous to the colony as well as to the settlers themselves, for it will render possible a better and more profitable utilisation of the land already held by the settlers, by enabling them to combine grazing with «the growth of grain. All the other portions will be complete m themselves, and will, we understand, constitute admirable small grazing runs, containing fair proportions of summer and winter country." This is entirely as it should be, but what a commentary upon the proclivities of the present Administration is it that it should have needed so determined a struggle to induce them to take steps calculated to promote the profitable settlement of the country. The Minister for Lands has done the right thing at last, but he has not done it without a great deal of pressure, and we confess to a feeling of great disappointment that such pressure should have proved to be necessary. But one step m the right direction, good as it is, is not enough, for we entirely agree with the " Mail " that there is much more good work of the same kind t6 be done yet "So far as this district is concerned (says our contemporary) the good work has only just commenced. There are two or three hundred thousand of acres of land up the Waitaki, held undor patoral lease, that, m the interests of the colony, should at once be rendered available under the small grazing run. system, and any other system of Bcttlement for which it is suitable. We do not exaggerate when we say that there are hundreds of persons m North Otago and South Canterbury — to say nothing of those who are outside those districts — who are determined to settle on these lands at the earliest opportunity. We know that a large proportion of these persons are well acquainted with tho nature and capabilities of these lands, that they are industrious and intelligent, and that they have proved their prudence by laying by from their earnings enough money to enable them to get a footing for themselves and families on the land. But that is the difficulty, Kurow, it is true, is to be opened up to them. But Kurow is a mere trifle compared with what is required. After all the most satisfactory feature about tho Government's decision regarding Kurow is that it is a recognition of tho desirableness, if not the necessity, of utilising tho colony's landed estate to the greatest possible advantage." We are glad to learn that Mr Duncan is following up his efforts m relation to the Kurow runs, having written to tho Minister urging that . the /• katerawa run, which is said to consist of 30,000 acres of land of as ?ood quality, should nlso be rendered available for settlement, To this Mr Richardson has replied, " Without breach of faith the price of land cannot be reduced till the leases fall m on the Ist of May, 1890. Proper care will bo taken to see that before the Canterbury pastoral lands are re-let portions suitable for closer settlement than at present will be set aside for that purpose." That reply is it will be seen to the same effect as that given to Major Steward, (and published by us some weeks ago), when the like argument was used by the Minister as an answer to the request that areas of second-class land should be opened for application at the price fixed by tho Act, viz., 10s an acre, and upon this tho "Mail" has the following acnsiblo remarks: — "What Mr Richardson means, we suppose, is that, as the lessee took up the laud at a time when lie could not bo deprived of it except people were prepared to give && per acre for it, and as ho probably was influenced by that consideration, the administration of ihe land under a new law which places £1 per acre on first-class land and 10s upon sec,or;cj-clas.?, would, by inducing people to purchase, yhereas they presumably would uot have done so aj; £%, bo unjust to him. JBut the answer to this is, t^iat the £2 at which land could be taken' up on runs was fixed as the price of : good agricultural JL?nd j that thore is little or no land of such a : quajiit/ pn the Akaterawa run; that from 10a £0 a £1 would have been a sufficient price for the 1&vl& at any time 5 that land, like every.

thing else, has fallen m value ; and that, when the Government gold the leases for 10 yeavd, they did not bind themselves not to pass any fresh legislation during that period which might aflect those leases by altering the prices of land, injuriously or otherwise. If such a principle as that which the Minister desires to set up were recognised, endless complications would ensue, especially m the ease of long leases, during the curreijjrof which such radical changes m the value of land might occur as to entirely tie the hands of the Government and arrest settlement." With this view it is almost unnecessary to say that we entirely concur, and we hope that it will not be long before it is acted upon either by the present Minister of Lands or by some other Minister to whom, if need be, he mnst give place.