THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1874.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 263, 21 March 1874, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1874.

"What is known as the Otago Lands Act of 1872 came into force on the Ist of January, 1.873. Owing; in a great measure, to the evenly-bal-anced state of parties in the Provincial Council, and the heat engendered in' consequence, bringing iii its wake a; dissolution and fresh election, no (t at-j tempt was'made to bring into forcer the clauses proyideti for setting aside land' on deferred paj ments,. ; or only to a' very limited extent.. The !Superiir.en.r deiit and Mr. !Donald Keirl,' in. .thd , H ofi I?ftpres'entat i v es, were by nd means unmindful of the matter—in| deed, etjpecialljr v mind(ul of the absurd inadequacy jvf£" a provision of ouljf 30,000■.'-. acres: ar rear rej quiremeiits cif a»large Province such as Otago. Although matters were at a standstill till the present ISxecutivl graui rnb' ~ndw lia p'j >il j ' bei lig carried out in 'spite 'of difficulties, obstacle."; and delays unceasingly thrown in their way by tiitt pastoral tenants and others interested, in obstruction—yet ia Bill was-prepared to extend the annual allowancc f'nirn 30,000 to 100,000 acreß'. This Bill uiet with no opnosition :u the House of Ke)jresentatives—indeed, a« far.aN we.can gather, it passed the first,.second, and third readings without a single eomnlfint, introductory op iithef Not unfortunately, iu ths

Legislative Council. On September 16tii the lion. Captain Praser moved the second reading—not, i-ideed, with ii, very great heart, knowing well the opposition it would meet with. He went -o far, by way-..0f concession, as to otter to accept of 40,000 acres, or an iuci'i-ase uf o'-Iy 10.000, probably being conient if the principal of increaseaccording to actual requirement was asserted. He suid—l he present Bill " proposed to increase the area of '* ground to be open for selection,' and " it was intended to throw open anum- " ber of blocks in-various parts of the '' Province." At once jumped up that most conservative of honorables, CoL Whitmore—who has such a down on Otago and " the unmitigated cads hailing froin,thence "—and in a very indignant speech moved that the Bill be read, that- day six months—that is, shelved. "Any alteration that took " the direction of making away with " the public estate, which he could not " but look upon as,anvthing else .but " secuiity for the railway expenditure, " was, in his opinion, more unjustifi- " able than any other alteration that "could be made" TlVo lion. Mr. Stokes seconded the amendment, and querulously complained " that a great " deal of time had been taken up last '' session bv-the Otago Waste Lands " Act. —(lVhose fa-It, 2Lr. StoJces?) " It was understood that the settle- " inent was to be final (Define final- '■ ity, Hon. Sir. Is it the rise in price' " of wool ?) —and it was so accepted " by the Council (Say imposed, " rather),—but this session here was " another Bill." With a prophetical glance, - worthy of a more liberal brain, tliehon. gentleman, so astounded by the audacity of Otago, yet conceives that her democratic population, having got a small concession, would again attempt further inroads upon leasehold monopoly. "The p.nty who endea- " vored to upset the arrangement—- " (the above hinted at imp isirion of " terms by a nominee majority) —would "continually press forward , -their ; " amendments, so as to subvert a set- '" tleuient; and they never could arrive at any final settlement of the. " dispute in question." The lion. Dr. Pollen then followed—not to oppose the Bill, by no means ; only to smother j it wit 1 1 cold water —and instructed the ] Council that, although he would vote ' for the Bill, yet, " before they agreed " to it, they should ascertain what they " were about to do, and see that the ! " interests of the runholders and re- ' " quirements of the public were care- " fully attended to"—(As l.ader of I the Ooorrnmsnt in this Council L dare not oppose the Silt, and fly against JSlacandrew and his • arty, but you fellows haoe the rift tip. At t l e sa e time, note the interests of the runholders are put first.) Another gallant soldier, with any amount of zeal, has his flincr at Otago and her needs. " ]t was ex- " ce.edingly indecent,!' said Colonel Brett, " to bring the matter forward " again .in the manner iu which they " had done. (Landless Otago, with '• younq mouths to feed ', cannot regard "the decencies and respectabilities) " Last year's Act provided that 30,000 " acres should be thrown open, and " now they had the audacity t:> ask for, " 100,000 acres." The Hon. Mr. Campbell was. not shocked with indecency— (f 'amiliari y. breeds contempt), nor was lie astonished, with audacity, but " he was very much amused. He " could tell the Council that, alt-hough jthad been declared that 30,000 acres might be set apart, not one single " acre had been opened uo for sqttle- " ment under deferred ( payments.— " (5.000 acres had been declared under " deferred payments, and all taken up.) 1 bat system .would be very disastrous " to the country, and it would lead to " land being taken up anC worked for " a certain number of years, and then " being abandoned." Another Otago, honorable, Mr. Holmes, gave a luke- ' warm suppoi t to the Bill. " A s to the " absolute necessity tor the measure, " he held that none existed. In the Act of last year 30,000 acres were set , " apart, and yet the Provincial Council j " was so supine in bringing the Act " into■operation, that the.first block of " 5,000 ac-reu was only placed in the ".market about a month ago (August, "'73). . . . He could testify that " a member of the Provincial Council, " who was a resident of the district in "which the. land was situated, in-, " formed him, in the presence of witnesses, that he was prepared to give £3 an acre for the whole block ; and yet that land was sold, not to the ".,class of people for whom it was in"tended—(Who are they?),—but to " those who were in as. good a position. " to buy as any honorable member inj '• the Council, at an equivalent .fori " 13s. lOd. an'acre. . . •-. To. makej " persons who' were in good c-ircym-; " stances a present' of £2 an' acre was " rather too rnuch of a good thing, Jes- 1 " pecially when the lands of the Colfmyj " were, being sold so rapidly and at.i " such hisrh prices."—(Sale of 10,000' acres at Maerewhe "tun just at. a nett result, of about 17s. (id)' The' Bill proposed, so said Mr: Holmes, to allow;. of more than 5,000 acres bein> r . taken off any one run. " By doing so " the settlers—(a Hew namc for pastd- " ral tenants) —.would be left to the" " tender mercies nf the SuperinteriJ " dent and his Executive. Now,- he' " could certify that very little justice! " could be expected from those gentle-; " men. If you stood well with or "were a political supporter of the " Superintendent you could get all you ■' wanted ; but, if you were not on " his side, you might suffer a great " deal of injury, because,, by this " Bill, instead of taking 5,000 " acres he might take 58,000 from any *' one ruoj and thus ruin any person " who was not one' of hifl supporters." Mr. Holmes. does not mineo matters certainly. A spade ia a spado. Btr.

