The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5324, 20 April 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1878.

Sir John Richardson's resignation of his seat on the Southland Waste Lands Board is an event which has naturally attracted a good deal of public attention ; and the more the circumstances which have led to his resignation are inquired into, the more will public attention be attracted to the sayings and doings of the Southland Waste Lands Board, and to the correspondence of the Minister of Lands with that body. Sir John Richardson is a gentleman of well-known high spirit and integrity, who commands the respect not only of the community in which he actually resides,, but of the people of New Zealand generally, j He has held various important offices in the State, having been Superintendent of the Province of Otago and a Minister of the Crown. He now holds the honorable position of Speaker of the Legislative Council. When, therefore, the action of the Minister of Lands towards the Board of which Sir John was a member has been such as to make it in that gentleman’s opinion inconsistent with his self-respect that ho should retain his seat, the public anxiety is naturally aroused. Further enquiry reveals cause enough for it. One of the difficulties connected with the sale of land on deferred payments has always been that of enforcing the conditions on which the land is occupied. The object of the law is to encourage bond fide settlement on the land, and to help the settler in his first struggles to subdue the wilderness, while the result has too often been to facilitate speculation and to put money into the pockets of men who wish to secure property on easy terms with a view to the increased value arising from the labor of others. In Australia and Now Zealand land lias been occupied under stringent conditions of residence and cultivation, and the conditions have been evaded or openly disregarded. In Otago land was taken up under the early land regulations on certain conditions, which wore generally disregarded; and anAct was passed to enable the deliberate transgressors of the law to obtain their Crown grants notwithstanding; Unless the Government steadily, and strictly enforces the law, there is always danger of a popular cry to repudiate conditions which have been neglected by a large number of selectors. When J tho whole question of deferred payments was discussed last session, great stress was laid on the necessity for enforcing stringent conditions, compelling, pooupiers of land on doferred paymont to reside personally upon their holdings. It was well 'known that in Southland thp conditions under which

land was occupied on deferred payments had 1 been ’ repeatedly evaded, and the injury to tfye public and -injustice to individuals which had arisen in that district were: instanced as treasons against a further application of the system.’ But it was held by the House, and wo think rightly held, that the advantages that would’ accrue ’by encouraging settlement were so great t as to justify the Legislature in extending the- area over which land could be occupied under a system of deferred payments, while at the same time it was., necessary, to make the conditions of residence and cultivation! as stringent as- possible. When the Land Bill was in committee much attention was paid to these conditions, and a'law was passed which depended a great deal for its success on the care and determination with. which it was administered. That a Government should at any time interfere to relax the conditions imposed by law, or to deal exceptionally with individual cases, was probably not contemplated.

While the Land Bill was before the Legislature, and while the discussions on the provisions relating to the sale of land on deferred payments were going on in both Houses, a case which illustrated the necessity for care was under the consideration of the Public Petitions Committee. A Mr. Mclntosh and his sons had petitioned the House of Representatives against the action of the Southland Waste Lands Board in cancelling their license to occupy .certain land on the ground of not having complied with the conditions. The report of the committee was as follows : Rei>out on Petition op Jamies Mclntosh and Sons. The petitioners complain of the action of the Southland waste .Lancis Board in caneciaiig tllolr l'-ZZ7.Zv to occupy land on deferred payments, on the ground of not having complied with the conditions. They pray for inquiry and redress. The committee have examined James Mclntosh, one of the petitioners, and also two members of the Waste Lands Board, and it appears that the license in question was cancelled because the Board considered that the petitioners wero evading the condition of personal residence. The petitioners ask for independent inquiry, and state that they would pay the cost if the result of such inqrury were adverse to their interest. I am directed to report that the committee recommend that a commission of impartial persons be appointed to inquire i to petitioners’ case with power to take evidence on oath, whose decision shall bo final; ftufl in the event pf the petitioners failing to prove to the satisfaction of the commissioners that they complied with the conditions of personal occupation within the meaning of sub-section 4 of section 54 of the Otago Waste Lands Act, 1872, the cost of such inquiry be paid by petitioners. T. Kelly, Chairman. October 26, 1877. It appears that instead of appointing such a commission as was suggested by the Public Petitions Committee, the Minister of Lands wrote to the Southland Waste Lands Board urging them to reconsider their decision in the Mclntosh case, and recommending that the ranger, on whose evidence the Board had acted, should be removed to another district. When the Minister takes it on himself to write in this strain to a quasi-judicial body which had come to a certain decision on the evidence before them, we naturally look for some conclusive proof that the evidence relied on by the Board was untrustworthy. Here is what the Minister has to say :—“I am the more disposed to suggest this course, inasmuch as it has been brought under the notice of the Government, from what appear to be reliable sources, that the ranger, on whose report the applications in question have been dealt with, has not been acting altogether impartially, and that in fact there were, and are, other deferred payment sections in respect of which the non-fulfilment oi the conditions has been winked at.” He hears, “from what appear to be' reliable sources,” that the ranger has “ not been acting altogether impartially,” and that in fact others are as much to blame as Mr. Mclntosh. Therefore the Board should let Mr. Mclntosh off, and the ranger should be punished. Now, we have heard, “from what appear to be reliable sources,” that Mr. Mclntosh isa staunch friend and political supporter of Mr. Macandbew, and that that gentleman has not always acted “altogether impartially” in respect of various transactions in the province of which he was Superintendent. But we do not desire that he should be removed elsewhere without full and independent inquiry, such inquiry, for instance, as may be instituted-by Parliament next session. -

It would appear thatnot withstanding two applications on the part of the Board asking for information as to the charge made against the ranger, 1 the Minister did not vouchsafe any further communication on the subject. Sir John Richardson thereupon resigned, and we should have expected to hear that the rest of the Board had resigned too. , Instead of doing so they passed a weak sort of resolution, expressing their belief in the impartiality of their ranger, i hut. agreeing with the Minister of Lands that it was better that the' officer appointed to inspect deferred payment settlements should be a stranger to the district. We refrain from comment on the action of the Board until we learn what course it will ultimately take under the coercion of the Minister ; but it is important that the public should watch the dealings of the Government with the Waste Lands Boards, and consider how far the judicial decisions of the officials appointed by the Minister are affected by political influences. In Otago it had long become the fashion to acquiesce tamely in anything Mr. Macandrew might chose to do as Superintendent, but we beg to remind him that hole-and-corner dealings with matters of public interest came to an end with Provincialism. ,