The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 230, 12 August 1848, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Be just and (ear no* : Let all tin* ends thon ainib't at, be tliy Counts j's, 'lliy God's, and liuth's.

SAT iTr I) A Y,~ AU G UST 12, IS4 8.

We, this morning, present to our readers, from the Government Gazette of Thursday, the long and anxiously expected Regulations for the Depasturing of Cattle, and cutting of timber, upon Crown lands. Whatever may be the general opinion with respect to the provisions of the first, we imagine it will be freely conceded that the rules prescribed in governance of the latter have been framed in a just and liberal spirit. Let us bestow a passing glance upon the several noticeable clauses of these regulations. — The second clause, in echo of the recent Australian Squatting Act, insists upon prepayment of the amount of assessment. This we j incline to regard as illiberal, and perfectly unnecessary, Government possessing ample security for the rent, by destraint upon the cattle depastured. Why should the Crown be more exacting than a private landlord % It is surely beneath its dignity. If advantage be implied it would be more in keeping to throw that advantage into the scale of the industrious tenant. The assessment, eightpence per head, for great, and a penny per head for small cattle, is very high, being double that of New South Wales. It may be alleged that the land is moie fertile and the pasturage richer, but that is, at best, a questionable pomt — Besides it is no answer, inasmuch that it is expiessly stipulated " the rent to be paid for each several run of land shall be proportioned to the number of sheep or equivalent number of cattle which the run shall be estimated as capable of carrying. 11 Anything bordering upon an excessive charge it would be well, in our opinion, to avoid — indeed every facility to the stockholder should be afforded ; since to encrease our cattle is to encrease our wealth, and to despastuie our lands is the infallible means of enriching our soil and improving its pastoral capabilities — the growth of grass keeping pace with the introduction of cattle. By the seventh clause a fee of Five pounds is required " for every license for a defined run." What area, we would inquire, constitutes a defined run 1 For aught that appeals, the license fee may be the same for fifty or five thousand acres. We think, as the depastures are to be mere tenants at will, the regulations in force, with respect to annual leases of ciown lands, in Van Diemen'sLand might ha\e been, advantageously modified. In Tasmania, fiockmasters requiring runs have the option of leasing them annually. They are submitted to public competition at the minimum ups«t puce

of twenty shillings for every hundred acres. — They invariably let at their full value, and , public attention is thereby called to the runs j at the disposal of Government. Such a sys- J tern would obviate the necessity of the tenth clause — one uhich reminds us of putting the cart before the horse. In transactions between piivalc parties the lessor naturally acquaints the lessee of all the advantages pertaining to the propel ty about to be let— its boundaries, and other descriptive features. The twelfth clause is one which, in our opi- ! nion, it is the legitimate province of Government to accomplish. We are well aware that were the boundaries of runs to be laid out by that costly of costlies, the Survey Department, the balance would be large on the wrong side of profit and loss. Still, that which is too expensive for Government to undertake should not be lequired of its tenants— much less of yearly ones— unless, indeed, an equivalent be granted for the labour bestowed. To us, who have had some little experience, the marking off the boundaries of a bush run savours of ingenious trifling. What occupant liable to be turned out at a three months' notice will undertake it, and to wheat mighty beneficial end, if undertaken, would it tend % Where no fences exist mutual tiespass and mutual forbearance must, of necessity, occur. The fifteenth clause, which confides to the Commissioner of Crown Lands the power of altering the boundaries of runs is at once objectionable and impolitic. It is one, fruitful of abuses, and should never be entrusted to the officer to whom the supervision of the Depasturing Regulations, as a system, is deputed. To an unsciupulous functionary it offers a facility of annoyance, and confers an indirect patronage, which cannot be too carefully avoided, since even the most honorable and the most conscientious are liable to the foul breath of suspicion. It would, perhaps, be well, in reference to the sixteenth clause, that the Crown should give to the occupants of its runs, at least six months notice to quit, prior to disposal of such runs, or any portion of them. This would be evincing the parental regard which the Crown is presumed to entertain towaids its subjects. There may be those who will smile at clause seventeenth, and look upon the bonus, there held out, to intending purchasers, as something very ! like the sprat, said to have been thrown to catch the herring. Be that as it may, the man ■ who purchases eighty acres will certainly be ' none the worse for being " entitled to a right of pasturage in the neighbourhood of his station for sixteen head of great, or one hundied head of small cattle." Lures less liberal aie to be found in the Australian Squatting Act. On the whole, we legard the throwing open of the Crown lands for pastoral purposes, as designed by these regulations, to be a measure of great colonial importance. It will materially facilitate the operations of both importers and exporters, and may, probably, attract the attention of large stockholders in Australia to the profits to be derived by a transfer of poi - tions of their over crowded flocks and herds to our vacant hills and glens. The regulations appear to be framed in a fair and equitable spirit, and, we have little doubt, if modified, so as to meet the necessities which may arise, when subjected to the test of practical experience, that they,will do much in encouragement of the pastoral interests of the Northern province of New Zealand — so admirably adapted by soil and climate for such pursuits.