A.—No. 3,

56

RELIGIOUS, CHARITABLE, AND

Wednesday, 12th January, 1870. Mr. Boys, being duly sworn, states :My name is John Cowell Boys. I reside in Christchurch, and am Government Surveyor in charge of a Sub-Department. I know the land, section 124, in red, at Rangiora, comprising 5 acres (C. 31, p. 91), reserved for a cemetery. It is well fenced in; has walks laid out in it. Burials have taken place in it; the graves are kept in it. Fees are paid for burials, and for rights of burial in perpetuity, which are appropriated, I believe, to the payment of the gravedigger, who receives, besides, annual contributions from persons having friends buried there. Mr. Lanauze, being first duly sworn, states :My name is Henry Cooke Lanauze. lam Town Clerk of Lyttelton, and reside there. I know the Reserve No. 34 in schedule to the Ordinance of the Superintendent and Provincial Council of Canterbury, Session IV., No. 6, for agent's house, offices, immigration barracks, &c, comprising 1 acre 2 roods and 25 perches. There is, on the extreme south corner, a store, now in the occupation of the Lyttelton Building Society No. 2, as mortgagees. It was let for a term of twenty-one years, from 24th June, 1865, to Mr. David Davis, a merchant, at a rent of £110 per annum; but in consequence of the depreciation in the value of property in Lyttelton, occasioned by the opening of the Tunnel, the rent has been reduced, since September, 1869, to £85 per annum. It is empty at present. The Society pays the rent quarterly. This land includes 65 feet frontage on Oxford Street by 48 on Norwich Quay. The next portion let was a piece frontingon Norwich Quay and Donald Street, let to Mr. Edward Mitchell for twenty-one years, from 23rd November, 1863, at a rent of £85 per annum. The frontage to Oxford Street, 48 feet, was let to Sidney Evelyn Wright, for twenty-one years, from 25th March, 1864, at a rental of £60 per annum. This tenant being unable to fulfil the terms of his lease, it was surrendered on 25th September, 1866. The other piece was surrendered 30th September, 1867, by the mortgagee, Sidney Burrows Stiff, the security not making him personally liable. These two pieces are now in occupation of Mr. Albert Cuff, at £30 per annum. The next holding was a piece fronting upon Oxford Street, 12 feet, by depth 48 feet, leased for twenty-one years from 18th August, 1864, to Thomas Ward, at a rent of £30 per annum. Mr. John Smith Wilcox, the assignee of his executor, now pays the rent, which was reduced in September, 1869, to £20 per annum. A piece, comprising 40 feet frontage on Oxford Street, by depth of 48 feet, was leased to Mr. Joseph William Julian, on 23rd April, 1864, at a rent of £61 10s. per annum. This lease was surrendered in December, 1869. His circumstances became such, that, upon his paying rent at the then reduced rate of £40 per annum to 6th December, 1869, the surrender was accepted. This land is now unoccupied. The upper corner, 65 feet frontage to Oxford Street, 48 feet to London Street, was let to Messrs. Graham and Weyburne, on a lease for twenty-one years, at a rental of £130 per annum, commencing 25th December, 1863. They used it for depositing building materials. The lease was surrendered 10th September, 1866. They stated they were in difficulties; a Committee of the Council examined their books, and thereupon accepted the surrender. Neither of them was or had been a member of the Council. The remaining portions of this reserve were occupied, in part, by the Emigration Barracks, since pulled down, in consequence of the excavation permitted by the Council in aid of the reclamation of the land in the harbour. The total received by the Municipality for this portion, until the demolition of the Barracks, was £180. "The Agent's house" was for some time, about two years and a half, used as a Police Barracks, at a rental of £100 per annum. This terminated in 1867, since which time the building has been used for Borough Council Offices. The gross rental derived by the Municipality from Reserve 34, from the Ist April, 1864, when my duties commenced, to the present time, is £2,400, which has been laid out in the formation of streets and roads, and otherwise improving the town, as also in lighting the same. The present rental is £135 per annum. The rent is collected by the Town Clerk. The rents and rates paid by the inhabitants go into the bank to one account called, " The Borough Fund Account." Reserve No. 35, expressed to be for Exchange and Post Office, is occupied by the building used as the Resident Magistrate's Court, and the Colonist Society's Buildings. The Council derive a rental from the Resident Magistrate's Court of £80 per annum. The nominal rent of the land occupied by the Colonists' Society, 30 feet frontage to Oxford Street by a depth of 40 feet, £22 10s. per annum, has not been paid ; and by an understanding between the Council and the Committee of the Society, payment has not been enforced, the Council and public obtaining the use of tho Hall built on this land whenever required for public purposes. Reserve No. 36, expressed to be for a Town Hall, is entirely unused, and has never been occupied. I have made inquiry, and ascertained that in Reserve 45, in the Town of Lyttelton (cemetery for Roman Catholics), there have been fourteen burials within the last eighteen years. The land is unfenced, and no fees are charged ; some of the graves are inclosed. It has, since the opening of the Tunnel, been comparatively disused, the burials taking place in the neighbourhood of Christchurch in preference, owing to the inaccessibility of this reserve. Reserve No. 46 (Lv'ttelton), for a Dissenters' Cemetery, has never been used for any purpose. It is unfenced and inaccessible, as Reserve No. 45. These two reserves in wet weather are perfectly useless for the purposes for which they were made. Reserve No. 101, comprising 52 acres 1 rood and 30 perches, more or less, is let to Messrs. James Miller and John Forester for a period of seven years, commencing on the 16th October, 1865, at a rental of £16 per annum. This land is vested in the Lyttelton Borough Council under " The Municipal Corporation Reserve Ordinance, 1868." This rent forms part of the Borough Fund. Reserve No. 68, in red, comprising 96 acres, vested in the same Council under the same Ordinance, divided into Blocks I. and 11., is, with the exception of one quarter of an acre, and 11 acres, let to Joseph Illingworth on lease for seven years, commencing upon the 21st August, 1865, at a rental of £30 per annum. It is let for grazing purposes only, and subject to the use by the Council of sundry quarries for stone. The quarter-acre excepted is situated at Officers' Point, on the Sumner Road, and is leased to Mr. William Godfrey for twenty-one years, from the 25th March, 1864, at a rental of £15