YVuterhouse said; t.-uiy enough, " Th.e '• Will had been'damued by the fainr. " praise of those' who advocated it." Captain TTra-er, in reply, paid—"lt " was rather hard that Colonel Whit-. " more should have moved the amend- ' incut and Mr. Stokes should have " seconded it, considering that both " gentlemen came fry.m.. a t Province " where there was not a single acre of laud: _to-give to an immigrant, v. It *' was not. fair that Uiey should intcr- " fere with a Province like Ota£o,

" which was prepared not only to "give "the people living in it an opportu- " nity of settling on the land, but also " to invite.people ironfall parts of the " Colony to »o and settle on the'land." (Captain JPraner did not dream of a 10), 000 acrele seholdpurchase just now concluded in Otago. by the gallant Colonel. ,JT e wonder did he, the purchaser ) And then followed and

impetuous words, with so much truth in them, the whole of which we printed :t the time.- The real object of the Bill, he then declared, was "to prevent the poor man being crushed by the grasping runholders a::d capitalists. " He did not wish to see in the " hands of half-a-dozen in Imduals "lie liked to see a P ovince'with a " bold yeomanry—-a- country's .pride. " Where were they in Hawke's s J3iy ? " That Province was simply one Marge " run." The second reading was 10-«t by twenty-six v.otes to three—Captain Eraser, Mr. Holmes, and Dr. Pollen only .voting for the Bill. . , ■ -

We have been at the pains-to analyse this debate, as showing what can be expected from the Council as at present constituted in the direction; of a liberal land huvjfor the people of the Colony. Little as they, as a body, have to do, so important - a matter is too much for.them >to consider once ayear. They are shocked, scandalised. One hon. member-last year " thanked " God the Council had got rid of the " treated so frivolously,-we need hardly say, ;s the endeavor to obtaiir/.happiness and comfort for many thousands of families.