WASTE LANDS BOARD.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4966, 21 February 1877, Page 3

WASTE LANDS BOARD.

A meeting of the Waste Bands Board for the provincial district of Wellington was held at the Land Office yesterday at noon. Present :—Messrs. J. G. Hcldsworth (Chief Commissioner), H. Bunny, and Thos. Mason. MINUTES. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. LAND SALES. The Chairman said, in accordance with resolutions passed at the previous meeting, he had gazetted a sale of land on deferred payments, which has since taken place. On the 13th February 48 sections in the Kiwitea block were offered for sale on application, comprising an area of 8580 acres, at 20s. per acre; 25 sections were sold on the 13th at upset price. 14 sections were applied for on the same day by 40 applicants, and were sold at public auction on the 16th, and realised 295. sd. per acre. Five sections have since been applied for by 14 applicants, and will be sold by public auction. Four yet remain unsold. On the same day 35 sections, including an area of 9703 acres, were open for application, full cash payments at 20s. per acre, of which 17 have been sold, 4486 acres, for £4511. Two of these went to auction, and an advance of Is. per acre was the result, the cash received being—For 17 sections, cash payment in full, £4511; deferred payments, £lsll 19s. 9d. Total, £6022 19s. 9d. Formal sanction to the sale was given. MB. JACKSON'S RESIGNATION. The Chairman stated thathe had on the 15th inst. received Mr. Jackson’s resignation as a member of the Board. DEPUTATION. A deputation from the Masterton Small Farms Association was then introduced, consisting of Messrs. Garrick, McCardle, and Vile. Mr. Cakrick said : We are a deputation from the Masterton Small Farms Association, which numbers between 300 and 400 members, and the objects of the association, as well as those of the deputation, may he gathered from the following memorial, which, by permission of the Board, I will read: —

“To the Chairman and Members of the Waste Lands Board, Wellington, the memorial of the undersigned, members of the Masterton Small Farms Association, 1876, showeth : “ That your memorialists, recognising the urgent demand which exists in this district for the acquisition of land for agricultural settlement, upon such terms and conditions as would bring it within the means and circumstance? of the laboring classes, have formed themselves into an association under the above designation. “That your memorialists are anxious to obtain such land upon the following conditions, which, after mature consideration, they believe would bring it within the means of that important section of the community on behalf of whom the efforts of the society have been mainly enlisted : “1. On deferred payments, extending over a period of ten years. “2.' That such land be intersected with blocks set apart for sale for cash payment in the proportion of one cash-payment block between each and every of the two blocks so set apart. In making this suggestion your memorialists are strongly impressed with the opinion that the acquired value of these cash-payment sections would be sufficient to recoup your Government for the concessions sought on behalf of the deferred-payment settler. “3. That the price payable for such deferred payment sections be fixed at a uniform rate of not more than twenty shillings per acre, payable as referred to above ; said payments to be made by equal half-yearly instalments in advance. “4. That a reserve for a township, as also for a cemetery, for recreation, educational, church, and other purposes, be made and provided for in the land so to be set apart. “ 5.' That it be a condition of settlement that each of the deferred payment settlers improve the land so acquired by him, by clearing and cropping the same at a uniform rate of 5 per centum per annum of the land so acquired, during each and every year of the aforesaid term of ten years, residence on the same being optional. In making this last-named request your memorialists would beg to direct your Board’s attention to the fact that the land in question being bush land, personal residence would in the first instance be highly inconvenient and otherwise antagonistic to the interests of the bona fide settler. “6. By and in virtue of the provisions of Clause 18 of the Wellington Special Settlements Act, and the Waste Lands Administration Act, 1876, your Board is empowered to set aside land for special settlement purposes on such terms as may be sanctioned by the Governor in Council, anything in the existing regulations for the management and disposal of the waste lands in this province to the contrary notwithstanding.

