Evasions of the Land Acts.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 7 April 1891, Page 3

Evasions of the Land Acts.

AN IMPORTANT MEMORANDUM. With reference to the action in tended to be taken by the Lan< Board to prevent evasions of thi Lands Acts, the Commissioner o Grown Lands at the Board meet ing on Thursday afternoon submitted the following memorandum on th< subject, which was approved by the members present : — 25th March, 1891. The Land Board, Wellington — In accordance with your jnstruC| tions, I have made enquiries in re ferenoe to the speoial cases of sup posed evasions of the Land Act which have been under the considera tion of the Land Board from time t time since the applications were pu in, and have to report that it ap pears to me that the Land Board i not in a position to institute enquir in each particular case in the man ncr befitting the gravity and import ance of the object the Board has ii view, until the Crown lands ranger have completed the necessary in spections and investigations of thi selections or until some evidence if furnished to the Land Board of speci fie breaches of the law by the selec tors in question. It has always beei felt by the Board that they have n< power to reject applications, excepi as specially provided by the, lani Acts and regulations ; and that the Board's opportunity occurs at the same time, tvhen the selector's obligations as to improvements and occupation culminate. His bona fides in these respects can only be tested by prompt' and frequent inspections. The Board have been powerless to accomplish this important duty for the reason that they have' at no time a sufficient staff of rangers. Three rangers are required to attend to this essential work, only one is available*. The Board is not in a position to enforce compliance with the Land Acts. This is manifestly both detrimental of public interests and the great inconvenience of selectors desirous of transferring their mll tere^^iobttiihing their titles, &c. > M£jtp,nger Lundins is actively enr gaged upon the inspections, of urgent ViOase^, isuch as those where titles are ■I *i*equired, defaulters to be kept up to •■the. .mark, &c. The whole of the ' Wairarapa is left without a ranger for the present. Mr Lundins has drawn attention -, to the cases enumerated in the atipßlched schedule, and recommends we consider them. : J. W. A. Makohant, Commissioner Crown Lands. A The schedule referred to by In M archaht showed that some (*Q * selectors in different parts of the' f ". district were in arrears •eJiiiHfli: their improvements, and the Board decided to immediately enforce compliance, threatening, in default, to cancel the interests. After discussing the memorandum the Board resolved, on the motion * of Mr D. H. Macarthur, seconded by Mr W. W. McCardle, to request the Government to appoint two additional rangers forthwith for the Wellington Land-District, as the Board cannot . with one ranger, exercise sufficient supervision over its selectors to enable it . to prevent and detect evasions of the Lands Act, besides being impeded in its ordinary work, to the gre"at inconvenience of the public. — Post.