OTEKAIKE LEASES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 126, 20 February 1908, Page 9

OTEKAIKE LEASES.

ATTITUDE OF THE> LAND BOARD ; : (BY TELEGRAPH—I'HISS, ASSOCIATION • ' ; . Dunedln, February 19. It is Te'ported'that the I/and Board..' has rcpcated ; 'its 'oprqvioiw recommendation, to. tho Minister of. Lands that proforenco leases bo granted in'term's, of 'Section .80 of.tho:Land Act last session to Mitchell,and. M'Kbllar .of the 1 sections .respectively j selected by thorn' in this Otckaiko ;block'.. Tho Board leaves it to this; Minister to refuso his approyal.to the recommendation if he considers' tho' law .does not admit granting these particular leases. - ; • • MR. M'NAB'S VIEWS. ' ■/. ...' • PREFERENCE SHOULD BE PURELY MINISTERIAL. .' '~ " ■ (by TBLIOBAFH— SrECIAIjCORRESPONDENT.) . . . Christohurch,': February 19. Interviewed yesterday in regard to the Otckaike.,.preference' claim's, the Minister for Lands (the Hon. R. M'Nab) said:—"The fact has been overlooked fhat it is the Land Board that, grants the preference, the Minister' . merely granting., or. withholding his consent. In this particular case the .Otago Land Board applied to mo to reserve ,four sections for .preference, and that was consented to. Then Mr. M'PKerson, M.P., reported that' the Board' was going. to give .preference'-.to two men, one of whom had never worked on Otekaiko, I think he alleged that : the'othcr one had'left the. services of - the company .before, tho ,'estnto ,yas taken for settlement purposes. The matter was duly looked into, and. it, was";referred back, to tho' Board witb! tho opinion of tho Soli-citor-General that the' facts' 'forwairied would not- permit it to grant preference. The Board held a special meeting,; and refused;to depart from its original position. The papers have been Returned .to. ttte for' consideration. Personally I think that preference should bo purely Ministerial, thus enabling a uniform system to bp. adopted; • Now ; stjie': Minister can only say''Yes' or 'No' to what tho Land Boards choose to do. ; :

; ''There seems ;to ; bo : a, popular impression that preference is'given'by. tho Minister- over certain ..sections, but that is not so; tho -allotments thus treated arc fixed by. tjie Land Board. There is nothing in the orv that-sections were prepared for thoso entitled to 'preference from tlie beginning,' because the plaii of subdivision Was approved of on behalf of tho intending set'tlers Duncan, late Minister for Land's!' ! smd "Mr. M'Phorson, M.P.._ who-professed to know the 'conditions prevailing. The large areu'of some of the, sections is-due •to ■ the 1 large amount of pastoral country included in the Otekaike purchase, and associated with it for the purposes of .settlement; . We-loaded up some of the good sections with a large -.amount of waste territory. Tn addition to Otekaike proper a very large amount of pastoral Crown lands were thrown in for tho purptuias of settlement. There is provision under thb Act enabling this to be done" •