Untitled

Southland Times, Issue 698, 19 July 1867, Page 3

''"_ TOT/THE JEDITQE O£. .THE .SQXrjHLAKp TIMES. Sic, — As long .as liberty of speech, and a free press are privileges-of the Briton, there,,^ill be-much babble solemnly uttered and published, without eliciting contradiction, or even comment. .But, whei}. t&e gpeaker of I .. the Provincial Council, a man whose, words are supposed to be weighed and uttered under all the consciousness and responsibility of authority, when by way of guiding public opinion he giayely delivers himself of statements which are obviously both i-erroneous and absurd,; then, I say, it is the duty of some one to tell the public so, and remind this would-be leader of the public, that if ■ the blind become leaders ■of the blind, both shall, fall into a ditch. Mr Wilson, it appears, both, opposed and supported railway extension on equally good grounds. " When lie opposed, the Bluff, and Oreti Railways were not finished — two good reasons ' for not making a third until they were;" : And when one railway — the Bluff— was finished, and was being worked at a loss to the Province, from returns in ,my possessin, of £710 sterling, for the three months ended 30th June last, exclusive of coals and interest. on capital, Mr Wilson discovered that there was still left one reason not against, as any one would have supposed, but for a third railway. Mr Wilson, informs us j that 20.0,000 acres of land have been sold under the present- Act, with a reduction in the debt of the Province of only £65,000 sterling,, , arid "so long as one | .tenth' part was' given to runholders, the same result would follow." A tenth part of £200,000, is £20,000, and that deducted therefrom, .leaves £180,000. Mr .Wilson might Have taken upon himself to explain to his audience what seems to be aserious discrepancy in. his calculation, i But is there a tenth part of the price of • land the runholder. ? Mr Wilson' says "'that" for eight years fromj that time, qn all land sold .on. runs there ! was 2s per acre' : compensation paid to the runholder. The consequence was plainly j that if the lancl was - lowered to, los ah j acre they were compelled Ito give away one fifth of the public estate. ' '/■■ Now, I think I may safely assert that when Mr Wilson had the audacity to lecture, at ajpublic meeting, on the liana Laws, on that' subject not one of his hearers could have been more ignorant than; himself. JFor if he had ever looked at the Land Act, he must have seen, in the first place, that the compensation was after a certain scale— -that is to say, it varied from. 2s to 6d, and, in the second place, that compensation of any kind applies -only to "the period in which the price of rural land is 20s an acre." Mr Wilson goes on to say, "many of the squatting licenses had. only a few years to run, some only two or three." If such had been the case, the compensation to be paid in respect of them would have been Is. per ,acre, and 6d per acre respectively. And how much compensation at the rate of 2s per acre has the Province been " defrauded "of ? None. Three licenses in the Province, so far as I am aware, had a term of years unexpired entitling the licensees to 2s per acre compensation, but as neither of them elected to come under the Act, the compensation clause did not apply to them. . Mr Wilson then talks of free selection, spotting, surveying, &c, and it is surely an extraordinary circumstance his being able to handle so many subjects, and at such length, without ever once approaching the truth. "The Land Laws had been changed by the squatters: Eree selection was but a licentious freedom to the gentlemen in possession (the squatters), to pick the eyes out of the .land. Some of these men had actually employed surveyors to mark out sections in the passes between mountains in such a manner as virtually to lock tip the country." Now, every one acquainted with the system of survey in this Province, knows that all the surveyors are responsible to the Q-o---vernment, and receive their instructions direct from the -Chief Surveyor, vrho is . answerable for everything pertaining to the public interests,- And every one acquainted with the Land Act knows that every-section has to comply in its position and shape, with the stringent provisions of the Act: And I think few Jn the Province r, will fail to remember how very unpopular the squatters made themselves by their persistive opposition to the present -Land Act. They petitioned the.. General - Groy.erninent against it, and ih ■was only on account of the threat^held ;out in that Act that they gave their : reluctant adherence thereto. Spotting may' Wari evil, but the privilege.of spotting is;. ' riot cbnfined^to^the squatter, itis one" of the elements of free selection — and if Mr Wileoa wiU refer to the autheati

cated maps of .the landofiice he will find that 'land -has 'been .taken up by runholders; riot in [' patches of twenty acres!, as \hie' asserte, putm continuous blocks 76i, Mbusands.pf acres." ) . T h .--r ;:•■■■■" I> '.■.-. -■;: Mr Wilson informs' -his: audience-that there was a little- affair 1 connected: with the Eccles arrangement ,whi ch; it' w.oul.^ be well to. notice^TvYP thousand acres; of land were saidto have s^)een seilectedfor or by him on a, r certainiun. ;The run^ holder heard of it, came to towu rpost haste, • arid' the selection was changed. That gentleman subsequently voted tip keep 'the late Grovernment in.. \ ,'; I presume that I am the. individuai pointed at. The selection of land was not changed to another run, but was disallowed entirely. And why was it dis- . allowed ? Because his Honor, being at the time feeble in mind and body, had at the persuasion of Mr Eccles and Mr Young, directed the latter gentleman to mark off on the authenticated map 2,000 acres of. laud adjoining his own property, ■ifqr Mr. Eccles, without, having first obtained, .the advice and consent of his Executive. I voted with the Q-oyern-ment during that session, because I.' exonerated it from all complicity ; in every dubious transaction.— Your obe--j dient servant, . : • - ; Cuthbebt Cowajt. : Okaiterua, 12th July, 1867. "; V •'■.•:.,' '„... .. .. . -<t» - ... .- ..:--■: ■;- "