THE PROPOSED BLOCK SALES.

Evening Star, Issue 4113, 3 May 1876, Page 2

THE PROPOSED BLOCK SALES.

The principal business that was brought before tbe Land Board at its meeting to-day was the consideration of three applications in respect to tbe land on run 369 which was cancelled by proclamation under the hand of the Superintendent on April 19. The first application was by Dr Stewart, of Clyde; the others by Messrs Robert Stewart (settler, Hawkesbum), and Richard Bouchier (settler, Earnscleugb) and the three applied for 1,000 acres each. That of Dr Stewart having been received first was first dealt with, with tbe result stated below.

Mr S. N. Muir appeared to support the application. He pointed out that the legal requirements in respect to payment of deposit, &c., had been complied with, and that the smallest quantity of land that could possibly be applied for had been applied for, wherefore the objection taken to the previous applications could not apply. The Chief Commissioner : Is the land surveyed or unsurveyed ? Mr Muir: Uunsurveyed. Mr Strode: The applicant has not the shadow of a claim, inasmuch as the land is not open for sale in sections of 1,000 acres each.

Mr Muir: Or in such size as the applicant may apply for. Mr, Strode ; No.

Mr Held gathered that this land was not open for sale at all—at least, he thought only a small portion of it was : probably 500 or 600 acres. He did not think the Board should be so hasty in deciding this application. He had no doubt this application was what he would call—he had better not name it, but would be careful. With the exception of that portion of it which was re served for agricultural leasing, he held that none of the land was open for sale. That exception was 500 or 600 acres, which was open for agricultural leasing; the remainder was reserved for agricultural leasing, and was never intended to be sold. He would think that the land now applied for, without the mountain tops, was worth L 3 an acre, and that nothing weuld please the pastoral tenant better than to get the land along the river frontage. Mr Strode ; It is quite clear that, in accordance with the proclamation, the land is not open for sale.

The Chief Commissioner: I have been looking into the case during the week, and have no hesitation about it. The applications should simply be refused. Of course we can hear people.

Mr Butterworth : If we entertain this application it would be manifestly unfair. Mr Reid thought if there were applications to take up the land in 1,000 acre sections, from the lower end of the ground to the top boundary as intended in the previous sale, the Board would do well to receive them, but he feared they would not get many such applications. It was unanimously decided to refuse the whole of the applications. For A. Campbell, who applied for a depasturing license over the whole of the land, Mr Harris appeared, and asked that the application should be allowed to stand over for a week. The Chief Cemmissioner : I think we had beter refuse it.

Mr Haggitt: I appear to oppose this application. 1 would call the Board’s attention to the fact that it is not open for application under the 158 rd section, inasmuch as the land was at the time of the passing of the Act held under lease for depasturing purposes. That section, under which this application is laid, refers to leases of land outside Hundreds on which no lease was granted or existing. Besides which the land has been leased already. It was minuted that “ the application was refused in the meantime.”

At a later stage of the Board’s proceedings the following memorandum from the Superintendent was read:—

Referring to the Board's recent action in respect of certain applications for the purchase of hill lands proclaimed open for sale in the Otago * Gazatte * of 19th April the Superintendent desires to indicate to the Board the consequences which must result from its action.

As the Board is aware, the representatives of the people have passed appropriations for highly important and necessary public works, works whicn, if not provided for by means of loan, were to be con struoted out of the proceeds of the sale, at 10s an acre, of hill lands, in terms of section 150, Otago Waste Lands Act. See votes and proceedings, session 32,1873, page 98. On the motion of the Secretary for Lands and Goldfields it was resolved—

“ That a branch lino of light railway from Oamarn to the valley of the Waireka, a distance of fifteen miles, be at once constructed at a cost not exceeding LBI.OOO said cost to be defrayed from the eale of €O,OOO acres of pastoral lands in terms of section 160 Otago Waste Lands Act, 1872, such land to be situated in the northern district. That a light line of railway between Biverton and Orepnki, in length sixteen miles, be constructed, estimated cost L 40.000. Payment to be made in land in alternate sections on either side of the proposed line at the current value. That a light line of railway between Biverton and Otautau, in length 16J miles, already surveyed, be constructed at a cost of L40.0C0, payment to be made in cash or laud at the option of the Government. That a light Hue of railway to connect the Otautau line with the Invercargill and Winton Bail way at Wallace town junction, a distance of fourteen miles, be constructed at a cost of L 20.000, payment to be made in cash or land,'at the option of the Government." " Eesolved further that the following branch railways be commenced next year; that the Government be requested in the meantime to obtain the necessary surveys and estimates, viz: —Waipaheo to Tapanui, main trunk Hue to Kaitangata, main trunk line to Outram, Palmerston to Waihemo, Otautau to Night Caps Coal PioMs." The Colonial Parliament declined to sanction the raising of money by lo&n, aud hence the necessity for falling back upon the other alternative. Instead, however, of selling hill lands at IDs, as sanctioned by the Provincial Council, the Government has placed in the market for sale a limited area of mountain land, spread over five separate runs, at 30s an acre, at which price applications to purchase have been refused by the Board, thereby depriving the Provincial Treasury of the revenue which it was reasonably expected would be L 64.000, au amount which would have afforded employment daring the winter months to upwards of 2,000 men, and upon the faith of receiving which the Province has entered into engagements which cannot otherwise be fulfilled. The result of this determination on the part of the Board must be disastrous in the extreme, involving as it does the curtailment and cessation of public works throughout the Province at that season of the year when the laboring population is most dependent npon such work. In the faco of the Board’s decision, the Government has very reluctantly been compelled to aba 1 aln from accepting-tenders for various works which are absolutely necessary, and which otherwise would have been gone on with at once; and it is probable that steps may have to be taken to suspend or abandon existing contracts, Although upok the Board must rest,

