SALE OF RUNS WITHDRAWN FROM TUAPEKA COMMONAGE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 337, 11 March 1874, Page 3

SALE OF RUNS WITHDRAWN FROM TUAPEKA COMMONAGE.

The sale of small runs withdrawn from the Tuapeka commpnage took place in the District Land Office on Monday, at noon. The error committed by the.Provincial authorities ■in sending the conditions of sale applicable to the Wakatip runs, instead of those of Tuapeka, caused no small degree of excitement and indignation among those settlers whose cattle run in the vicinity of the land that was advertised to be leased ; and it was not until a public meeting to consider the matter was held at the Blue Spur and a telegram was received from the Goldfields Secretary that their fears were allayed. The conditions of sale were not received till Saturday evening, leaving only a few hours for those interested to make themselves acquainted with the stipulations made by the Government regarding the leases. There was a good attendance, and the bidding was very spirited. There were five lots put up, each at an upset rental of one half-penny an acre, the total acreage of the five runs being 13,720 acres. The conditions under which this land is leased are extremely liberal to both miners and agriculturists, as clause 6 shows, which reads as follows :—": — " Each allotment will be sold subject to the right of any holder of a miners' right, business license, or mining lease to depasture free of charge three head of great cattle thereon, The licensee of each allotment shall allow all persons at piesent legally depasturing stock thereon one calendar month to remove such stock. Each allotment will also be sold subject to the right of holders of miners' rights to enter and mine upon the land comprised therein, to take up residence areas, to cut and cart timber for" mining, building, or domestic purposes, and ! sfctake up agricultural or mining leases thereon under any Regulations mode under the GoldSolds Act, 1866 " or any Act amending the same." The land ranges from 120 Of fc. to 3000 ft. above the sea level, and the prices given will open the- eyes of some of our readers to the enormous -profits that must at pi - esent be realized from the cultivation of wool even on the snowy heights of the Lammerlaws. LOT. ACREAGE. PER ACRE. PURCHASER. 1 2380 Is lid Thomas Hinde 2 3700 lsOJd Samuel Henry 3 2190 Is 3d Stewart M 'Combe 4 2870 lOid 1). J. JJ 'Donald 5 2580 8d >v'm. Hayes 13,720 The total annual revenue which will be paid to the Government for these 13,720 acres will therefore amount to £628 13s. 10d., or lid. an acre, the best psji^g runs, we have no hesitation in saying, that can be found in province of Otago.

Commenting on the above sale, the "Bruce Herald" of yesterday writes : — "Our Tuapeka telegram will, we have no doubt, awaken many to a cense of the shameless manner in which fche legislators played into the hands of the runhoiders by granting them extended leases, and the utter absurdity of the arguments used by those who point to the assessment received from runs as a reason for nol taking land for settlement. 13,000 acres on Tuapeka commonage, in five lots, leased for seven years at an average of lOd. per acre. There are in the hands of runhoiders some 6,400,000 acres in round numbers, which at lOd. per acre would yield a rental' of £266,666 13s. 4d., instead of the, paltry sum of fifty or sixty thousand at present yielded. With such a revenue from our pastoral lands utider a leasing system, there "would be no need for selling blocks to large landed proprietors, or sacrificing the people's patrimony. Again, were these runs cut up into 2,600 acre blocks, it would open up settlement for between two and three thousand sheepfarmers, instead of being in the hands of two or three runhoiders, at present many of them absentees. How long will people remain blindfold ?"