THE Evening Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2010, 14 October 1869, Page 2

THE Evening Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1869.

After discussing the covenants between the Provincial Government and the mnholders, the Commissioners on the administration of the Crown Lands proceed to examine into other difficulties in obtaining land than those previously considered. The chief of these outside the goldfields were “ compensation and want of available land.” On the first of these they remark, “ When a run (not a goldfield) is made “ a Hundred, the runholder is en- ** titled, after the original term of his “ license has expired, by the Waste “ Lands Act, to compensation by the “ Government—to be settled by arbi- “ tration in case of difference—for im- “ provements made on his run. The “ Government complains of the great “ demands on the revenue this compen- “ sation would require, were the power “ of making Hundreds more extenu sivelyused. They had taken already outside the goldfields one block of 32,000 “ acres for this purpose, and added it « to West Taieri Hundred ; another of “ 13,000 acres adjoining Waitahuna “ Hundred. But most or all of the “ the lands outside the goldfields in the “ vicinity of the Coast, and of settle- “ menta having long ago been made “ into Hundreds, there only remains

“ open for this purpose the land in the “ interior at a distance from the “ old settlements, and that within “ the goldfields. The former, would, “ at present be useless for the “ occupants of the old Hundreds, be- “ cause what they want is commonage “ available from their present holdings, “ which land, at a distance, would not “ be.” Having thus mentioned the difficulties in the way of procuring land outside the goldfields, they proceed to the more complicated question of land within goldfields, which, to use their own words, “ are expressly ex- “ copied irom the operation of the “ Waste Lands Act, and cannot be “ sold ; consequently they cannot, “ while in the goldfields, be made “ Hundreds of, —which would open “ them for sale. This gives the holders “ of runs within goldfields a security “ of tenure not possessed by those out- “ side them —and in respect of which “ the latter, indeed, consider themselves “ unjustly or at least unequally treated. •< Those who possess it, however, ad- “ vance it as having offered them “ another inducement to outlay which “ would render unjust its removal. We have quoted this passage in full, for it is this difference of position of the runholders outside goldfields, and within them, that has been removed by the Act which has been the subject oi such loud condemnation : the Otago Hundreds Regulations Act. That difference is further elucidated by the summing up of the Commissioners under the head of “ Covenants between “ the Superintendent and Runholders “ within Goldfields.” They say, “ The “ conclusion your Commissioners come “ to on this point is, that the legal “ right to take runs out of tho gold- “ fields does not appear to have been “ surrendered by the Provincial Go- “ vernment, though undoubtedly a “ very decided understanding seems to “ have prevailed that it would not be “ necessary to exercise the right, and “ that the lessees had compounded with “ the public for absolute security, by “ consenting to give up the blocks “ (5,000 acres to be taken absolutely “ by the Government) specified in the “ covenants for the limited compensa- “ tion only therein agreed to.” The Commissioners then inquired, “ What “ persons are demanding land V These, they say, “ are not the gold-diggers per- “ manently and solely employed in “ digging, many of whom doubtless “ have an aversion to any other pur- “ suit.” But amongst the 'demandants are “ numbers of as genuine and pro- “ bably even more useful members of “ their class.” These the Coramis- “ sioners find on the banks of the great Clutha River, and may be denominated Winter Miners, and are described thus ; “ The banks on either “ side, throughout most of its “ (the Clutha’s) course through “ the Dunstan and Mount Ben- “ ger Goldfields, were turned up “ by diggings. These diggings con- “ sequently can only be worked in “ the winter, being covered in summer “ by the stream. The diggers, then, “ thrown out of work in this way dur- “ ing the summer, form the first class “ of persons wanting land for settle- “ ment, in order that their time may “ be occupied, when they are excluded “ from their diggings.” As might be expected, from the change of occupation thus indicated, agriculture is not so much what this class of persons want land for, as pasture : —“ Cattle “ keeping seems to be established with “ the gold digger as the pursuit next “ in favor to his ordinary one of min- “ ing.” The demand for land through this mixing of two industries is necessarily confined to the district abutting upon the river, as occasionally, in summer, the water is sufficiently low to enable the resumption of digging. “There is no doubt,” the Commissioners remark, “ that these are a very valuable “ class of settlers (though, it will be “ urged, not more valuable than many “ or most of the old settlers exclusively “ engaged in farming) and that it is “ desirable, if it can be justly done, to “ afford them every inducement to re- *• main in the country.” Residents in the goldfields towns are next referred to thus :—“The second class of settlers “ who are agitating for land, and with by “ far the greatest organisation and perse- “ verance, are the occupants of the gold- “ fields towns.” Referring to the relative importance of the the towns themselves, Lawrence, Roxburgh, and Queenstown are placed first, as they are beginning to assume tho “ appear- “ ancc of ordinary permanent towns,” Lawrence especially “ having some “ large and expensive buildings of “ brick and stone.” The rest are described as “ small blue villages of coitu- “ gated iron, or the flimsiest wooden “ buildings, packed together in streets, “ like the booths at a fair, with an “ enormous per-centage of so-called “ hotels, tho chief portion of the fronts “ of all the houses consisting of a mere “ framework covered with boards, or “ even painted canvas, with the names “ of the hotels and storekeepers in- “ scribed uyon them in flaming capi- “ tals.” Referring to the, changes in

the digging districts through the migration of population the Commissioners say,—“ The number of hotels shut up “ or deserted, show that the palmy days “of gold digging have gone by.” We might dissent from this conclusion as not being by any means a sound one, and think the words “ tor the present,” would have been a judicious addition to it. But the consequence of this forsaking of the district is justly described. —“ Many of the storekeepers, butchers, “ bakers,' and others, of various occu- “ pations and callings, are now anxious “to engage in farming and stock- “ keeping, to eke out a subsistence in “ conjunction with their regular pur- “ suits. These necessarily want land “ near to the towns they live in.” Then follows a statement of the lands acquired by the Government for those settlers,