WASTE LANDS BOARD.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 396, 3 October 1874, Page 3

WASTE LANDS BOARD.

(Ffom tJie " Times.") The regular weekly meeting of the Waste Lands Board was held on Wednesday. Present : The Chief Commissioner (Mr. J. T. Thompson) in the chair, and Messrs. Reid, Clark, Butterwortb, and Strode. TTTAPBKA "WEST. Mr. John M'Lean applied to purchase sections 42, 43, 81, 46, 65, 52, 49, 39, 40, 35, 36, 50, and 32, block 111., Tuapeka Weßt. Mr. Haggitt appeared in support of the application. There were some sections set apart under the Deferred Payments Act, and he abandoned the application for them, but applied to purchase the other sections, which were open for sale for years. It was exceedingly important to Mr. M'Lean to secure these sections, which gave connection from one.-parfc of his run io the otter. If Mr. M'Lean did not get them his run would be divided into two parts. Mr. Reid: He wants to connect hia run with his homestead ? Mr. Haggitt ; Exactly. It appeared that various parties had applied for land, the circumstances of which were similar to those of the land applied for, and that their applications had been refused. Mr. Strode thought that the position of the land should be cleared up. Mr. Reid : For the Board to refuse to one and not to the other would not be fair to the public A discussion then took place on the point raised by Mr. Strode. The application was refused. The Commissioner : A great many applications have been refused, and the land is withdrawn from sale till it is again opened for sale. There are many reasons" why this | should be done. : Mr. Reid : All should know that the land is open for sale before such an application as this is granted. OBOOKSTON DISTBIOT. — APPLICATION FOB PRE-EMPTIVE EIGHT. Mr. John M'Kellar applied for sections in the Crookston district, in virtue of his preemptive right over run 163. The area applied for was 640 acres. The application was rofußed. GLENXENICH. — BECISION OF BOABD ON SAWMILL AppucATinN. Messrs. Connnell and Moodie, for Meßsrs. J. and W. S. M'Farlane, applied for decision of the Board on their application for sawmill leases in block XIII., Glenkenich. A memorial was received from residents of Glenkenich in favour of the application. Mr. Reid would have been disposed to reserve the whole. Mr. Connell said there could not be a stronger case for granting the application. The application had been purposely adjourned for the opinion of the district, which was now shown to be favourable. The application was received on usual terms, prior licenses excepted, and to be granted on approval of survey. TTTAPEECA BAST. Mr. John MichacZ appfiecZ to purchase section 42, block XIX., Tuapeka East. The Warden reported that there was no objection. It did not appear to be auriferous, and there were valuable improvements upon it. Granted. MOEB CREEK OOPPEB LOBB : STEP 9TO ABBANGE THE LEASE. A memo was receiv*! from the Provincial Solicitor, intimating that wore a member of the Board deputed to confer with him, the whole matter of the draft lease to Messrs. Howorth and Bradshaw for the Moke Creek copper lode would be satisfactorily arranged — there being only a few points in dispute It was resolved that Mr. Strode be deputed to attend to the matter, and to act as Mr. Stout suggested. BtTSH RESEKVES AT' VOVOYUHOA.. Ranger Hughan reported on the condition of the bush reserves at Popotunoa, leased to Mr. Thomas Pollock. Resolved, " That unless the land cleared is planted and fenced to the satisfaction of the Ranger within six months from daie, that steps bo taken to eject the lessee for nonfulfilment of the terms of lease. The young trees to be separately fenced against cattle." TABLB HILL. — APPLICATION TO PTJBOHABE SECTIONS. Messrs. Gillies and Street, for Mr. Thos. Murray, applied to purchase section 25, block V., Table Hill. Applicant to bo referred to the district officer, and, if he recommended, sale to be advertised for thirty days, and thus be open to'the public to purchase. LAND SALES. Mr." Reid proposed that all land that had been submitted to auction and knocked down, but on which the "deposit was forfeited, and so purchase not been completed, shall be declared land of special value, and be advertised immediately for thirty dayß before it becomes open for sale. Agreed to. Most of the cases before £he Waste Lands Board on Wednesday (writes the " Daily Times") were not of very great importance. Mr. Reid proposed that all land that has been submitted to auction and knocked down, but on which the deposit has been forfeited, the purchase not being thus completed, should be declared land of special value, and be advertised immediately for 30 days before it becomes open for sale The object of the proposal was to prevent cases like the following from taking place. A sale is advertised people come in from the country, and the land is sold to some speculator at, say £3 per acre On this a deposit of 10 per cent is paid down. People go away under the impression that the sale is completed, but, instead of that, the purchaser allows his deposit to be forfeited. No one knows that it is forfeited, and the former purchaser gets a friend to put in y an i application for him *at£l an acre. There being no second applicant for the land on the same day — no one knowing it is in the market — the land is sold to him in the ordinary way, without going to auction, at £1 per acre. The purchaser by forfeiting the ten per cent, paid on the fall of the hammer, gets the land for £1 an acre — being perhaps one-half "or one-third of the auction price. The Chief Commissioner said he had never heard of a case in which this plan had been followed ; but Mr. Reid and Mr. Clark thereupon remarked that such cases had come under their notice, Mr Reid's motion for making lands on which the deposit had been forfeited land of special value, and giving thirty days intimation of their being again open for sale, was unanimously agreed to. The celebrated Moke Creek copper lode lease, which has not been advanced, beyond the draft stage for the past twelve years, is at last likely to be satisfactorily settled, and the Board, on the suggestion of Mr. Stout, appointed Mr. Strode to confer with him on the matter. A subject which will probably involve an appeal to the Supreme Court was dealt with. The circumstances are shortly stated as follows : — Mr. John M'Kellar, at the Board meeting yesterday, applied to exercise his pre-emptive right under the Act of 1872 of 640 acres of iun 193. When the application came up it was alleged that Mr, M'Kellar took up his pre-emptive right at the time when the Crookston Hundred was opened for sale. The former application bore on its face what seemed to bo the intention of Mr. M'Kellar to exercise his pre-emptive right, bearing, as it did, upon it, the statement that Mr. M'Kellar made the application in virtue of his pre-emptive right. Mr. M'Kellar argued that a mistake had been made in drawing up the former application —

