TELEGRAPHIC.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1890, 16 January 1885, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC.

[United Phess Association.]

Napier, Friday. The body of a newly-born female child was found on the beach this morning. Jhe umbelical cord was not tied, and its head was a good deal bruised.

..PEPUTATION TO THE HON.' MR

YESTERDAY,'shortIy before ono o'clock a deputation consisting/of Mr Mackay, the Crs W, H. Beetham, BrS ? .Hawkus,,R'. Dagg, and Mr Macquarie waited on Mr Ballance at the Club Hotel on the land question. "''." %*?!!%>, in introducing the ques-tion.-regretted that owing to the unexpected.; arrival of Mr. Ballance at an earlier-. a larger number of .-.representatives of the local bodies m.ihe district were not present.;,Ho 6Ubraitt:ed.to.Mr.Ballance a resolution Council affirming ihv. •principle" that .■Government works. :Shoiild-.'be carried out through--it3 'agency Vstaff controlled in 'lCgfcon. He also brought under his .notice, the; expediency.of; opening up.the Fuktstoi Block from' tho east side as well I as-.from the-west;- "'With "reference to the first point he stated .that, -it was reported thatthe Government-intended to appoint" a special staff to-open up Crown Lands in the. Wairarapa North, . ;:: ; ~; fj« Hdn:Mr;Balla'nce:said the resolu-. tioh* of the Council was of a very general and'sweepingcharaeter. It-would, perhaps, be more satisfactory, if they came to the question more in detail,'-.

Mr W, H. Beetham stated that hithertd : the County had made roads for- the Gov-' eminent and had done a-' good deal of , .satisfactory work' for it very economically, The only objection raised ty'Mr.'McKeriw to the work they had undertaken •was that it had been done too well. The Council believed that they could do such work-more economically than' any special staff appointed from Wellington;' ' " :. The Hon Mr Ballance 1 : I may say that thisis.ex'actly my opinion. When local bodies -are- willing to undertake such' work it isvery desirable that they should doso. I thoroughly agree with the principle; and though it may not be possible* to carry' it out hi every detailed case',' I consider that local Governments should be entrusted with every power.whichthey aroableto exercise efficiently. Does the County mako a charge for the services bf its staff in supervising such work ? Mr Mackay: We charge for the services of the Engineer. The Hon Mr Ballance thought it was a sounder principle to charge a commission, say five per cent, but this was a matter of detail.; He was prepared to intrust these duties to Councils when .they were willing to undertake them, and for the future would have them relegated to the I local bodies as far as possible, With respect to Puketoi he was not aware that tho Government as yet had undertaken the survey of either the eastern or western side of the block. It had still as a whole to be dealt with, Mr Hawkins pointed out that so far the result of land administration in' this district had been to throw all the small settlers on one side of the Puketoi and large settlers on the othor. This was not a wise policy. He hoped Mr Ballance would keep his eye on the Puketoi Block as it was possible under the existing law for further portions of it to be surveyed and sold in large slices without anybody knowing anything about it, and the best land in-it go: before small settlers''were able to take the field. Ho pointed out that at Tonui there were many settlers anxious to place their sons on this block. He believed they might find fifty persons : whose sons would be glad to get land in that neighbourhood, The Hon Mr'Ballance replied that the reason Why there was lhoro settlement to tlfe westward of Puketoi was because the land there was more accessible. Small Farm Settlements couldnot be established where there were no' roads, The voluntary impulse of settlement had been jn one direction. Ho was not likely to allow any monopoly of large blocks of land. He did not know whether the existing Jaw gave power for blocks of land to bo disposed of without the consent of the Minister, but after next session if such a power did exist it would probably be taken away. He intended on his return to Wellington, to send an officer of the land department to report on the best means of opening up the Puketoi country by a rqad, Mr Macquar-ie stated that the shortest route to Puketoi was via Wangaelm.- Hg also pointed out that in the Alfredton district there was not a sinde acre of surveyed land unsold, and that lots of. good land lay idle, which could be profitably worked.

The Hon Mr Ballanoe: Is the land in the Alfredton district hold in large or small blocks ? Mr Macquarie: The holdings vary from one to four thousand acres, Mr Hawkins said a good deal of the A';fredton land was in the hands of absentee owners, and also of College' and Educational Reservo Trusts, Mr Mackay pointed out that the Alfredton district was destitute of «ood roads, ° Mr W, H, Beetham said that some of the blocks such as the Castlepoint block were only fit for pastoral purposes, Mr-Hawkins: Tho Castlepoint block is the black spot of the lot. The Hon. Mr Ballanco said tho Roads and Bridges Act had boen passed to supply districts of this character, with roads. In his opinion this measure had broken down.' He-did'not know whether.they, admitted that it had (Mr Hawkins: Quite bo !) and the question was one which the Government would'have to deal with. ' Mr' Hawkins pointed out that the weak point of the Roads and Bridges Act was, that when they applied for funds they pnly got a third or a fifth of what they required,- which gave them bits of roads instead of completed ones.. The Hon, Mr Ballanco pointed out tho absurdity of an Act which, when £SOOO was wanted for a bridge only gave £3OOO, the bridge having to wait until the whole sum required was available, With almost' every road amain line they would require a million-ft year'instead of a hundred thousand to'meet the demands qf settlers, Mr Hawkins submitted that Instead or opening up the country with roads the Government were opening it up with bush tracks, which they they handed over to the local bodies upon whom devolved at least sixty per cent, of the oapltal cost of the road. He thought the Government should decide as to what state a road should bo brought before It was handed over to a local body. The Hon. Ballance replied that it would take a vast sum to carry out Mrflawkins' suggestion. They must meet the demands for settlement, and if they delayed meeting them till perfect roads were constructed, applicants for land would get tired of waiting and leave the county. Under the special settlement regulations recently issued they allowed one third of the cost of the land to be handed baok for road making. ■ ■ ' Mr W. H. Beetham inquired if the balance was expended in survey and road construction.

. -The Hon, Mr Ballance said the Treasurer had called his attention to the fact that the receipts in the Land Depart ment only met the current expenditure Mr Hawkins maintained that the'cost •Qf the Land Department 'was excessive It ought not to cost 50 per cent pf the of the land to; survey it and put it rintotho market, andhedesiredto knoiv'the actual coat of working the Department, The Hon Mr Ballanoe referred Mr Hawkins to the financial statements published for the last few years. Mr Mackay said it was a mistake not selling land that was available. In some Darts of this district roads through unsold lands were overgrown with scrub. The Hon Mr Ballance admitted that

there was-great waste in this.,, -He. hoped to .put jill the land in 'fcrnarkefthiifTOs' ready for salft,. He did not intend to let grass grow on roads. •Hie:deputation»;th'en thanked the Hon Mr Ballance for theinformation which he had given them and withdrew.