WASTE LANDS BOARD.

Dunstan Times, Issue 787, 18 May 1877, Page 3

WASTE LANDS BOARD.

, * At the mooting of the Board hold on the oth instant, the business of localimportanco transacted was as follows : The Clerk to the Vincent County Council transmitted a copy of the Cromwell Argus containing a statement of all roads constituted County roads under the provisions of the Public Works Act, 1870, and requested that no application bo dealt with nor privilege given which may interfere with these roads without first communicating with the Council.—Noteil. Mr John Boighton wrote requesting that the application of J. B. Fitzgerald, for an agricultural lease at Shingle Creek, Run 309, might be surveyed, and a'lease issued. The Warden of Clyde transmitted a written statement with reHpedt to the same matter. —The writer to be informed of the substance of the Wardens’ report. Mr D. F. Main drew attention to the petition from settlers at Hyde for another block of land on run 205, and stated that if the petition is granted, the run will be made wholly unworkable.—Referred to the District Land Officer, to bo reported upon by him along with the petition already forwarded for that purpose. The Chief Commissioner said that, in consequence of Mr Bastings’ notice of motion, the resolution stating that the Board should meet twice a week should bo rescinded, he had telegraphed to Wellington asking that no steps should betaken in the way of giving effect to the 'resolution until Mr Bastings’ motion would be disposed of. The Board considered a petition from the residents at (Teviot, asking that a block of 5000 acres should be opened for settlement on Messrs Cargill and Anderson’s Run No. 199, north-east of blocks 111. and IV., Teviot. The Chief Commissioner : Since the last meeting I have returns made up, from which 1 find that out of the Shingle Block, containing 2700 acres, only 1100 have been sold. The block referred toby the petitioners must be north-east of blocks lit. and IV. The following letter ffrom the lessees was then read : Dunedin, Bth May. Sir—We have the honor to submit the following remarks in reference to the memorial of some inhabitants of the Mount Benger district, that the Waste Lands Board would set aside a block of about 5000 acres on Run 199, situated north-north-west of blocks 111. anil IV. of same run, stating that 'this land had been promised by the late Provincial Government, that there is not a single acre on said run open suitable for settlement, and that, without doubt, the land in question is the best now available in the district, and well adapted for settlement. The land asked for is the only remaining face of winter country left on run 199, between the Teviot River and run 262. It is nearly all pastoral country, the most of it being steep spurs from the Pinelheugh range. It is fenced and subdivided by expensive fencing, and 'used by us as a mustering paddock and for keeping the stock on the extensive high lands above it in safety during snowstorms. The being deprived of this land would entail a large reduction of the sheep carried on Pinelheugh, if not their ‘ entire removal. That we feel assured the late Provincial Government never promised this land, though it is possible they were importuned for 'it by land speculators. That there is at present upwards of -10,000 acres in this Teviot basin taken from our runs for settlement, 4COO of which are now under survey, and, consequently, uudealt with, besides what is remaining on the other blocks—a very large area of land for the small population of the district. As to the opinion of the memorialists as to the suitability of the land in question for settlement, it must be received with hesitation, as the same is said of all land they covet, and trust, through the credulity of the Governing powers, to obtain possession of. A better guide will be the surveyor’s reports. We believe that there is one of Mr MTCerrow’s on this very laud to the Provincial Secretary in the Government offices. We believe that an additional area of pasture land thrown open does not mean an increase Depopulation, but simply more grazing to those now in the district. It is an injustice to us if the agricultural lease and deferred payment system be not carried out strictly, under which arrangement the land was taken ‘from us for settlement. We would respectfully request that the Board get a reliable report on the number of the population, the acreage held by individuals, whether they have laud in other blocks in this district, and in the case of blocks HI and IV. whether the terms have boon complied wi hj as to fencing and residence. We think we have a right to the protection of the Waste Lands Board, that our interest as lessees shall not be lightly dealt with. Surely the Board does not consent to the: principle that whatever is contained in a memorial is true, or that when certain persons ask for land to be thrown open the Board is to act upon their recommendation without enquiry, or without consideration as to the damage done to the present tenant, or to the pastoral ’estate of the Colony, The Hon. Donald Reid had the whole circumstances before him when he lately made a settlement with us, and did not include this land now demanded in that arrangement. P.S.—We annex a letter from the Bald Hill Flat end Of the district, showing what ■ is meant by the word “settlement” in applying for blocks to be thrown open. [This letter, signed J. R. Kemp, appeared in last week’s Tuapeka Times.] We arc, &0., Caudills and Anderson. Mr Clarke asked what sort of land was contained in the Shingle Block. Was it as good as that now applied for ? Mr Bastings replied that it was not. Mr Cargill : It is mostly shingle, and was cultivated in small patches. In Mr Reid’s time application was made for a block next to the boundary of Baldwin's run adjoining, and Mr M'Korrow reported on it. Mr Reid 1 himself went to look at the land and told

mo afterwards tliat there might bo room for two or threo families, but tlio Government wore hardly justified in taking the land away for such a result. 10,600 acres in the Teviot basin have been taken, and 2100 acres at the Bald Hill Flat end of the run, which, I submit, is a very liberal proportion indeed for the small population indeed in and about Roxburgh. The cause of the present agitation is that wo were about to fence in the Mount Bonger run in such a way as to give winter food for our stock, which wo are at present unable to get, through people running cattle driving them on to that country in the summer time. With regard to blocks HI. and IV., wo have a right to ask the Board to see who were the applicants, and it the conditions of the Act have been fulfilled by them, because it would be found that many were applicants tor ‘other blocks to bo thrown open, and were purchasers. The Act is, I believe, entirely evaded. In some parts no houses wore built, and the country is entirely taken up for pastoral purposes. This is not a question of settlement, as very few more families would be added to the district, but a very audacious attempt to destroy the carrying capacity of this part of the run. Mr Bastings moved that the petition bo referred to the District Band Officer. Mr Cargill'suggeated ‘the reference of the matter to Mr Reid, 'Who was well acquainted with it. Mr Bastings : The Board is not bound by Mr Reid, nor would he influence mo. If the statements made by the petitioners proved 'to bo ■inaccurate, the latter should bo reprimanded. The District Land Officer is the Board’s Officer : they expected a fair and impartial reporWvom him, which I have no doubt they will get. The motion of Mr Bastings was agreed to. Referred to the District Land Officer to report generally'upon the petition and upon Messrs Cargill and Anderson’s letter.