REPLY.

Southland Times, Issue 708, 12 August 1867, Page 2

REPLY.

(to the editor of the southland times.) Sir. — In your issues of the 17th and 20fch ult. is a letter from Mr Cuthberfc Cowan, in reference to which I will thank you to give me space for a few remarks. I was requested by public notice to attend a public meeting of electors and non-electors of the Waihopai District. At that meeting I stated freely and openly what I had to say on some matters intimately connected with the general interests of the Province. The newspapers did not profess to give a full or verbatim report of what was said ; and consequently there are parts of the report at variance with the statements made at that meeting. Ido not in any respect attach blame to the reporter, but to my own hurried manner of speaking — not " solemnly uttered," as Mr Cowan pronounces. Passing over the " babble " at the beginning of Mr Cowan's letter, I regret that neither his unusual warmth (displayed towards me) nor my discrepancies make any alteration of the principles upon which the present " Land Uegulations " are based. Bat Mr Cowan mentions the railways first. On that question my views are now most fully and distinctly before the public. Mr Cowan says : — " Mr Wilson informs us that 200,000 acres of land have been sold under the present Act, with a reduction in the debt of the Province of only £65,000 sterling." Those who were present at the meeting will remember that I gave no such information. I merely referred to the figures, whatever they were, brought forward by the Chairman, who said he could not understand the small reduction of our debt; and I simply explained that the compensation to tue runuuiders at 2s. per acre, with tlie interest uuou our debt, accounted for the small reduction of that debt. I did not go into the figures at all ; and in Mr Cowau's showing that £20,000 taken from £200,000 leaves a balance of £180,000, and not £65,000 as stated in the report, he might have seen there was some mistake • that could be easily accounted for. Mr Cowan knows very well that many inaccuracies creep into newspaper reports at public meetings, Provincial Councils, and other places of greater importance. One of the latest instances of this is a speech of Dr Featherston's, and referred to by a Wellington correspondent of the " Lyttelton Times," as follows: — "I regret that on this occasion, he has been very imperfectly reported in the ' Parliamentary Debates," When such is the case with regard to the " most finished speaker among the seventy representatives of the colony," what may not occur to one who can lay no claim to good speaking ? Mr Cowan quotes—'' Mr Wilson says that for eight years from that time on all lands sold on runs, there was 2s per acre paid to the runholders. The consequence was plainly that if the land was lowered to 10s an acre, they were compelled to give away one-fifth of the public estate." In speaking of the land question, I referred particularly to the " Land .Resolutions " (the basis of the Land liegulations), and the action of the Provincial Council, and my own part in it, and not to the Act itself, nor to the General Assembly. If I was wrong with regard to the time for which 2s an acre would have to be paid, I submit that it can only be shown oy reference to the resolutions as passed by the Provincial Council, and to which 1 particularly referred at the meeting. I was quite aware of the scale of compensation varying from 2s to 6d per acre, according to the time the leases had to run ; but the Provincial Council agreed to an extension of lease, and made no provision — so far as I remember — that the scale of compensation should not apply to the extension of lease, as well as to the unexpired term of the original lease. On this point the General Assembly introduced a provision as follows : — " Providing always that the term to be computed under the foregoing provisions shall not include any extended term to be granted as hereinafter provided." The following is a Compensation Clause: — "In case the licensee of any run shall be desirous of surrendering his license and tiie Superintendent and Board shall agree to accept such surrender, it shall be lawful for the receiver of Land Revenue, upon the warrant of the Superintendent, to pay to such licensee, upon his surrendering his license, such sum as may be agreed upon between the Board and such licensee, not exceeding however tue scale of compensation provided, by section 27 oi tuss Act." LM'uiii paso experience 1 conciiiae that Li a runuoitier is euiitied to coinpensa-? tion, at his own desire, for land not sold •xx, any price, that he would find a way of obtaining compensation for land solci at 10s an acre. 1 think the inference is reasonable and justifiable under the circumstances ; but if the laud should be iowered to 10s an acre 1 will gladly admit that I am wrong, if 1 see Mx

Cowan and other runholders standing out against compensation when the land . is at that price. To those who have seen how the spirit of Land Laws has been evaded in some of the neighboring colonies, the above recited clause Has a dangerous aspect. When a squatter has completed the spotting process to his own satisfaction, (so as to render the remainder of the run valuless to any other person as a runholder), he might be desirous of surrendering his license, and the Government would have to pay him compensation for the unsold land for which he would cease to pay rent, and yet his stock could run without let or hindrance. Mr Cowan asks, " How much compensation, at the rate of 2s. per acre, has the Province been ' defrauded' of ? " And answers, "none." His opinion is at considerable variance with mine. Compensation is, in my estimation, altogether a fraud. Prior to the present •' Land Regulations" becoming law, the, squatters of this Province had no vested rights, properly so called. The representative of the public interests — the Government — owed the squatters nothing, and they were in occupation of the waste lands at a very nominal consideration. When the necessities of the Province demanded that land should be sold to pay our liabilities the squatters claimed compensation for what did not belong to them. Southland's difficulty was their opportunity, and they were not slow to take advantage of it. The Ishmaels of some other countries levy contribution upon' all intrusion, by a system peculiar to themselves, and are not particular as to the scale of (compensation) charges. The Ishmaels of Southland levy contribution for all intrusion by authority of law. The former summarily enforce their demands upon private parties ; the latter commit an act of public spoliation under the sanction of legislative enactment. It must be admitted however that in this matter of non-intrusion without " compensation," the Ishmaels of Southland are at least one remove in advance of their Bedouin prototypes. Mr Cowan says : " Every one acquainted with the system of survey in this Province, knows that all the surveyors are responsible to the Government, and receive their instructions 1 direct from tbe Chief Surveyor, "who is answerable for everything pertaining to the public interests." When was it otherwise ? And yet nobody has been answerable for any wrong done to the public interests. Mr Cowan says : — " Spotting may be an evil, but the privilege of spotttng is not confined to the squatters, it is one of the elements of free selection." I knew that free selection had such an element, and for that reason I considered it objectionable over the entire Province — because there was no population in the Province to take the same advantage of it •n-s the squatters." Again, he says : — "lf Mr Wilson will refer to the authenticated maps of the land office he will find that land has been taken up by runholders, not in patches of twenty acres, as he asserts, but in continuous blocks of thousands of acres." Since rending Mr Cowan's letter I have had no opportunity of referring to the authenticated maps ; but I remember seeing a return of land applications — shortly after the Act of 1865 came into operation — in possession of a gentleman in Invercargill, and in that list there were many 20 acre blocks, and others about 40, and under 100 acres And another gentleman present at the time, — occupying an influential mercantile position — observed that if the process was continued it would soon render the whole public estate of the Province, in the aggregate, not worth more than 5s an acre. The last two paragraphs of Mr. Cowan's letter treat of "The Eccles Case." When that subject was before the Council, those who were present will remember that when Mr. Cowiin moved that "the question be now put," the Speaker for some time refused to put the question. I had observed some dodging about the lobby of the house, which led me to think that Mr. Cowan's motion was a " dubious transaction." — I am, &c. James Wilson. August, 1867. P.S. — The following extract from Victoria in June last contrasts strongly with the action of Southland in granting 10 years, extension of lease of the pastoral lands at 2d. per acre : — " During the present year (1867) 40,150 acres have been leased for grazing purposes under the 39th section of the Amending Land Act. The average rental obtained is Is 3d. per acre pei- aunum . We learn that the maj ority of this land is of the poorest nature, and if this be so, the rental obtained shows very clearly what our pastoral lands are really worth." — Australasian, June 15th.