The Southland Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1535, 9 February 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1872.

Between the saw-mill owners on the one part, and the Waste Land Board (South- < land District) on the other, a most unsatisfactory feeling would appear to have sprung up. So far as we have been able to ascertain, the dispute in itself ia no better than a mere trifle — the tempest in the teapot made to boil and bubble over by the heated imaginations and preconceived opinions of the parties themselves. A little tact, coupled with a very little I forbearance, would solve the whole difficulty, and avert what is rapidly swelling up out of nothing into a lively contest. In their dealings with the Board, the saw-millers, or at all events their representative men, should bear in mind that they are dealing with a body constituted in all its parts by act and ordinance of the superior legislature, and that feelings of personal animus or estrangement should be for the time being at least laid aside. The Waste Land Board on the other hand should remember that a simple technical irregularity in the mode of stating an application is no reason why that application should be treated with flippancy, or perhaps open contempt. The saw-mill owners represent a very important interest — one that has expanded amazingly within the last few months, and one that ia capable of still further expansion. At the present moment these mills are doing a very fair proportion of the business of the district. They are attracting a large sum of inbrought capital into the place, distributing at the rate of £800 per month as wages, and about £80 for railway carriage. In submitting this statement of affairs, we maintain that the saw-mill owners are entitled to consideration, and while we do not seek to find an excuse for rudeness on their part, or on that of their accredited representatives, the Board should as far as consistent with its duty to the public leave " barren punctilio " out of the question. The fact that the mill-owners have thrown up certain re served rights, shows that something is wrong, and the nature and origin of the wrong ought to be calmly and dispassionately investigated by the Board. " Take it or let it alone," is a harsh and impolitic mode of putting a question which may on further consideration present claims for better adjustment, and such a form of administration ought as far as possible to be avoided by the Board. Now, about the merits of the application in relation to which such a dust haa arisen. It appears the Board in its wisdom has given saw-mill owners employing steam power the right to have reserved for their use 300 acres of bush land in addition to the ordinary steam saw-mill grant of 100 acres. This reserved right, however, is saddled with a proviso that the entire grant is to be surveyed forthwith — the expense of survey, cutting of boundary lines, &c, to be defrayed by the applicant. What the millers ask for is that instead of being compelled to survey the whole 300 acres at once, they should be allowed to survey it in parts, each part being surveyed before the ground is brought iato use and occupation. The proposal appears perfectly simple, and so far as we can judge reasonable. The millers say in effect that " for this year's operations 100 acres will be quite sufficient for our purposes. Let that 100 acres be aur. veyed, and mapped off, so as to confine our operations within its limits. When we require to enter on the second 100 acres, let the survey be extended accordingly." We must confess that we have failed to discover anything like a j tenable objection to such a proposal. The millers say that a plan of this kind would save them from the heavy expeuse of survey as a first cost, and spread it over a number of years, as their operations progress. Considering that the policy of the present day is in favor of deferred payments, it is difficult to see what heinous sin the steam saw-millers have been guilty of that they should be put beyond the pale of the policy. As we have shown above, they subscribe a fair quota towards the material development and general prosperity of the place, and if they have not been educated up to that high standard of veneration which teaches them to make their supplications to the Waste Land Board with fear and trembling, the Board should feel some little compassion for them, seeing that their early training has been thus sadly neglected. Seriously speaking, we do not see a great deal in the arguments put forward by the millers ; on the other hand we can find much less in the objection made by the Board. If the wood-cutters are strictly confined within an area actually surveyed, the insinuation made by the Board that the real object is to secure unlimited scope for their operations is done away with. If a conterminous right should spring up demanding that the survey throughout should be completed, then by all means let the thing be done. At the same time there is no reason whatever why unnecessary burdens should be imposed, or perhaps it is more correct to say enforced, simply because the saw-millers neglect to pay court to the Board as an offshoot of constitutional authority. The whole affair appears to have arisen out of quite a needless squabble — a squabble produced by too much irritability on the one side, ant much sensitiveness on the other.

A few weeks ago we alluded to the mode of passing Customs entries on goods sent coastwise for exportation, whereby the real port from whence the goods were shipped loat credit for the amount, and the port of final departure obtained it instead. The effect of this arrangement, as we then pointed out, was to clothe one port with a fictitious value to the prejudice and disparagement of another. We showed that the trade of Southland, as published, had during the last twel-ve months been materially affected in this way, and pointed out that unless something was done to regulate matters on a more equitable basis, our status as an exporting community was in danger of being wiped out altogether from the trade statistics. It is satisfactory to note that the ckutns preferred in view of these drawbacks have been to some extent recognised, and a general order from*the Customs department issued that all goods for exportation transmitted coastwise are to be passed for entry at the original port of shipment. To show that the matter was one which stood in need of readjust ment, we publish elsewhere a statement of the export trade of the district for the last month. The total amounts to £96,871, of which an estimated value of £34,013 was sent coastwise for shipment at Dunedin. That makes about 33 per cent. which does not appear in the Customs returns for the district. It is also to be noted that last month was particularly favorable for the direct export trade, the first wool ship of the season having cleared out from the Bluff. But for that fact it is more than probable that the exportation direct would have been 33 per cent, under that transmitted for shipment coastwise. So long as a discrepancy of that nature existed, Customs returns could afford no criterion of the trade of any particular locality. The new arrangement, we understand, takes effect from the early part of the present month. We are not aware of any corresponding change having been made in the mode for adjustment of the import trade. To complete the arrangement, imported goods sent coastwise ought to be deducted from the original port of entry, and credited to the trade of the final port of destination. This, however, is not a matter of quite so much importance as a correct record of exports; still it is a suggestion worthy of consideration.

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