WASTE LANDS BOARD.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5051, 1 June 1877, Page 5

WASTE LANDS BOARD.

♦ Thursday, May 31. The Board met at noon. Present —Chief Commissioner Holdsworth and Commissioners Johnston, Mason, and Bunny. MINUTES. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. LAND SALES. The Chief Commissioner reported that the new land sales for the month had been 29J acres, for which £7u had been realised. hastwell and macara's application. Touching this matter, the Chief Commissioner said he had on the previous day received a memorandum from Mr. Baird, the District Surveyor, as follows :—" The natives claim a reserve of 500 acres at the junction of the Mauriceville road and the FortyMile Bush road, where it is supposed to be Crown land. The contractors for metalling portion of the road opened a gravel pit near the junction, and the natives have intimated that they expect payment from him for the gravel taken. I believe this is the land applied for by Hastwell andMacara fora coaching stage. Would you be kind enough to let me know if this is Crown or native land ? It is one of the best gravel pits on the line, and at least five acres should be reserved forthemetalling, &c.,of the road, if it is Crown laud." He had written to the Government on the subject, but had not yet received an answer. He remembered that some three or four years ago there had been a reserve of a thousand acres fbr the natives, but was not aware whether this land was included in the reserve, Mr. Bunny enquired whether Hastwell would take the other side of the road ? The Chief Commissioner was not clear whether both sides of the road were not claimed by the natives. It was resolved to postpone further consideration till next meeting, by which time further information would have been obtained. APPLICATION OF MASTERTON SMALL FARMS ASSOCIATION. Mr. Bunny, pursuant to notice, moved that the former resolution of the Board, deciding to give no special advantages to the association, be rescinded. He said he should simply content himsejlf with moving the motion. Mr. Beetham was present on behalf of the association, and doubtless would have something to say. However, he felt sure that if the Board could induce men to settle on the land in the Forty-Mile Bush, it would be a good thing ; but the mere recission of the motion did not imply that the Board would give the applicants all they asked. He mentioned that since the last meeting he had had a conversation with the Hon. Mr. Ormond, who had assured him that land had been granted to several similar associations in Hawke's Bay, and had worked admirably. Mr. Beetjtam said the applicants felt th?,t they were asking for powers they might not be able to get, and he thought they wej>c inclined to waive the conditions as to the omission of the non-residential clause, and to give whatever be agreed upon as a failmarket price for the land. If they were to get special advantages they were quite willing to pay for special advantages, and no body of men could be more fair in their demands than that. He noticed that it had been said the Board could not give a pref ereirce to one class of men. That was a very proper thing to say, but preference was not asked for ; there was no reason whatever why any association should not be similarly treated without in any way sacrificing the public estate. Mr. Bunni' suggested that a block, say of V.\'. l oo acres, should be set apart, the Board reserving every other section. However at present the question was, should the motion be rescinded. Mr. Beetham said the association wished to secure the advantage that they should be able to work together, and he believed if such a

body of men were to get together on new country they would be most valuable settlers. Mr. Johnston said in the memorandum which the association had submitted to the Board they had asked the Board to let them have the land on four conditions—first, that the upset price should ba what he thought very much less than its value, £1 per acre ; next, that payment : should extend over ten years ; third, that personal residence should not beinsisted upon, as "the laud in question being bush laud, personal residence would iu the first instance be highly inconvenient, and otherwise antagonistic to the interests of the bona ticksettlers:" fourth, that they should have ten years to pay the money. _ Then there was a condition as to certain reserves. Now it appeared to him that if waste lands were disposed of in such a manner as that, it would not assist settlement nor put auy additional money in the Treasury. He had heartily seconded Mr. Mason's motion, and he did not see any reason for receding from the position he had taken up, or why the public should be deprived of the opportunity of competing for the land. It would be a grave responsibility for the Board to so deprive the public, unless some counterbalancing public advantage could be shown. Mr. Beetkam thought there would be very great counterbalancing advantages. By their settlement on a portion of the laud they would be improving the value of the adjoining land. Besides, the association was by no means exclusive. The C'HiEb' Commissioner remarked that a member of the deputation had told him he had induced two young men to come from England in order to join the association, and participate in the benefits of it; but when, on their arrival, they made application to be admitted, they were refused, being told there was no room for them.

