A CLERICAL ERROR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1209, 18 August 1911, Page 8

A CLERICAL ERROR.

COSTS THE COUNTRY A SETTLER. (By Telegraph.—Spccial Correspondents Auckland, August 14. Another prospective settler has been lost. In ilay last Mr. G. Mackay, formerly miner, arrived'in Auckland' lvitJv■ his family from Western Australia. He had mado .up his mind to take up ...a. section and go in for pig-farming,- having i saved sufficient money for the purpose. Looking ■ up tile Government. "Land Guide," Mr. Mackay saw a suitable piece of land offered for lease. It consisted of 73-acres in the Mnngawai Parish, Kodney County. He applied for the land in question,- and it was' granted to him after the usual formalities had been complied with, and on the O.R.P. tenure tho applicant paying ,£3 Is., tho rental fixed. Armed with . his receipt for . rent, Mr. Mackay set about his preparations for taking up his residence on the area leased to him. He purchased a horse and cart- at a cost of .£ll and <£15- respectively, general stores to the value of over JElO; tools, harness, bedding, etc., worth about ,£lO, .and in one way and another expended from ,£SO to ,£6O preliminary to going to live at Mangawai. Three- weeks later Mr.' Mackay was informed that tho land had been leased to him owing to a clerical error, and that it had previously been, leased on January- 26.t0 another party. Ho obtained a refund of the Mini paid as rent, and put in a claim for reimbursement of expenses. This was duly forwarded to the proper quarter by the commissioner, -Mr. E. Goldsmith, a week or two ago. The latter, who was then in Wellington, wired to Mr. Mackay as follows;—" The Government will not recognise your claim." With that curt reply settler has had to be sat-

Speaking to a "Herald" reporter on tlio subject, Sir. Mackay said that ho was ofl'el-ed another section when tho clerical error that, first endowed him with, and then deprived him of tile original pieces ■if land was discovered. "But," he said, "it was all-' up and down, and I coiild not have worked it. 1 was .then told I could have an-area in tho King Country, but that meant applying for it, aiid awaiting the result all over again. I have had enough of killing time, and am going back to Australia on Monday. The least the Government might have dono would have been to reimburse me for., money uselessly spent and time lost. As it is, I am penalised for a mistake in the Lands Office."

Mr. Goldsmith' confirms the story told by Mr. Mackay. He states, however, that several other sections were offered to the disappointed applicant, and that everything possible was-done to endeavour to suit. him.