The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 269, 30 May 1855, Page 5

The Lyttelton Times.

Wednesday, May 30, 1855. Thi. Regulations for the depasturing of the Waste Lands of the Province, which are now under discussion by the Provincial Council, directly involve the interests of a larger number of bona fide settlers than any other question that has been considered, with the exception perhaps of the settlement of the price of freehold land. It is no wonder therefore that the discussion should have been carried on with considerable warmth, and that the Council should find great difficulty in coming to a decision on the subject. As far as we can gather the arguments on both sides of the question from the reports which reach the public, it would appear that there are two parties in the Council who are both inclined to rush into extremities. On the one hand some of the friends of the stockowners claim, what can never be conceded to them, —and these are. the worst friends they have ; —on the other hand, some members seem inclined to ignore altogether the just claims of the Btockowner, and the first difficulties and expenses to which he is subject in opening tip a new country. Although we say that there appear to be two such parties, it would be impossible to define them ; hon. members shift their ground so rapidly, and vote for measures having so directly opposite a tendency, that a looker-on would fancy that they had mistaken inconsistency for independence. Some fixed principle of action is wanted.

It appears to us that the fairest principle upon which to base any legislation affecting the pasturage regulations, would be to encourage to the utmost, within the bounds oi justice, the bona fide stoekownerby a reduction of rent to the level of that of neighbouring settlements, and a reasonable seennty against his being disturbed by any but an actual agriulturalist; but on the other nand to discourage by every possible restriction the occupation "of land, by men who are not prepared instantly to stock it and to Keep it stocked, to such an extent that it snould be occupied beneficially to the pub«c at large. And for this purpose we hold mat every run should have stock upon it,

bona fide the pi'operty of the stockowner, in whose name it is held. It should be borne in mind that it is the actual stockowner who benefits the country, not the speculator in runs and stock. The attempt to prove that the interests of the real stockowner and those of the public at large are at variance is an utter fallacy. Give him fair encouragement to endure the toil, and drudgery, which he must for some years endure, and he will be the first to give an export, and bring wealth to the settlement. But nothing can be more unfair than for those who never have endured the privations which the stockowner endures, and of which they are totally ignorant, to pass over the years during which the station produces little but a crop of care and anxiety, and to pounce for the sake of their argument upon the proceeds of those prosperous years attained by a persevering industry which they would not like to imitate.

We are glad to observe that the majority of the stockowners did not countenance any such proposition as that of converting a Pasturage license into a 14 years' lease. We can scarcely believe that any one who knew at all what tbe difference between a lease and a license is, could have dreamt of such a measnre. To give to the occupier of a piece of country by right of accidental precedency of application the absolute disposal of that country, with fourteen years (to collect the means of purchasing it—to keep out the man who comes with money in his hand to buy what he wants for actual cultivation—in fact, to lock up the country in the hands of a few who may happen to hold it at present, is indeed a notable scheme for the adjustment of the Waste Lands' difficult}'. We should soon have the old Roman story of Agrarian law insurrections?, andha claim made by the lease holders, like that of the Roman patricians of old, to hold Waste Land, the pasturage of which was allowed them by sufferance, as an inalienable freehold right. The second step would be as fair as the first. The stockowners complain that such claims as these are made for them by others, and are then saddled upon them.

The whole question is to be re-considered by the Council; we anxiously await their decision. Above all, we hope that in any fresh discussion a clearer distinction will be drawn between the bona fide stockowner and the mere speculators in runs. The.latter, who are the direct enemies of the former, are often confounded with them by those who do not look into the motives from which their respective claims originate.

Rates of Pasturage. We understand tlial the Pasturage vales were decided upon last ni«;ht in the Provincial Council. —They are as follows : Md. for the Ist and 2nd years, for the third year, 3iA. for the 4th and succeeding1 years, per acre.