Mr. Bektham said of course if the association had rules they must be complied with; but there was no reason why other associations should be not formed to take iu those willing to join. Mr. Bunny said the Board must bear in mind that the most successful settlements in the Wairarapa had arisen from a similar basis to that upon which the Masterton Small Farms Association now stood. Take Masterton and Greytown as instances, and he believed that Carterton to some extent had been settled upon the same principle. Each of these had their rules and regulations and shareholders, and though beginning in a small way had grown up to be large and important communities. He believed a great deal of the success of the Wairarapa was owing to the manner in which it had been settled. Townships had been formed and laid out, and doubtless the same thing would be done in this case. It was the only way in which the county could be settled. The Waste Lands Board had no funds—their province was but to recommend ; and its wa scarcely probable that County Councils would make roads, when the result" of prosperity found its way into the Colonial Treasury. Local bodies would not expend money out of their pockets to benefit the colonial pocket: and it seemed to him unless they gave some encouragement to persons willing to settle upon and developcthe country, the Board would bt retarding and holding back progress. The Chief Commissioner thought there would be great force in the remarks of Mr. Bunny, if there was any probability of the association undertaking the formation of roads or spending money in improving the block ; but there had never been the slightest hint of any such purpose or intention. Mr. BUNNY said there was no reason why they should not be invited to make a proposition on the subject. Mr. Johnston said if the association would offer so much upset price, and undertake to spend so much more in improvements, he should be quite willing to entertain a reasonable proposition. Mr. Beetham said he had no doubt the association would be quite willing to make a proposition ; but he would point out that if residence were insisted upon the settlers must of necessity make roads. After some more discussion, it was resolved to adjourn the further consideration of the matter till next meeting, in order to allow the association to make another proposition. A question under the immigrants land act. The Chief Commissioner said it would be within the recollection of the Board that some time ago an application was received from Mary Ann Ktevens, asking permission to transfer certain land held under immigrant's scrip to aHother party. The Board felt itself unable to deal with the matter without legal advice. The following memorandum had been made by Mr. Beid, the Solicitor-General : " I have carefully considered the question raised by the Waste Lands Board, and upon the facts stated am of opinion that there is no objection to the allowance of such a transfer as far as the provisions of the Immigrants Land Act, 1873, are concerned. That Act provided for the registration of immigrants entitled to land whs might apply within the prescribed period to the Minister to purchase specified land, and upon this purchase being made the immigrants were bound by the conditions laid down, including the prohibition of disposing of their interest in the land purchased. The Waste Lands Administration Act, 1876, repealed the Immigrants Land Act, with the usual saving clause ; and gave to the registered immigrants a new privilege—that of exercising the certificates of registration in payment, as cash, for the purchase of land on deferred payments ; and when this has been done, as in the case before me, the purchaser has nothing more to do with the Immigrants Land Act."

The Board therefore agreed to sanction the transfer. APPLICATION BY HUTT COUNTY COUNCIL.

At the last meeting of the Board Mr. Smith, of the Hutt County Council, waited upon the Board to ask it to survey into sections the land. fronting the road between Pahautanui and the Lower Hutt. It seems that a road line connecting these has been surveyed, traversed, and plotted; distance 4J miles; grade for a distance of 3 miles, 1 in 20; the remainder 1 in 15. About 800 acres of Crown hind can be sectioned off with a frontage to, this road, the balance of Crown land which immediately surrounds the 800 acres can be surveyed into sections. The cost of making a bridle track 4.{ miles about £-100. The land is of good quality, covered with busb, and of a broken character. Provided the Crown land surrounding the 800 acres is to be surveyed with a road frontage to each section, the exploring and levelling required for the purpose of obtaining the most practicable and best line of roar! will occupy considerable time, and will involve an outlay of say from £8 to £l2 per mile. Mr. Mason moved and Mr. Johnston seconded the following resolution :—That the unsurveyed Crown hind, situate between the Pahautanui and "Western Hutt, extending to the traversed road luie from the Upper Hutt to Waikatiae, be surveyed into sections varying from 100 to 200 acres, whenever a road frontage is practicable, and when otherwise in sections, say from 400 to 000 acres each, and the survey be undertaken forthwith. Carried. memorial prom rangitikei. ■The following memorial was presented by Mr. Johnston on behalf of memorialists : " To the Chairman and Commissioners of the Waste Lands Board, "Wellington. " Gkntlicmkn, —We the undersigned settlers of Mauawatu and "Rangitikei, having learned through the Press that it is the intention of your Board to dispose of the land reserved for a township on the bank of the "Rangitikei river at Scott's, in forty acre sections, — would respectfully bring before your notice the injustice of so doing, as the greater part of the land in the district was bought with the district, understanding that the said piece of land was reserved as a township, as appealing on the plan of Carnarvon, and not to be disposed of in large • blocks, as you now propose doing. " The progress of the district has already been retarded for want of a town to facilitate trade.

" We would further point out that the trade ia the Itaugitikei has greatly increased. ■" That there is a pilot stationed here, and that every facility for carrying on a large trade, with the exception of wharves, &c, sites for which cannot be procured.

"Wo are also of opinion that the land would sell readily at say £5 a section, if offered iu allotments varying in size from one quarter to two acres each.

" We would, therefore, respectfully suggest to your Board the desirability of cutting up into town allotments at least one hundred acres of the more suitable part of the reserve. "Trusting that you will give this your favorable consideration, we have, &c."

[Signed by sixteen persons.] The Board having expressed pleasure at receiving such a suggestion from persons well acquainted with the locality, postponed the consideration of the memorial till fuller information could be obtained from the District Surveyor, Mr. Dundas. The Board then adjourned.