CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2955, 20 July 1888, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Mutilated Masterton Town Lands Bill. (To the Editor).

Sir.—lt is, gratifying to read so correct a report of the meeting of tho Masterton Town Lands Trustees and of your leading remarks thereon, as appeared in your Saturday's issue. The people who have been the dupes of Messrs Benall and Hogg, have now before them the object they had in view in opposing the Bill introduced into Parliament by the Trustees for the better management of the unsold acres of the Old Association, and which were paid for by the first purchasers who paid to the Committee of Management 103 and 15s per acre over and above the first cost of the land, and which, now constitute the Masterton Town Lands Trust. Since the Act of 1871 (which repealed the former'acts} was passed several othor acts have been passed by the Trustees in office in order more efficiently to manage the Trust, and as Mr Benall was a momber of the Trust when several of these acts wore passed, no desire was thought of to submit these acts for the consideration of the people, but as the present Bill was the product or nearly so of an opponent of Mr Benall, every devico was resorted to by the latter to. upset the useful provisions, and for the first time he assumes that the people, no matter how small a minority, are his expodents and the directors of the Trust, and not the Trustees who are the • Janrdly think the Trustee's will allow tlieirP' selves'.to be placed in such a position, notwithstanding all the clap trap that Mr Benall and Mr Hogg may bring to bear upon their actions, and the Trustees rely upon tho electors|for that support which their actions in tho discharge of their duty Have entitled them to expect. The first objection on,tho part of Messrs Benall and Hogg, and which has been approved by a very few persons, was on tho validation clause in relation to the school site. A strong feeliug of opposition appeared to exist in Masterton in regard to two sites for a second school,.. Fivd hundred pounds was voted for the erection of the building by the Educational Board and the Trustees deemed it their duty as good citizens, to assist in securing this amount for the town. I had a conversation with the Chairman of the School Committee and also with Mr Hogg, when the suggestion of procuring a piece of laud (being the property belonging to Mrs Perry in Bannister Street) was thoroughly approved by these gentlemen, and hence tho action of the Trustees in purchasing the site. Had the site been disapproved of tho Trustees would not have gone further. The Trustees at once offered to tho Education Board two acres of this purchase for a school site, 1 regret, as a citizen, that the town has lost this school and expenditure, but tho Trustees did their duty for the benefit of the people, who, no doubt, now know who were tho cause of the loss to the town. The wliolo block of about 4i acres had to be purchased and as the cost would be only a trifle over the price of either of the other two sites, consisting of one acre each, the trustees purchased the land which some day will be a grand addition to their other property. Mr Benall in his speeches with the people, asserts that the ground of pbjeolion is tho high price paid for the laud, but he has failed as a fair and candid speaker, to inform his little meeting that the adjoining land belonging to Mr Macara, was sold at £IOO an acre, and other building sites in the same vioinity, of a quarter acre each, were sold at £25, nor did he inform his friends that he himself refused something 4100 an acre for a site for emigrant cottages on the Upper Plaiu road but would prefer supplying metal for the road from the surface stones on the land rather than take a lower price from the Provincial Government. ■ The Trustees are also twitted of being under a misapprehension as regards the sale of their interests in the Greytown reserves) but Mr Carter, who I understand, declines to attend these wild meetings df, Mr Benall's, asserts in his pamphlet on Small Farm Settlement, published in 1882, that by right it belonged to Grey town, and that the Masterton Trustees were justified in satisfactorily arranging the very old dispute between both townships at a price double what MrCarter approved, I observe in the report that Mr Benall assumes that the Trustees cannot alter anything in the Bill which he and Mr Hogg have approved, and which the people of Masterton, consisting of about twenty persons, have endorsed, He, and ?ulyto,Wlriß.friend, bave that