of itsjaeolsioo— * decision Superintendent cannot doubt must have th ®. “o® 4 ®en°va apprehension as to tbe injury which the Board s action must entail upon eveir interest throughout the Province. Th* Board appears to have overlooked the fact that fho Laud Acts invest the Superintendent and Provincial Council (who are directly responsible to the people) with important and responsible functions, and the Superintendent cannot but think that he haa good reason to complain that in coming io the decision it did in this matte , the Beard haa not exhibited that courtesy to the Superinti udent and Provincial Council which was duo to their position as parties whom the law invests with certain powers under the Waste Lands Acts, and that instead of hiking time to consider and mature its decision, it should at cnee, without dlscusgion andwithout assigning any reason, have arrived at an apparently foregone conclusion, and one which it is reasonable to suppose must have been come to either under a misconception of the value of the land applied for or in the absence of information regarding the resolutions of the Provincial Council nb ‘Ve referred to.

As to the value of the land the Superintendent is of opinion that 20s per acre ah round for such land, is a high price, an opinion which is fully borne out by the report of the Chief Surveyor, but it any doubt existed on this point the Board had an opportunity of setting it at r eßt by submitting one of these allotments to public auction, and the Superintendent is at a loss to know under what authority the Board refused to allow the sale at public auction of the land for which duplicate applications had been lodged. There is good reason to believe that the -econA application wai not a bond fido one, os the Superintendent is informed that land of at least as good quality on the adjoining Hundred has been open for sale during the lost two years, and for which no application has yet been received. It is reasonable, therefore, to suppose that this application was not a bond jtde one. In tne administration of the waste lands there must be two objects kept in view, vis., the settlement of the people ou the land, and, as a means towards this end, the acquisition of revenue. The large extent of land which is being taken up on deferred payment and under agricultural lease must of necessity diminish the of immediate revenue from land. As it is necessary to dispose of land for revenue purposes, that is_ to say, for providing means of communication, compensation, surveys, and other re quirements, among which latter may be specially enumerated school buildings, fer which purpose alone LBO,OOO are urgently needed, there can be no question that the class of laud upon which it is expedient to realise is the mountain tops, which are unfit for settlement. Such land in short os the Waste Land Board, notwithstanding the resolution of the Provincial Council and the recommendation of the Superintendent, has refused to sell. Under all the circumstsnces of the case, the Superintendent cannot but reiterate the expression of ms extreme regret at the hasty action of the Board in tlus matter—action which is fraught with consequences most detrimental to the public interml and for which the Board must be neld solely responsible. J. Macakdexw, _ Superintendent of Otago, Superintendent's Office, Dunedin, 3rd May, 1876.

Some discussion took place as to whether any of the applications which had been re fused had been duplicated. It was explained to the Board that such was the case so far as Mr Fulton’s application was concerned, inasmuch as it was made on the 20th April, the some day as Mr Larnach applied for the whole of the land.

The Chief Commissioner: Has anyone any remarks to make on the Superintendent’s comments ?

Mr Reid ; Comments on the action of the Board in refusing to sell, with competition too.

The Chief Commis ioner: Yea, in regard to the 3,000 acres applied for by Mr Fulton. Mr Reid said that the Board knew well enough that under the Act, as it stood at E resent, there was no power to sell large locks of land, except with the runholders’ consent, except it would be done in direct violation of the spirit and the intention of his lease. If not with the consent of the runholder, the Act made it imperative that the land should be offered at 10s per acre. If parts of this block were so offered, he was sure that they would be sold for less than the amount lately offered for them by the runholders; and they knew what the dummy applications meant. He then pointed out that the Government had fone to considerable expense in opening up a lundred alongside of the land applied for by by Mr Fulton, yet it had not been purchased. Everyone knew in conscience that there was no attempt made by the Government to sel large blocks of land. Mr Strode : The great objection to applications refused at the last meeting was that the land was not submitted to competition. Mr Reid: The course followed in dealing with them was the same as that which had been adhered to since 1869. The matter turned out bad in the present case because of the clamor got up by the people. Mr Strode: No clamor had any effect upon me. Mr Butterworth ; Nor on me.

Mr Clark regretted that he was not present at the last meeting of the Board, as if he had been he would have voted in favor of the applications being granted, as hh believed that the land was purely pastoral land, and believing also that money was required for public works. It was better to sell lands which were purely pastoral than to sell lands which were fit for settlement. It was selling it in blocks which seemed to be the great bugbear. He was astounded when he read the report of the last meeting of the Board, at which it refused to sell these lands.

Mr Butterworth would be happy to assist the Government in its present difficulty, but it would not be in the way of selling large blocks of land.

Mr Bastings said it meant ruination to the interior for a few men to occupy large blocks of land. He admitted the difficulties in which the Provincial Executive were placed. Mr Strode did not see that they should be charged with want of courtesy to his Honor and the Provincial Council because in the performance of their duty they refused the applications. Were they to sit there as dummies and do as they were told? He objected to take up that position at the hands of any body of men. _Mr Reid said that without putting any disguise over it the great objections made to the recent applications were that pre-con-certed arrangements had been made with the innholders. Had the Government cancelled the leases over purely hilly country without any arrangement, some people would complain that the Government had dealt hardly with the runholders. He was afraid that a day would come when the Government, instead of being able to dictate terms to the runholders, would be dictated to by them. After some further discussion the Board resolved to adhere to its former decision.