DUNEDIN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 176, 22 June 1871, Page 5

DUNEDIN.

(From a Correspondent.)

The most important question for the • consideration of the Provincial Council during the present session is undoubtedly the land question, and as all your readers are specially interested in its settlement, I will epitomize the proposals that have been made by the different parties of which the House is composed, for its settlement. The first series of resolutions tabled was by the Cargill Ministry, and although on its fall these were withdrawn, still, by way of contrast and comparison, and as they are likely to be again brought up before a definite settlement is come to, it is well they should be considered.

Mr. Cargill started by affirming that greater facilities and encouragement for settlement should be afforded, and that the existing laws should be amended so as to permit any person of 2L years to hold one occupation license for not more than 320 acres outside of Hundreds or blocks, provided such occupation was not within a mile of a homestead or out-station, or on cultivated land, without the consent of the runholder. He imposed that the licensee should reside on his allotm:nt, substantially fence the whole, and crop one-tenth part within twelve months from the i.-;sue of his license; that he should prepay his rent at the rate of 2s 6d per acre until one-fourth of the whole was cultivated, when the rent should be reduced to Is 6d psr acre. After three years occupancy, and a fourth, part improved, the licensee may purchase at 20s per acre ; or, if he prefers it, he may take a lease for five years at a rental of 4s per acre, having the right of purchase during its currency at 20s less the amount of rent he has paid. If a right-of-way to the selected land through a run were required, the occupant must provide and maintain gates through fences, and pay for fencing rendered valueless to the runholder. Limited compensation was to be paid to the runholder for land takeu from him by instalments not exceeding one shilling per acre per annum.

Land within Hmdreds or blocks open for sale for six months might, up to 320 acres, be purchased on deferred payments of 4s per acr.e for five payments extending over four years, thus making the upset price of 20s per acre. Similar conditions of occupancy and improvement were attached as to the first class of land, with the addition that, failing to pay after thirty days of the due date, the certificate would be void, and previous payments forfeited.

The present Government's, or Mr. Cutten's resolutions which have been adopted by the Council, are, that the Hundreds Regulation Acts should be repealed, as well as the Waste Lands Act Amendment Act, so that in all Hundreds where two-thirds of the land has been sold, tho assessment on stock shall be reduced, and shall, cease entirely when three-fourths has been disposed of. That to liberalize the law, and conduce to settlement, the

principle of deferred payment should be adopted, crediting lessees with paid rents when they become purchasers. Untransferable holdings not exceeding 320 acres may be obtained by any competent person 18 years of age for a period of years, provided he reside thereon, and enclose and plough onetenth thereof within two years, and within four years expend one pound per acre in improvement?. On these conditions being fulfilled, the holder shall be entitled to purchase at 30s per acre, less the fees he may have already paid; or, if he prefers, may obtain a lease for ten years, at 3s rent per annum. Licensees to have the same pasturage rights as is accorded to cash purchasers. All land in the market to be open for purchase either on the cash, or credit system. Special districts of land outside of Hundreds or blocks may, with the sanction of the Council, be proclaimed by the Superintendent available for purchase either by immediate or deferred payments, and with the same sanction other areas may be proclaimed where deferred payments alone can be exercised. And finally, that compensation shall by fixed by statute, to be paid to the runholder from whom land is taken. Mr. Shepherd, by whom a third code of regulations has been submitted, anticipating the repeal of the Hundreds Act, proposes to adopt three of their distinctive principles, to wit, that when the Superintendent signifies in writing to the Governor that new Hundreds are required, three commissioners, viz., the Superintendent, Secretary for Land and Works, and the Commissioner of of the Waste Lands of the province, shall report on the character of the proposed Hundred and its necessity, and that on its expediency being reported, the Governor shall, within six months thereafter, proclaim it. The Hundred must not, however, exceed 50,000 acres, and I of its area must be agricultural land, and the compensation payable to the runholder outside of goldtieldsto be fixed as provided by the Act of 1866 ; within goldtields not to exceed 2s. 6d. per acre. It will be seen, that in. all the proposals the system of Hundreds is to be continued where the land is not included in a goldfield. The principle of deferred payments is adopted in the first two, but free selection without the necessity or delay of proclamation is only conceded by the first, viz., Mr. Cargill's. No doubt it is tram moiled by the heavy expensive condition of fencing the whole within one year after the selection is sanctioned, but this and other objectionable features could have been modified had the proposal been considered by the Council. Mr. Cutten introduces the old principle of an improvement clause of one pound per acre, which looks formidable, but when buildings, fences, &c., are valued and the cost spread over the entire area, it is considerably shorn of its terrors. Although a good deal of discussion has already taken place, and the Council been in session nearly four weeks, it is not to be supposed that the battle has been fought and won. The tug of war will take place when the Bill embodying the principles of the resolutions passed has been brought forward ; and i even if the Council does pass the measure it will have a more severe ordeal to pass through in the Assembly. The composition of the House of Representatives is so much altered as to be impossible to tell what the opinion of the members on the land laws of the colony may be, bu* the Legislative Council remains almost entirely as it was, and little doubt can be entertained as to the influence the runholding interests exercise therein. During last Assembly a strong feeling prevailed in favour of abolishing the Hundred system, granting free selection on deferred payments, and reducing tho upset price of tho land. The Trustees for the New Zealand University have concluded their labors, and by advertisement they announce that £1500 has been appropriated for the endowment or support of lectures or professors in any college or school affiliated to the University, where lecture-rooms and the necessary appliances are provided. The different branches of learning to be taught are enumerated, and by reference thereto it will be found that a great preference is given to what may be called the ornamental branches, and little prominence given to the practical. This might have been expected from the caste of the Trustees, for although Mr. Lancred, the chanceller, has not made himself very conspicuous amongst the literati of the colony, yet the ViceChancellor occupies a very high position as a classical scholar. To him neither Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, French, Spanish, or Ftalian, English, Irish Gaelic, or Maori, come amiss —in fact, he is a perfect dungeon of languages, and has only been called in question as regards his Spanish, and that was by Mr. Reynolds, the honourable Member for Dunedin. In our circumstances as a young colony, divested of a large amount of the adornments in literature which are demanded in the old country, it would have been better to put the classics, et hoc genus omne, in the background, and bring more conspicuously to the front the practical sciences, on whiuli our prosperity depends. The quotation from Hudibras comes in very apt : — And be to French and Latin Tongues without pretence, And trust to mother wit and Father sense. The Port Chalmers Dock Tr.ust have

got into a mess, and several members of it became very indignant when the Superintendent put in an appearance warning them against incurring legal expenses in their quarrel, as the funds of the province would have to bear the brunt of it. The dispute is as regards a serious leak in the floor of the dock, learned engineers attributing it to different causes, quite opposed the one to the other. Practical men have an easy solution, and it simply is that a mistake was committed in drawing the piles which constructed the coffer dam at the gate ; these, they maintain, should have been sawn through" at the level of the bottom, as the drawing of them loosened the ground, and the weight of the water acting on the soil, forced up the artificial foundation of the dock. As the matter will in all likelihood come before the law courts, it will be out of place to make further comments. The provincial chest is at present very empty, if it be judged from the fact that the payment of subsidies to Road Boards has been suspended for some weeks back. This state of matters causes great inconvenience, as the contracts under these Boaids are generally of small amounts, and are taken up by working men, who can ill afford to lie out of the money which they have by hard labour earned. The inquest into the fire at Reichard's, Princes-street, has occupied the most of the day, and it is not yet settled. The debate on the land resolutions of the Government ha 3 not come on to-night, Mr. Cargill postponing his amendments till the bill is introduced.