OTEKAIKE ESTATE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 174, 16 April 1908, Page 8

OTEKAIKE ESTATE.

MINISTER FOR LANDS INTERVIEWED. ■ HOW THE'TROUBLE AROSE. (by telegraph.—riiEES association.) V ' Dunedin, April 15. ■ In the . course of an interview regarding tho preference clause in tho Land Act, the Minister for Lands (the Hon. R. M'Nab) was asked if he intended to amend the 1 clause next session. ; "No," ho roplied. "There is no need for it.. The Act is all right, and the whole of tho recent trouble has. arisen from a train of unfortunate circumstances in connection with Otekaike cases. ; When the: Bill was in the Committee stage'l ivas approached by several deputations, who impressed on me tho equity arid desirability of framing clause 80 so as to include such men as were employed on an estate at the time of- its resumption, and had: been in the employ of the owner of tho resumed property for at least five years, but perhaps on some estate oi"'. estates other than that resumed. Among those who approached me in. favour of the amendment, in this direction was Mr. Mitchell, a litigant in the case now before the Court. • I don't wish. for ono moment to suppose that Mr. Mitchell purposely led. me. Ho could have nothing to gain ill doing so, but I certainly 'understood from what he told mo that lie was at the time sub-manager in Otekaike. f amended tho Act accordingly, so that Mr. Mitchell would bo in: a' measure justified in. saying' that tho amendment was made to- suit his case and that of others similarly situated. I thought when I made the 1 ;, change that it would ombrace the case of'iMr, Mitchell, hut | I-'ontirely misunderstood his position. The Land Board inquired into the: facts of tho case, and on the following l day I received a telegram (I was absent -from' Wellington at the time) advising me that the Board had recommonded that renewable leases be- granted to - Jardine,-Dineen, Mitcliell, and M'Kellar. Now,, a Minister of the Crown must rely to a'great extent upon his'responsible officers, and his signature or consent aro in many cases a matter of form. I knew, or thought I know, something of Mr. Mitchell's position, for I had seen him in Wellington,. and understood- he was ati the time of resumption working'on Otekaike, and I took it that othors were in'the same case. '.Apprehending, no complications such as afterwards transpired, I did not return to Wellington for some weeks, and then 1 received several protests. None of the writers' madoMt evident that the applicants' complained: of were omployod on estates other than Otekaike, and even'when Mr. Macpherson wrote to ine' I did not fully realise this. Hence my-reply that thoss were the ..very cases I-had intended to'cover in framing '.-my. amendment. Up to that time I had understood that perhaps some of tho applicants / had worked for the proscribed term, on estates other than! Otekaike in possession of Messrs. Campbell and. Sons, and wore all'on the estate at the time of resumption. Then 1 looked lip the records .of the : Land. Board's examination, and found there was ono case in which. it was recommended that preference be granted 1 if; the application came within tho Act.' That entirely altered the of hence my apparent volto face. "••• I placed the' facts beforo the Solicitor-General, antl. lie .advised mo that' even though 1 had given my consent, it had been given without knowledge of the facts and contrary intention of the statute/, so that I.' might' withdraw it. Otekaike was \.the; first estato in.' wliioh the": preference* clause-,came into operation, and from that we'have taken a lesson. We have, had others since, and every one of them" has • been adjudged on its .merits. Considerable discretion 'is, allowed,' "and in, future it will taken advantage of."