The Feilding Star. TUESDASY MARCH 21, 1893. The Cheviot Estate

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 116, 21 March 1893, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDASY MARCH 21, 1893. The Cheviot Estate

The New Zealand Times of yesterday gives an account of an interview by the special reporter of that journal with the Hon. J. Mclvenzie, the Minister of Lands. Taking the article altogether, it is readable ; and gives a really honest account of the Cheviot Estate, its belongings, and its capabilities ; but, like the postcript in the letter of a lady, the most interesting part is in the end, or rather the last paragraph but one, which reads as follows: "I rose thinking there was no more ; but Mr McKenzie had something important to add. ' There is a general misapprehension that the Cheviot property is Crown land. Now Cheviot ceased to be Crown land when it was sold to Mr Robinson. Tt has not been acquired as Crown lands under the Land for Sett lenient Act. It is virtually property held by the Land and Income Tax Department, having been acquired by them in accordance with the provisions of the Land and Income Tax Act. Jn my opinion, the land cannot be dealt with under the ordinary land Jaws of the colony without a special Act, which we must pass next session. Tn the meantime we must get, if we can, a temporary tenant to take the grazing.' ' '1 here is a certain amount of honest frankness in this candid admission of the Minister— that the Government holds this land by a very weak title — which commands our respect for the man, but which certainly excites a feeling very much the reverse for a Cabinet which, in its haste, has risked such a large sum as the purchase money of this estate without beforehand making certain that they had full legal power, under an existing Act of Parliament, after it came (or was supposed to come) into their possession, to dispose of it again, .and, at the same time, give v gooA title to either purchasers or tenants. "We quite believe that, with their majority in the House, the Act required will be duly passed to help the Cabinet in their difficulty : but we cannot congratulate them on their foresight, or the acumen of their legal advisers.