THE LAKES DISTRICT.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 378, 9 June 1876, Page 3

THE LAKES DISTRICT.

(From our own correspondent.)

The principal matter of public interest which has transpired in this loca lity since ; my last' contribution is the sale of pastoral leases, the financial results of which have already .appeared in the ■ Mount Ida Chronicle,' results | which add another proof to'those, .already existing in support of the fact that the pastoral lands of > this Province are - held on unduly advantageous terms through the .colossal dimensions which delineate their boundaries as at present laid down—dimensions which prohibit men of moderate means from competing for them, thus securing the capitalist .in their entire monopoly. The results of these sales should materially assist .the scales to drop from the eyes of electors in reference to the administration' of they waste lands of the Colony, and cause them to take action (as 'suggested by Mr. Pylte) in the formation of a Land League. . I see by your issue of the 13th ult. that all public works are stopped. Now, I am really sorry to hear'it; but it is said to be one consolation of the. parent of evil to try to make others as black or as bad as himself. Now, it is reported that there is a devil in the printing office. .Would it be any consolation to that darkie to know that there have ! not been any public, work.s in the Arakatip district' for seme tithe past, ; : aiid ;that, in order to lceep things as smboth j as possible—which could i scarcely be done sif officers were discharged—little paltry repairs ha,ve been done in com-fortably-accessible places;; and where ; they were least fieedfe'd'?' It is truly 1 astonishing how the work's" done in this district have become" smaller and ! beautifully less," ever since the sale, , within two years, of over 200,000 acres •; of pastoral country—or leases of it ruuning for seven'years, at rentals'exceeding three times any rentals before j obtained for paaUiral' tiirids' in this j Province. This, added to the pastoral 'leases and their ..vifhicb have had a prior existence • n the shores of Lake Wnkatij), together with about 25,000 acres of land held under lease for agriculture (not including

purchased 'land) forms a m et magnificent ret.it roll''for this district, apart from the Goidfie.lds ami Custom:* re>«nue—which have been sometimes immense—always-, immoderately large- in proportion to the population. If to the above items are added the amount of money 'paid tp in tiie district 'for ti*e purchase from the Government of lauds (town and country), it would he seen, that as far as the matter of revenue is concerned this district has been weli farmed by the Provincial Government for its collection, but, beyond that collection, nothing—not. even for the production of that revenue itself. One would naturally think that the parties in receipt of such splendid returns from such a magnificent estate, but in such a wild and disorderly condition, would have paid some attention'to that rule in the management of all estates, namely, to keep them in repair and improVemenfe'to at least the extent of being in working order; but for thfr-. teen years thiii district has poured its 'revenues'into the Dunedin Treasury , and what has it.got in return ? The answer is very simple :—Two wooden bridges over the Shotover, and one suspension bridge over the Kawarau, twenty miles of a main road to Dunedin (in bad repair), and a few miles of six-feet pack tracks, and this is all all the. works we have to show for.,at: least £50.000 per annum p:tid to Government from all sources. But, in justice to tfte Provincial Council, I must yay iinaiiy sjims of money have by them! which have never-fjeen the works for which they were voted ; so that the Executive Councils have been the parties who .have been guilty of the iniquitous lystemi :pf ipinissions which has landed:* this district in the miserabjfer condition-in' winch ifc must be handed nsxV month to its legitimate rßter&r How they will treat, sis remains to be seen. There are principalities in Germany not quite so largi* as the Lakes District, ;ini I wish to inform the " ge'rnen " in/the'jjrintingi office that if I were prince of such- - a pality, and had . a superintendent who managed it the same as the Lakes principality he should dance a la Raman, " without bene fit of clergy," Perhaps, as ~a correspondent, these, things, may not properly belong to my province ; but, as we are» closing''up th'e reports of this district, as it apone system of administratioTi, "I thought it only right to acknowledge rthe exodus suitably. •