WASTE LAND BOARD

Evening Star, Issue 3682, 10 December 1874, Page 2

WASTE LAND BOARD

The weekly meeting of the Board was held to-d iy; present—The Chief Commissioner, Messrs Bastings, Reid, aud Strode. Mr Hector Fraser wrote objecting to run 457 being granted to Mr D Mauson as the latter was uot ihe discoverer, and asked that it be put up by auction, Mr Mauson aske 1 an opportunity to reply to the obje tiou. The run was granted to the first applicant, without competition. Mr John ;B>emner applied to purchase a piece of laud at iSaseby, between Gamp Gully and Killarney street. The Warden reported that he knew of no objection. Applicant to submit a survey. Sir F. D. Bell’s application for section 52, Waibemo, was re-considered, aud tinWarden reporting no objection, the sale was approved. The Board of Inquiry favorably reported on Messrs Grant and uichard’s application for 20 acres at Kawarau Bridge. Referred to the Government. Mr Hicksou Mee applied for a water race license at Blackstone commencing at Mr Haudyside’s pre-emptive right and terminating in s -ction 6, block 2. To be survey tl Mr Donald M M-.ster applied to purchase the quarry reserve, block 3, Claremum. Previous recommendation of the Board to tne uovernment to be adhered to. Mr -. Malloch, for a public meeting at Hawksbury, recommended Mr v>eorge Duncan as warden for that Hundred. The Board deemed it inadvisable to interfere. Mr John M‘Lean offered to purchase or lease parts of sections 5 and 7, block 8, Papakaio—not included in Waitaki township. Recommended that Government have it surveyed—the portion near the main road to be cut up into quarter-acre sections ; the remainder into four or five-acre allotments. Mr Connell, for Mr J. M‘Kay, asked the Board to receive as balance of purchase money on sections 6, 8, 9, and 15, block 7. Waitabuna, a sum per acre equal to the difference between 25s per acre and the total amount of rent pai l hy Mr M’Kay to date—-under his agricultural lease under the Goldfields Act, 18;i6, and his present lease under the Waste Lands Act, 1872. Mr Connell said that clause 54, sub-sect on 5. of the Acr, place a deterred payment lease h-dder in th s position: that if he held a license for three years, at 7s 6d psr acre, at the end of that term he could take a lease for four years at 17s 6d, and when that expired he was entitled to a grant. Also, under clause 62, an agricultural leaseholder who held a lease for three years could come in and exchange, placing himself in the same position, for he would have paid 25s per acre. If the latter, however held the lease for five or seven years, he would have paid mre than 255. He submitted that the Board should carefully consider th s app ication so as to place the position of deferred payment leaseholders clearly before them. it was decided that M r Connell should sub nit a case to the Board, to be re ferred to the Provincial Solicitor. * Mr Warden Robinson repo- ted on the appliCiitiou of Mr Allen Simpson for 47 acres iu Duuback district. Saie approved at 20s per acre. 1 Mr C. H. B irnctt applied for a jetty license opposite section - 8, block 20, Shotover Approved, ar. 20s per annum. Mr J 'Uus Malaghau applied to purchase sections 9 and 20, block 21, tihotoyer. Approved, 1 Mr Connell, for Mr J M’Farlane, applied to purchase 7 a.res of bloek 11, G.enkeuich, for a mill sue. Refused.

Messrs Conuell and Moodie requested the sanction of the Board to their making application as intending licensees under the deferred payment system. The question to be referred to the Provincial B’oiici or for advice ; his attention to be specially direbttell to eectioh 49, of the Act of 1872.

