WASTE LAND BOARD.

Evening Star, Issue 3026, 31 October 1872, Page 2

WASTE LAND BOARD.

Tiro usual weekly meeting of the Waste Land Board was held yesterday.. There were present, the Chief Commissioner, Mr J. T. Thomson in the chair, and Messrs Allan, Duncan, and Hughes. Messrs Gillies and Street, as agents for Mr George Miller, applied to be allowed to withdraw an application for sections 7 and 8, block VIII., Waikaka district, and to purchase 1250 acres covering the area first applied for as section G. The application was approved of, and it was resolved that one survey should be made of the ursa now applied for, Messrs Gillies and Street, as agents for Mr Thomas Anderson, 19-Mile Creek, near Cromwell, applied to purchase an acre of ground on which his business premises were erected. The application was adjourned, in order to allow of further information being obtained. Messrs Gillies and Street, for Messrs Jesse Geer and Anthony Farquisson, applied for the approval of the survey of a coal lease area that had been applied for by them, and that a lease bo granted to them. The application was postponed, ponding the Warden’s report being received, and other information being Detained. Warden Carew reported on the application of Messrs Campbell and Low for a coal lease at M‘Laughton’s gully, near Clyde. The

lessees of two coal pits in the locality wrote objecting; but Mr Begg, who appeared for the applicants, said that they were large ecu* sumers, and wished to raise coal solely for themselves. An annual license to work the coal, renewable for seven years, at L 5 per annum, was granted—applicants, it they sold any, not to charge more than 20s per ton at the pit’s mouth. The application of Mr Thomas Turner, to purchase about 20 acres, being parts of sections I, 2, and 3, block 111, Blackstone Hill district, and wide s he had improved, was referred to the Warden, The application of dr Robert M'Dougal, to have a • oal lease applied for by Mr v> illiam M ‘Kibbin transferred to him, was declined, on the ground that the lease should issue to the original applicant. Warden Carew reported on the application of Mr R. K. Dagg for a coal lease at the Bannockburn: —“The only tenable objection is, that it might encroach on an inchoate right of the '-ridge Company to an agricultural lease of 20 acres.” It was resolved that a lease be granted on the usual terms—the price at the pit’s mouth to be 20s per ton. The application of Mr E. Murphy, lessee of the Clulha Sandspit, that his lease might be extended to fourteen years, and that the rent be made payable half-yearly, instead of yearly, in advance, was declined, Messrs H. Ct. Russell and Co., for Messrs Stuart and Kinross, applied to purchase 80 acres for homestead, and 10 acres for outstation, on Run 333. The Board had no power to grant such an application, the Run being a reserve for District Schools. Plans of application for unsurveyed lands were approved of as follow, and the applicants were declared the purchasers Mr J. Mutch, section 5, block X., Tnturau ; Mr William Bruutou, section o, block V., Toi Tois; Messrs Miller and Orbell, section 4, block IX., Hawksbury ; and Messrs J. and A. Crombie, section 33, Block V. Tnturau, The Board declined the application of Messrs Connell and Moodie, for Mr George Fraser, for an adjustment of the boundaries of an area granted under saw’-mill license at Maungatua Messrs Gillies and Street, for Mr William Moore, applied for the rc-consideration of a resolution granting a license to Mr John Kelson for a lime-kiln at Kapiti. It was resolved that the applicants should bring their piolcst forward in December, when it would be considered when the question of the renewal of Mr Nelson’s license might be taken

up. The correspondence between Mr J. T. Thomson, Chief Commissioner of the Waste Lands Board, and Mr W. H. (Jutten, Acting Provincial -Secretary, relative to the appointment of Mr Henry Connell as surveyor for the Oamaru district, was brought before the Board. In one communication Mr Thomson, as Chief Surveyor, on being written to to explain his reason for recommending one candidate in preference to another, replied that the one referred to, whom be had not recommended, was agent for most of the paities applying for the land, and so could not be expected to serve both them and the Government; and that, under the circumstances, he would have no confidence. He (the candidate appointed) would guard the public interest in reference to roads and reserves. Mr Cutten now wrote:—“l observe, in the report of the proceedings of the Waste Lands Board, held on the 16th inst., that the appointment of Mr Henry Connell, as surveyor for the Oamaru circuit of districts, was submitted for approval. The Chief Commissioner seems to have forgotten his position with relation to the Government, Appointments made by the Government do not require to be submitted to or to have the approval of the Waste Laud Board. The further resolution of tha Board, with regard to the appointment of surveyors, that, other qualifications being equal,' the preference should be given to candidates who are not land agents, is ultra vires, and should be expunged from the minutes of the Board. It is usual for the Government to ask the opinion of its officers, especially where an applicant for an appointment requires to possess a technical education, hence the reference of the appointment of surveyors is made to the Chief Purveyor, not to the Chief Commissioner of the Waste Land Board [both of which offices are held by .Mr Thomson], for report, chiefly on the applicant’s professional capacity ; though at the same time the Government is obliged for the general opinion of that officer. But where that opinion is to inconsistent as to object to the appoitnment of an applicant for one district on the ground that he is a land agent, the same person being a surveyor m another district, it would, of course, be disregarded.” The Chief Commissioner, m reply, stated that “ the submission of the name of Mr Connell for the approval of the Board was in due course of routine only,” and ye? ferrod him, in proof of this, to an advertisement in the Pi'ov'meud Gazette, in which a number of surveyors were gazetted under the hand of the Chief Commissioner, and ti clause 40 of the Waste Lands Act, 1866, which says, “surveyor to he approved of m wilting by the Board.” The Chief Commissioner added, “As I cannot undeitako to be responsible for the expressions of the majority of the Board as given in a public way, I ask if you desire your letter to be laid before them. The reply to this was, “If the Chief Commissioner supposes that either the Gazette notice of the 17th January, 1872, or the 40th clause of the Waste Land Act, lobb, justifies his criticising the appointments made by the Government, he neither understands official etiquette nor the Waste Lands Act.” The Chief Commissioner, in informing the Acting Provincial Secretary that he would bring the correspondence before the Board, wrote—“ The majority of the Board place a different interpretation on clause 40, W. L. Act, 1866, to what you do; they also view thi-ir proceedings in a different mannor.” The resolution of the Board on the correspondence was. “ that while the Board aq? heres to its decision, relative to the approval of the appointment of surveyors for unsurveyod land, it also records its opinion that the constant and continuous neglect of the Acting Provincial Secretary to sit at the Board as representative of the Provincial Government not only does himself injustice, but by perverted reports reaching him at second hand, ho cannot avoid being unfairly influenced towards the members. *he Board also recouls the injury now being done to applicants for agricultural leases within goldfields, whose business is seriously obstructed from the same course ”