power; "as the land," be states, "was ' given by w? and my friends," Well, sir, if any other man gave utterance to such bosh I should say that that man was seriously looking for a home in the direction of Mount Cook. I hold a letter from the Commissioner , of Crown Lands giving me an extract ifrom the Crown Grant dated r 6th -• December 1858. for 120 acres, which - states as follows:—" To hold unto the said Charles Booking Carter, his heirs and assigns, upon,tfust to convey the same to the several purchasers ■* thereof, under tho regulations of the v Small Farm Association at Masterton, ' in tho Wairarapa District, in such proportion as they may ho severally \ entitled,Jo," and Mr Masters iiW his letter addressed to the people W Greytown and Masterton on the 24th May 1870, says:—"l next pointed out the site for the farthest townJjut as the Association had no inoijj, I went to the land office and paid £SO for the farthest town to float the scheme." Here you will observe that Mr Masters' money purchased every / .:■ acre coinm-ising the town of Masterton except the twenty acres given by the '!'< Provincial Government to each tqwii;'s> for oburches, sohools &c for the benefit ~44l of the inhabitanls, and:which 1 marked upon the; first survey, map of ': ■' l: the town as reserves. I. also hold a-' : 4i | copy of tlie.iliegulations of the Small 44; 1 Farm Association, dated 1858, which ■ ".; x directs that after twelve months all 1S unappropriated town ; acres will then vl;; be sold by the trustees; and the pro- f ; S eeefls applied for : the j benefit of the i: ■'• • ' tbwii under the direction of the war-'- 4: dens, and as these town, acres were ' ,■ not ; sold..thoy.now constitute the- '-4 lands of the Trust. Mr Carter also states that - Messrs Allen, Masters,, ■ Garter, Jackson and Eenall were ap- *4 pointed a Committee to fulfil theto-- ; : structions of the Association, ml' 4 would now be glad to boifhe ' Committee did anything mordflhan ■" their duty. Have they honestly no- " v -- counted for all moneys they received 4 over and above the price, of the land • paidforby Mr Masters, which appears i to be 10s, and in some cases. lfig per:' ". acre. Has the-balance sheet been ; published, and if so, where is it to be l : found. But it is truly refreshing to find that' the present Masterton trustees do not conceal their actions, they are published in lull, and any Bill '4 they intend to introduce is not secretly l -' forwarded to the member of the dis- -4 trict before it is published for the in- 4 formation of every person in Masterton. •■ In 1888 an important Bill was brought ' into the House by the Trustees.- It dealt with land, which was, I suppose,. accidentally omitted from the first " Act and which Mr Eenall claimed a title to. It also dealt with the Grey- 4 town reserve. The site where the pre- - sent Court House in Masterton h, and ' also the Public Institute. Mr Benall, ; '•; in his usual style, got up*little -4 meeting in opposition to tho Trustees, -'' but it ivas.satisfaotory to obsoiyMhatv none of the Trustees took auyiStereßt in this little meeting.. A petition to tho Houso of Representatives was '■•••.' adopted, and about fifty signatures ". ■' wero obtained.of whom many appeared 4 •{? h - a J?-' be l n -'.written by the .Bame 4; tifiud."'TEe Ifustees had also a, peti-: r tipu signed by the most respectable' > persons in the district. ' The Bill aud " petitions come iu duo course before the Waste Lands Committeo of the House. Messrs Benall and Hogg ; appeared iu person. The Committee, as a disinterested jury, went into the' ■ case mi both sides, and gave their s verdict in favor of the Trustees, and '-. the Bill became law, and this, 1 think, willbb the fairest courso to pursue under the present Bill, and not tho clap-trap rot which Mr Renall delights • to indulge in before his heargt; nor are such meetings autborisejPby tho.' Act of 1871, the 24th clause of whioh-'x directs that all the interest of Charles;-:: Rooking Carter in the lauds men-' - turned in the second schedulo, shall". cease to vest in him, and shajikcoine vested in Alfred WillianW«naU, Joseph Masters, and Bobert HaieY of Masterton, and their successors, aiid, shall hejield by them upon trust, and' ' nojiction can be taken by the people contrary to the wishes of the Trustees, : -- ; so long as the provisions of the Act " : < aro complied with. The peoplo, however, have the power to oleotTrustees,■■/■. not to dictate, as their duty is clearly dcfinedjis Trustees, and this will be submitted to tho Committee of the House, when the Bill is brought up. v-S I am, etc,. 4- ■ b. Hm. ...-■:■;;