that the application which had been filled up by an officer of the Land Department should not have had the words stating it was "in virtue of his pre-emptive right" upon it. Mr. M'Kellar contended that he could not exercise his pre-emptive right within a hundred (the 640 acres area was selected in a Hundred previously part of Mr. M'Kellar's lease) and that ho could, only exercise it within the boundaries of his lease. The allegation on the part of the Land Officer was that Mr. M'Kellar made the application for the 640 acres on the day the land was opened for sale, with the intention of exercising his pre-emptive right j and that right gave him the advantage of purchasing it, supposing there was another applicant for the same hind, without having to go to auction, as he would have had to do had there been another applicant, and had he not had a preemptive ; that Mr. M'Kellar ascertained upon that day that no one else was applying for the land, and thereupon altered his mind, and applied for the whole of the Hundred. Mr. JVTKellar's explanation is that he i applied for 640 acres, not by virtue of a pre-emptive right, but in the ordinary way, and that a few hours after putting in his application for 640 acres, he received a letter from Melbourne, which caused him on the same day to apply for about 9000 acres. Mr. M'Kellar got both the 640 acres and the larger application at £1 per acre ; and he now wished to take up, under his alleged per-emptive right, 640 acres at £1 per acre. The Board contended ther was an understanding that the Board could not sell any land in the Hundred till Mr. M'Kellar had first selected his pre-emp-tive right, and that therefore Mr. M'Kellar must have been going under his pre-emptive right, and not in the way of an ordinary application. The present application was refused the Board considering that the former application was made under the pre-emptive right. We hear there is a probability of an appeal on the ground that the runholder could not select *his pre-emptive in a Hun- j dred. The Board contend that he can select I in a Hundred that has been part of his own leasehold, as well as within the boundaries of his lease. Mr Reid said runholders could select where they liked, sarcastically remarking that there was no desire to curtail their privileges.