P.—No. 9.

Mr. Potts. 2nd Augußt, 1870.

when the thistles are allowed to blossom upon the Crown lands adjacent; and the strongest evidence, of this is to be found in my district, where the people consider that it is an impossibility to keep the land free from them. I know most of the persons who signed the petition which I presented ; I have not the slightest doubt that it is a honafide petition, and that the signatures are those of persons resident in my neighbourhood. The Thistle Ordinance of Canterbury is still in force, and has not been repealed. A Bill to repeal it was brought in by the Provincial Solicitor at the last Session of the now defunct Council, but the Council compelled him to withdraw it, the Session being a very short one, and for a special purpose. Mr. Farmer was examined, and stated— I am Member for the District of Kaglan, in the Province of Auckland. There is a Thistle Ordinance in force in that Province. It has not been repealed, but is generally allowed to remain a dead-letter by tacit consent. In some districts there are a few individuals who insist upon their neighbours cutting down their thistles, although thistles are growing upon three sides of their land, which thistles are allowed to remain untouched. I possessed a piece of land myself, and a neighbour gave me no end of annoyance about the thistles upon it. I paid a family in the district a certain sum annually for keeping them down ; but on three sides of my land they were growing wild, on Government land, Native land, and land belonging to private individuals, and as there was bush upon the land, it was impossible to eradicate them. I took great care and spent a considerable sum in trying to keep them down on land laid down to grass, and succeeded in doing so ; but it is impossible to keep them down on land which is not under grass; and it is perfectly hopeless to attempt to do so while the Government lands, the Native lands, and the roads are overgrown with them. At the same time, in my opinion, it is impossible for the Government to keep them down on Crown lauds and Native lands ; and it is only throwing away money to attempt it. I know of a ease at the North Shore, Auckland, where great hardship occurred; but I believe Mr. Creighton is better acquainted with the case than I am. To keep down the thistles and pay the road rates amounted to a sum greater than tho annual value of the land, and in consequence of this I sold the land to which I referred just now. The Highway Districts in Auckland have the powers delegated to them under tho Thistle Ordinance generally, and in point; of fact the Highway Boards which levy the road rates also administer the Thistle Ordinance. The whole machinery is therefore, in nine cases out of ten, in the hands of the small resident settlers who are members of the Boards. Mr. Creighton was examined, and stated — lam Member for tho District of Newton, in the Province of Auckland. I know something of the case alluded to by Mr. Farmer as having occurred at the North Shore. I was informed by a resident of Auckland, whose name I am prepared to mention if necessary, that he obtained the use of a large e«tate, belonging to an Auckland firm, at the North kShore, as a cattle run, upon condition that ho would keep down the thistles. This firm had been in the habit, for some years previously, of paying the district Inspector of Thistles a. certain sum, I think £20 per annum, to eradicate the thistles. Tho Inspector was not aware of iho private arrangement made for depasturing cattle, to which I have referred, and he sent in his bill as usual to the Auckland firm for payment, Of course the tenant was pent for by the firm, and asked how it was that the Thistle Inspector's bil I was brought against them. He replied that ho had a partner in respect to the cattle, and ho would make inquiries as to whether tho thistles had been eradicated. So satisfied was he that they had been altogether eradicated, that ho offered to give the Inspector £5 for every thistle he could discover running to seed on that land. No thistle was produced ; and the inference was, that the Inspector, never having been on the land, thought he would get his annual fee without trouble, although it was his duty as Thistle Inspector, and also as contractor, duly to see that the thistles were eradicated. I have purposely abstained from using names, but if any question is raised lam prepared to name the persons. I give that case as an illustration of the oppressive working of the Thistle Ordinance in the Province of Auckland. From what I know of the country districts in the Province of Auckland, and the quantity of uncultivated lands in each district, I think it is impossible to keep down the thistles on any land which is not in the immediate vicinity of the towns. I consider that it would bo a case of oppression and hardship if proceedings were taken in any case against p. settler to compel him to eradicate the thistles, while there are Native lands and Government lands, as well as roads all over the country, which arc simply thistle nurseries. Mr. Gillies was examined, and stated— I represent the District of Mongonui, in tho Province of Auckland, and I am also Superintendent of the Province. A Thistle Ordinance has been passed by the Provincial Council, and it has not been repealed. I know something of the working of that Ordinance. I have heard no complaints in regard to its working, but, on the contrary, I have had various applications from the Highway Boards throughout the Province for authority to act under its provisions, even up to a very recent period. It is impossible to enforce the provisions of the Ordinance in regard to Native lands, but it is possible to enforce it generally within settled districts. It is not possible to keep the thistles clown upon waste lands. The Chairman.'] Do you think it fair that proprietors and holders of freeholds should be exjiosed to the evils arising from the fact of the waste lauds of the Crown and Native lauds being nurseries for thistles, without any penalty being enforced against the Crown or the Native proprietors, and should be subjected to visitations from police and other officials for the purpose of enforcing penalties? —lam not aware that there is such a thing as visitation from police and others. The Thistle Inspectors are appointed only within settled districts, where as a rule there are no Maori lands or waste lands of the Crown. By settled districts I mean those in which the land is nearly all in private hands and in cultivation. Do you consider the North Shore, Auckland, a settled district? —A considerable portion of it. It seems that there is a firm that owns a block of land there, and that they paid a Thistle Inspector a certain sum annually for keeping the thistles down, so that they might not be troubled about them ; that subsequently they got hold of a tenant, and all they required for the use of the land was to keep

Mr. Farmer. 2nd August, 1870.

Mr. Creighton. snd August, 1870.

Mr. Gillies. 2nd August, 1870

4

REPORTS ON PETITIONS RELATIVE TO