THE TRANSIT OF VENUS. It would have been almost impossible for the transit of Venus to take place during more unfavorable weather than that of yesterday. From an early hour in the morning intending observers in Dunedin were forced, however reluctantly, to give up nearly all hopes of making satisfactory observations of the transit. Still, pre arations went on just as if the weather had been perfectly Hue, and during the one or two moments of sunsame that occurred in the c mrso of the afternoon, views of the transit were obtained. It was, however, quite impossible to make any astronomical observations at any of the stations near D media. It is a gratifying fact that all the ew Z-aland stations have not been failures. as far as wc can learn from the telegram*, it wonl i appear that the observations made at Queens-t-wn have been all that could be desired, f this is really the case the end aimed at has been secured as w-11, or nearly as well as if observations had been successfully taken at every station in New Zealand. “ VV. J. P.” writes Knowing the interest you have taken in the transit, and thinking that the result of a series of observations which I made upon the transit might prove of interest to your readers, it is under this impression that I have sent you the result. It was not until seven minutes past 3 p. tn. that I succeeded in obtaining my first observation of the planet upon the Sun’s lisc. At or very near the least distance of centres the planet was very clearly defined upon the Sun’s disc, and was intensely black. One great peculiarity in connection with the disc of Venus was that it seemed to be surrounded with a band or corona of a very intense yellow color, and of a breadth of three or four second-, from the e Ige of the disc of Veuus ; its intense color was, in fact, easy to observe even upon the di-c of the Sun, the light being far stronger th n that evolved by the Sun. At seventeen minutes past three the Sun was again visible, and I was again enabled to see the phenomena of the band of liuht, the Sun’s disc being very clear for three minutes I endeavored to detect the presence of a satelite, but {un op tun.tely success did not crown my efforts. At forty minutes past three I again obtained a view of the Sun’s disc, and was enabled to observe a cousid rable change in the position of the planet, the band of light being still conspicuous from this observation until four pm. I succeeded in seeing the transit hine times for a few seconds occasionally, but the cloudy and overcast nature of the sky prevented me from observing anything of the last internal or external contact in egress. The above observations were made with a 23m. achromatic t loseope of 48in. focal length, and a power of fifty diameters.” Professor Peters has sent the following telegram to Mr Henry Driver, U.S. Consul; —‘‘''nr observations are satisfactory. We observed two contacts, and a great many measurements, and 193 photographs ” PROFESSOR PETERS ON THE TRANSIT. On the 26th ult. Professor Peters, head of the American expedition, delivered a lecture at Queenstown, and from the ‘ Mail’s’ report of it we take the t following ; Captain Cook’s time, and that of other observers, gave an angle of 5 58". This figure might be too small. It gives a distance of about 95,000,000 miles to the sun. Lunar observations iu later times, with better instruraents aud more correct calculations, gave au angle of only 8-9", or 91,000,000 miles. It was, however, generally that the difference in dispute was at least 300,000 mi.es. That seemed very little. Bat what was a second ? What, did it represeat! It represented all that this fuss, as it was called, was made about. An inch would represent 2,600,000 miles, aud so on. It was, therefore, observable that accuracy of angles was the first thing to be depended upon. Then they saw what was really wanted to be known was the breadth of an ordinary human hair at the distance of 1,200 feet by the naked eye. That was the sim.de but great problem they were attempting, with many others, to solve. 1 hen he might inquire what were their prospects ? They had mani■'**ud §teat ad vantages over the last cent. iry. Then they had no good telescopes—now' they bad. Then they had only quadrants and sextants—now chronometers and other appliances, and a wonderfully suitable discovery hardly thirty years of age photography. This latter would be greatly used. tie might mention, as an illustration, that the expedition he commanded tin tended, if the weather were favorable, to take 150 views or thereabouts during the transit. Upon these views they would rely very greatly. They would take one every three minutes, if possible. They had, besides, many other advantages, and what the expedition required was fine weather. Of present expeditions, Russia confined her observations to her own territory ; there were also fitted out—five by France, five by England, six by Germany, and eight by America, besides sub-atations by the Colonies. The places of observation m tae Southern Hemisphere were very numerous. Lord Lindsay had, a • his own expense. sent perhaps the best equipped party of all to the Mauritius, in the aid of science. As regarded instruments, the Russians relied chiefly upon mathematical ones; the English upon these and photography ; the French, upon large telescopes; America, upon mathematical instruments aud a fixed telescope that will, by means of a moving mirror, termed a heliostat, photograph the passing phases during the transit of Venus. Most important results depended upon the fitting of limits of distance of the Min from the earth. It would guide them to a more intimate knowledge of the composition of bodies, and to results affecting ev n their physical condiiiou. Ihe next transit will be in 1882. [by Telegraph] mu 1 • Napier > December 9, 1.55 p.m. The sky is overcast, with occasional rain, and no observation can be taken. **-.. • p 1 Christchurch, December 9. Major Palmer reports as follows from the Burnham OPservatery Here the observawZch n™^ 1 ! 8^8 Waß 8 l )0iled b y P - ted a uy measures with the double 3*®. being made prior to internal a tJw LTi e ? f rely *J id the P lanet fr °ui view a few seconds before the contact itself. Phototbe contact were impossible. About fourteen minutes after the contact the sun showed a little more brightly at intervals. A tew micrometnc measures of the distances of limbs were made during some eight or tea minutes, but these would be of little value. A few photographs, most of them innitferent, were also secured, aud at three 0 clock the sun became entirely hidden. Heavy ram set in at 3.30, and lasted till 4.30, when 1 little clearing sot m, and the look of the skv to windward gave hopes that the observation of egiess of immensely greater value than that of ingress) might yet be secured, but the clouds again gamed the mastery, and the sun was not seen at all from half-past three until some ten minutes after the end of the transit, whenlt shone brightly till near sunset. The five substations at Orahamstown, Auckland, Welliugbad SrtuneV nd N 2?‘! l V Met witb the w»e Xss Thp Z. botb Bt and P° I pm™ 6 *, eb :S m l J bic arrangements by Mr ~ , Wellington, December 0, 2.35 p.m. v!f y lmn^ es P»»t one, with an ordinary telescope, Venus was seen to be just eSemf U “1“ 8 dis * At L4O sbe hi “l fairly * quarter to two the Sun obscqied by cloudy weather. It is now dull and cloudy, with close heat. Dr Hector / adure all over New Zealand at the critical mbntfnt, w ■