SWITZERS COMMONAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 October 1940, Page 7

SWITZERS COMMONAGE

ONLY ONE IN SOUTHLAND. RELIC OF MINING DAYS. Every now and again there crops up in New Zealand local body business f phrase which is more akin to mediaeval English usage than to a comparatively young country. At the last meeting of the Southland County Council, for instance, a letter was received from the Switzers Commonage Committee. Inquiries revealed that this was the only commonage in Southland and one of the few in New Zealand. It is a relic of the gold-mining days when land was needed for grazing the horses and cattle of the community. But the history of commonage goes back much further than that. It traces to the very dawn of communal life in Britain when land was tilled by the villagers and a certain portion was held by them in common for grazing. The Switzers Commonage is 2,800 acres of land in the Waikato district. In the New Zealand Gazette of September 17, 1925, there are some impressive paragraphs devoted to the “Rules and Regulations for the Management of Switzers Commonage.” For the purpose of carrying out the regulations there is a committee, the members being: Louis Alexandra Stevenson, Joseph William Ferris, Edward Hamer, Edward Martin, Roy Rose, Aubrey Douglas Lee and David Rowe. The regulations were made on June 10, 1897, by the Administrator of the Government. The regulations, weighty though the language in which they are couched, carry something of the atmosphere of ancient times. For instance Regulation 17 states: “No cattle suffering from any disease shall be depastured upon, nor shall any pigs or goats be allowed to trespass or be at. large upon or within the land. No bull, ram or stallion shall be depastured without the express permission in writing of the chairman of the committee. Any person or persons committing a breach of this provision shall be liable on the information of such chairman, as for trespass of cattle on Crown Lands; and the chairman of the committee for the time being is hereby empowered to lay any such information.” Licences are required to depasture cattle on the land and Regulation 20 states: “If any person shall depasture any cattle upon the lands without a licence, or otherwise (as to the number oi- kind) than in accordance with a licence granted to him, every such person shall be liable, on the information of the chairman of the committee, as for trespass of cattle on Crown Lands, and also to any penalty or disability imposed in respect of unlawful occupation of Crown Land.” All cattle depastured must be branded or earmarked and the brand or earmark and a description of the cattle must fie registered with a ranger appointed by the committee from one of its members. The ranger carries a certificate of registration "in such form as he thinks fit,” the fee being 2s. There are 21 regulations in all, and each is eminently sound and practical, a safeguard that the common rights of the people of Switzers Commonage are not infringed.