SALE of RUNS WITHDRAWN from TUAPEKA COMMONAGE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 263, 21 March 1874, Page 3

SALE of RUNS WITHDRAWN from TUAPEKA COMMONAGE.

The sale of small runs withdrawn-from the Tuapeka commonage took place in the District Land Office on Monday last, at noon. 'Jhe error committed by the Provincial authorities, in sending the conditions of ?ale applicable to„the \Vakatip runs, instead of those of Tuapeka, caused no small degree of excitement and • indignation those settlers whose cattle run in the vicinity of the land that was adver-

tised to be leased ; and it was not until a public meeting to consider the matter was

held at the Blue Spur and a telegram was received from'" the Goldfields Secretary that their fears were allayed. The conditions of sale were not received till Satur- ' day evening, leaving only a few hours for those interes'.ed to make themselves acquainted with the stipulations made by the, Government regarding the leases. There was a good attendance, and the bidding was very .spirited. There were five lots put up, each at an upset renttil of one half-penny an acre, the total acreage of the five Tuns being 13,720 acres. The •conditions under which this land is leased are extremely liberal tpboth miners and agricul--turists, tts clause 6 shows, which reads as follows :—Each allotment will be sold subject to the right of any holder of a miners' right, business license, or mining lease to depasture free of charge three head of great cattle thereon. The license iof each allotment shall allow all persons at ; present legally depasturing stock thereon ;one calendar month to remove such stock. Each allotment will also be sold subject to the right of holders of miners' rights to enter and mine upon the land comprised therein, to take up residence arens, to cut and cart timber ior mining, building, or domestic purposes, and to take up agricultural or mining leases thereon under any Regulations made under the Goldfields Act, 1566" or any Act amending the same." The land ranges from 1200 ft. to 3000 ft. above the level of the sea, and the priced given will open the eyes of some of our readers to the enormous profits that must at [) resent be realised from the cultivation of wool even on the snowy heights of the Lammerlaws.

LOT. ACREAGE. FEB AOKE. PURCHASER. 1 - Hinde 2 3700 ■ Is Oid Samuel Henry 3 2190 Is 3il Stewurt M'Comto % 2870 lOid ' D.J. M'Donald 5 12580 8d Wm. Hayes 13,720

The total annual revenue which wi'l be paid to the: Government for these 13,720 acres will therefore amount to £628 J33. lod., or 1 Id. ah acre, the best paying runs, 'we have no hesitation in saying, that can be found 'in" the Province of Otago. ' 1 < Commenting on the above - sale, the ' Bruce Herald' of last week writes .• — " Our Tuapeka .telegram will, we have no doubt, awaken many to.a sense of the shameless manner in which the legislators played into the hands of the runholders by granting them extended leases, and. - the utter absurdity of the arguments used ;by those who point to the assessment received from runs as a reason for not taking' land for settlement. 13,000 acres on Tuapeka commonage, in five lotq, leased for seven years at an average of lOd. per acre. 'Jhere are in the hands of yunholders some 6,400,000 acres in round '■> numbers, i which at lOd. per acre would yield a rental of £266,666 13s. 4d., instead of the paltry sum of fifty or sixty thousand at

present yielded.' With such it . revenue. Irom our pastoral lands Milder a leasing system, there would be no need for selling blocks to large landed proprietors, or sacrificing the people's patrimony. Again, were-these riins cut up into 2,600 acre blocks,.it would, open* up settlement <for between two and three thousand sheepfarmers, instead of being in 1 he hands of

two or three runholders, at present many of them absentees. How long will people remain blindfolded ?"—' Tuapeka Times.'