The Press. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1903.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11507, 13 February 1903, Page 4

The Press. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1903.

THE MINISTERIAL SCANDAiL IN VICTORIA. "

The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the charges preferred against the Hon. M. K. MoKenzie, ex-Miaister of Lands in Victoria, has returned the only possible verdict consistent -with the evidence ad. duced. In the light of the facts brought out at the enquiry, end the Minister's own admissions, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that Mr McKenzie, as tie Committee puts it, "failed to realise hie true « position as a trustee of the public lands." The land transactions with which the scandal, is connected took place at a time when grazing land in Victoria was being eagerly sought after by people who had sheep in drought-etricken areas, and when its value woe in consequence considerably enhanced. From his own statements before the Special Committee, and from those of officers in the Lands Department, it appears that Mr McKenzie had been since 1898 the holder of a grazing license over 14,000 acres of pastoral country in the Darlingford , district. Last year, while Minister of Lands, he tendered for and obtained a grazing license for an adjoining block of 7300 acres, paying £6 Sβ for the license and a first payment The total annual rent for the combined block of 21,000 acres was about £25. This block the Minister proceeded to place on the market, offering a lease of it for stock for £1300 per annum, and. ultimately leasing the property to a Mr Hugh Ross for £1000 per annum. When the matter was brought up in Parliament Mr MoKenzie admitted the sub-lettjng, and stated that it was a practice known to exist in the Lands Department, and never objected to. In his evidence before the Committee he modified his statement by saying that lie was unaware at the time that eub-letbing was contrary to the practice of the Department —a curious admission for a Minister of Lands. The transaction amounts to this, that in his capacity ac Minister he granted himself the right to cub-let the land, contrary to the conditions of the Department. The second allegation was that Mr McKenzie, when Minister of Lands, obtained another grazing license for 10,200 acres in the same of J. G. Maodonald, a clerk in a lawyer's office. When a man acts as another's agent in such a matter it is customary to inform the Land Department officials of the fact; but in tin's case they were left in ignorance of the fact that Macdonald was only an agent, and tlhat the real applicant was tho Minister himself. In hie evidence) Mr McKenzie admitted the transaction. It appears that he originally (tendered for the land himself amongst other applicants, and was accepted, but cancelled the offer when an officer of the Department remarked to' him that it was "rather indiscreet" for him to have dealings with land while he was a Minister. Subsequently an application was putin in the name of J. O. Macdonald, and "Minister directs accept offer" appears on ffbe minutes of the Department in connection with the block. Mr McKenzie explained that he applied for the license in another man's name so that a suspicion of favouritism might not be cast upon the officers of the Department. That he should act ac a judge in hie own cause when otiher persons were interested does not appear to have struck him ac an improper proceeding. Regarding yet another transaction, the ex-Minister admitted thai a grazing license for a block of 13,400 acres was obtained for one of his sons in the name of Mr Wilson Cameron, a member of the firm of stock agents whom Mr McKenzie usually employed. Mr MoKenzie told *he Committee that in the first place his eon applied personally for the license, with the idea of purchasing starving stock in the North, and putting them oat to graze on this block However, "in order to prevent suspicion of any "influence being brought to bear upon the "officers" through it being known that his son wae applying, the Minister sent hie secretary* to see Mr Wilson Cameron, tell him "•the facts, and l ask him to apply for the block as agent for his son. Subsequently another applicant was informed "by Minis- " ter'e direction ,, that tihe offer of Mr Wileon Cameron for the land had been accepted. The various counts in <thi indictment practically amounted to tie allegation that Mr McKenzie, as Minister of Lands, had misused hie position. The explanations w!*oh he gave cannot be said to , be convincing, and the finding of the Committee shows that that body considers the charges in nearly every particular to have been fully substantiated. It ie, as the "Age" saye, a crushing verdict, and in the face of it the exMinister will find himself in an awkward position should he still retain hie seat.