TUSSOCK LANDS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29734, 30 January 1962, Page 16

TUSSOCK LANDS

Suggestion On Contrpl

The Tussock Grasslands and Mountain Lands Institute opened the Christchurch hearing of the Royal Commission on State Services with a submission that negotiations on tussock grasslands owned by the Crown which affect the rights and duties pf tenants should be conducted through the Department of Lands and Survey. The deputy chairman of the institute, Mr D. McLeod said that 8.500.000 acres of the 9 million occupied acres of tussock grasslands were administered by the Department of Lands and Survey “We are trying to clear the path among the bodies dealing with this land for the sake of the tenant who is equally concerned that the land should be preserved,” said Mr McLeod Mr McLeod agreed with Mr J. Turnbull, of the commission. that the department, as landlord, and soil conservators could in principle have differing interests in the land He said that the Soil Conservation Council should have over-riding jurisdiction But in some districts, he said, there was the department’s pastoral officer, the soil conservator of the Catchment Board and the soil conservator of the Department of Agriculture. “We believe that there should be one authority instead of many and the Lands Department ought to be the competent authority. The preservation of the pastoral lands officers in the department was a vital pert of the organisation

He also submitted that in order to obtain the maximum of uniformity in tenure and conditions, endowments held by educational institutions and local bodies should be administered by the department and that new leases issued for these endowments of land should be on the lines of existing Crown tenures