Original Correspondence.

Bruce Herald, Volume III, Issue 68, 27 July 1865, Page 9

Original Correspondence.

Our Correspondence Column is at all times open to the temperate discussion of questions of public interest ; but we do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by oar Correspondents. In no case can any letter be inserted unlesa accompanied by the real name and address of the, w riter, not necessarily for publication, but as* guarantee ofgood faith.

{To the Editor of the Bruce Herald.) Sir — I venture to make the following remarks as worthy of consideration by those who would legislate upon the Leasing of the. Waste Lands of this Province. ; 1. When the owner of a farm wishes' to" assign it on lease he is very generally of opinion that it is his interest to get the most for it he can. The highest offer he may . not accept, but if it is from a man of substance and from one likely to carry out his engagements, it will seldom be disregarded. If hia estate is encumbered - and himself in. poverty this opinion will be the more steadfastly maintained. 2. The experience of many hundred yeara. has proved that the best way to. obtain fair value for a faim, whether you mean, to sell or lease it, is to ask for offers for ; it. ; It :£a the plan universally adopted in Britain, where 'full value' is wanted. Nothing is s'6 dreaded there by a tenant who wishes hia ! ground for a moderate rent as the chance of . \ its being ' put in the papers. *' If the sheepfarmers here are afraid of the - same, the writer of this can testify that their f ears are on a good foundation. 3. That which is the interest of an individual is seldom else than of a company or community. If the people of the Province of Otago wish to dispose most advantageously of their sheep-runs, let them advertise " fortenders for them. Advertise them not only in Otago, and New Zealand, and' Australia, but in Britain. The excessive competition " which exists at home for land would cause the advertisements to be attended to. 4. In offering the lands again for lease ifc:would be best that they be divided into new - and siiitable portions, having particular^ regard for natural boundaries— -nothing .benefit* a small run and its occupier so much, aa "a good boundary.' The nearer the grounds are to the sea-board, or navigable lake or : river, ' and the better grassed, the smaller should be the division and the shorter time should be , the lease of them : under opposite circumstances acting oppositely.- A lease of 4000 or" 5000 acres for four or five . years ■ mjght be ' proper for the one kind of country,, and of from 15,000 to 25,000 acres, and for ten . years, for the other. ' ' . N 5. It may be said that this is a harsh a, n & cold way of using our ' seffclers, and that *& would be onlyfair to give them a preferen o © or advantage of some sort. v This .view, how- v •?er, is scarcely tenable. If they and every

one of them were the same who formerly took up the country, when it was unapproachable and unknown, and had been at great expense and labor in so doing, the case might call for leniency and consideration. But it is not thus with them. The only preference that could, 'with justice' to the majority of the people, be shown Avould be in offering them the lands at the price of the highest bidder. This mode, however, might be scarcely just to the bidder, and might be to the prejudice of the owners. The present runholders should not forget that this Province must be just to its creditors, now very numerous, before it can be generous to them or any one, and that when they ask for new leases of their tenancies at other than market prices they do so in questionable taste. 6. It may be urged that the supply of land will be too great for the demand if such extensive tracts are. thrown at any one time into the market, caused by so many leases running out together. Even were it so, it may be answered that there is no occasion for sacrificing the estates. A reserve can be placed upon them, and rather allow the present holders to keep for a time, or let them remain unoccupied, than they should be disadvantageously dealt with. 7. The present occupants have no right, in law or equity, to a single acre of their runs, except what they have purchased under the special pre-emptive one. But the public and the majority in Otago have a right that the estate which they hold in common be administered in no way save in that one which brings the greatest return. And in no way can this end be attained but by offering it to the highest bidder. J am, Sue, < A. L,