The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1908. THOSE GRAZING RUNS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2284, 1 September 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1908. THOSE GRAZING RUNS.

“For ways that arc dark and tricks that arc vain tho Government is peculiar.” Tho abovo adaptation ol Bret lfarto’s soliloquey on tho ways

of tho Chinaman is frequently justified by tho actions of the. so-called Liberal Government, tho latest ol which concerns tho disposition oi

sundry grazing runs situated in tho Poverty Bay district. As a iittiug

example of present political tactics wc need only refer to throe —those

standing in tho name of. Messrs F. Hall, J. A. Caesar, and Black. These

gentlemen, in common with many others in different parts of the Dominion held Teases of pastoral runs

owned by the Crown. The leases had been granted in 1887 for 21 years under an Act of Parliament which it is claimed gave tho lessees tho right

of renowal for a further term of 21 years. Thero is somo ambiguity about tho precise moaning of an es-

sential clause in tho Act and the presont Government claims that no such right of renowal can ho insisted upon. tSomo of the most eminent, legal authoritos in tho Dominion differ on this particular point but there seems - no doubt that whatever tho legal position tho Government, lias not tho semblance of a right, morally, to take tho runs in question from their present lessees. Those referred to particularly just now and which were discussed in the House last week ivmo so uninviting at the time they wore first offered to tho public that oven at tho low rentals then offering tho Government had the greatest difficulty to got anyone to tako them up. Those settlors who did bravo tho pioneering work of making a new country found themselves year after your striving ■against heart-breaking conditions, living a lifo of discomfort, hardship, and grinding poverty till ultimately their long period of isolation was ended, and they were enabled in tho latter days of their term either to make a docent revenue from tlicir holdiugs or sell out their goodwill to others. Yet no one would suggest that these settlers who transformed the bush and scrub to gooff pastoral or dairying country could receive reasonable compensation within Tho brief period of 21 years and it is manifestly certain that in undertaking the work they considered they had tho.option of an additional term. Though tho Act, read as Crown law officers choose to read it nowadays, appears to be ambiguous in its wording the -official ing the right of renewal' rand any

■dealings that subsequently took place havo all been founded on the sa.mo belief. However, the Ward Govern•ment has apparently decided to tako the fullest advantage of As legal position in the matter quite irrespective of moral right and in many cases the runs have been taken from tlio former lessees and after subdivision have been re-let tp fresh tenants. What the Government hopes to gain for the country by this action it is difficult to ascerain. One settler with his homo and all its associations and interests is ejected to make room for two or possibly three others—a proved farmer deposed to make room for a few experimentalists. Yet the present Government seems to prefer this method of satisfying the land hunger rather than that of opening up the hunureds of thousands of acres of land that at the present time are absolutely unoccupied. Too tired to bring about legitimate settlement- the Ward Ministry finds more congenial work in baiting tho settlers of grazing runs whose only crime is that they keep sheep and thus assist in keeping alive the chief industry of tho Dominion. Tho worst feature, however, of governmental action in connection with these grazing runs is tho fact that its policy appears to he guided tall the time by tho political exigencies of tho administration. Thus the man

who is a staunch supportoi- of tlio Government is told that his run is not suitable for subdivision and ho gets another term, but woe betide the individual who is suspected of. Opposition tendencies. The fiat goes forth that his land is suitable for cutting up, and before ho fully realises what is happening ho is fired out to make room for persons less objectionable politically. The way the changes are rung in this connection aro bewildering tc the ip dividual -.-not versed in modern political methods. On onb‘ occasion the report of the Crown Lands Ranger for a particular district will be enthusiastically adopted by the local Land Board—though its members have never seen the majority of tho runs-—and they pass on their recommendation to tho Minister of Lands who gives his formal approval.

A nother time the Land Board —for no reason that can be discovered, except that its members are Government

nominees—overrides the recommendation of the Ranger. Theoretically the Board’s decision must “go,” as the Americans quaintly put it, but in actual practice the Minister makes his own enquiries quite independent of the Boards and upsets their findings—that is when it suits his pur-

pose to do so. Thus wo find somo curious anomalies in tho re-leasing of grazing runs. Mr. Fred. Hall, of this town, being a good Government supporter and an intimate friend of a member of the Cabinet gets his run back despito a report from the Crown Lands Ranger that it should be cut up. At tho same time the Crown Lands Ranger recommends that the runs held' by -Messrs Caesar and Black shall bo divided and. let to fresh tenants, and to these re con imendations the Board and the Minister agree. Protests by the two latter result in the Board deciding that Mr. Black shall have another lease of his run, but here the Minister interferes —for no reason that is apparent—-sends another'valuer along •and decrees that the unfortunate tenant shall be displaced. So there he is, bandied backwards and for- ; wards between Ranger, Board, and !

Minister, wondering how it will all oml. All - . Caesar, likewise, is uncertain ns to tho Into of his lease, and only tho man who stands right ( with tho Government is in any way secure, r Wo contend tjiul Mr. Hall is morally and legally entitled to have nnotlier loaso of his run, but wo cow-tiler it monstrously unjust that ono who is certainly nob a sottler in the strictest souse of tho word should rocuivo such favor as against tho equally strong claims of two gontlomon whoso only disqualification appoars to bo that blioy nro not persona grata with tho powers that bo. Mr. Berries deserves tho thanks of tho community for tho uncompromising attitude ho bus taken up ovor this matter in tho House, and it is to ho hoped that ho will yet bo successful in obtaining justice for tho prosent holders of grazing runs leases.