“Your memorialists, as representing the association aforesaid, would therefore request that your Board would be pleased to set apart that block of land known as the Makakaha Block, forming part of the Forty-Mile Bush, and situated conterminous to the main road leading from Masterton to Woodville, consisting of not less than 15,000 acres. And further, they would request that the land so set apart may he thrown open for settlement on the terms and subject to the conditions and stipulations set forth above. “ Your memorialists would respectfully draw your attention to the fact that the subject matter of the memorial has already been’ brought under the notice of the late Provincial Government in a memorial signed by bona fide members of this association, and forwarded to the late Deputy-Superintendentof the province. In consequence, however, of changes in the Government of the country then pending’ the prayer of the memorial was not complied with. “ With the view of giving effect to this memorial your memorialists would respectfully crave that your Board would take such steps as may be deemed necessary to get the above conditions and regulation of settlement sanctioned by'the Governor in Council. “ And as in duty bound,” &c. The Chairman : The whole of the Forty - Mile Bush is not "acquired from the natives. Sixty-two thousand acres have been acquired along the main line of road, and the Government are negotiating for the purchase of the whole, and expect to settle the matter in a very short time. I may also mention that no survey has been made within the back ground of the block ; we have only had the outside boundaries surveyed, and I am not quite sure whether the land you refer to has been surveyed, or whether the native title to it has been extinguished. However, maps have been prepared showing the whole of the bush. Maps were then laid upon the table and examined.

The Chairman said the Mangaone Block in the Forty-Mile Bush had been surveyed, and inquired whether that block would suit the association. The deputation was understood to express a preference for the land referred to in the memorial. In answer to an inquiry as to what was meant by the allusion to the inconvenience of personal residence, Mr. McCardle said- the reason of making the request was that it had been thought that many parties applying for land would find it difficult to go and settle on the land immediately. And if they did do so they would spend what little capital they had in malting necessary preliminary arrangements, such as clearing, and leave themselves pretty well penniless to proceed with cultivating and stocking the land. If non-compulsory settlement were agreed to, it would be found that persons at present in employment would spend money in clearing the land, and being enabled to keep to their employment would, when the land was fit for cultivation, have something to start with. They would have sufficient land cleared and sufficient money to purchase stock with, so that Ihe land would at once he made self-supporting. • The Chairman said the Board would take an early opportunity of discussing the question, and would let the association know their decision.

Mr. Garrick remarked that they hoped the Board would agree to the conditions submitted ; but still in case of the Board being unable to agree to them the association would be happy to modify their views. Mr. Bunnv: Of course. I mean to say that the Board will discuss the whole question, and fully consider your proposals. If we cannot agree to all, we will suggest what we think should be done, and you can consider our suggestions, and accept or reject them as you please. Mr. McCardle: Certainly. I may add that although we have applied for a small quantity of land we have not applied for nearly enough. We are in a position to settle fifty or sixty thousand acres. The deputation then withdrew. A HARD CASE.

TheEev. Mr. Ogg said he had been requested by a young man in whom he took an interest, and who had purchased land near Featherston, to bring a grievance under the notice of the Board. Mr. Tait, the person alluded to, had in September, 1875, purchased a hundred acres; but he could not get the land surveyed, and the consequence was that he could not fence, and was unable to keep Mr. Henry Jackson’s sheep off the land. He had cleared three acres, but was not inclined to' do more, as other people were reaping the benefit of his work. He had been promised that the survey should be made, but he could not get the promise performed. The Chairman said the fact was Mr. Tait had purchased 100 acres of unsurveyed land at the back of Mr. Henry Jackson’s property. He was the first selector who had gone so far back, and t» .have surveyed this one hundred acres it would have 'been necessary to take in a thousand acres, and though Mr. Jackson, the Chief Surveyor, had been directed to get the work done, he had never been able to get it done. To speak plainly, he (Mr. Holds worth) did not see his way so clear to get the work done as he had when he made the promise a year since. Instructions to surveyors were now issued from the Surveyor-General’s office, and no surveyor could survey a single section without taking in the whole of the adjacent land.

Mr. Bunny : If people choose to go and take up uusurveyed land they must put up with the consequences. We cannot go to the cost of surveying a whole district for the sake of one piece of land. > The Rev. Mr. Ogg : Then do you not think there is a probability of the land being surveyed at once. The Chairman : I do not think there is. : X will bring the matter under the notice of the Surveyor-General, and I am sure I express the opinion of the Board when I say we have every desire that the work should be done. The Board then adjourned.