The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, JULY 11, 1879.

Dunstan Times, Issue 899, 11 July 1879, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, JULY 11, 1879.

Denev ■‘lithe rule of me a entirely just tie PEN is MIGHTIER than the. SWORD.

The correspondence under the bead 11 Land Question,” publi bed in another column, will contain news most roceptoble to most of our ier.de’s in the lower port,ion of the Dunstan dl. triefc, and while giving Mr Pyke. our member, every crocht for taking up the matter, and obtaining from the powers that be such distinct p ’ounces, we cannot hut think that our repeated references to the subject have had something to do with it. However, to the point. The Premier promises that the Ida Valley and Moutere blocks shall be thrown open at once, and the Deputy Chief Surveyor says

that the surveyors have been ordered to alter the survey of the Earnscleugh block in accordance with the wishes of the people. Now this is all very well, aud everything that is desired, but the question arises, and that very naturally—Why was this outside action necessary to bring this about ? To our mind, the only place to look for nn answer is the “ Waste Lands Board ; ” but as the probabilities of getting a reply from that source are very remote, wo would advise no one to trouble themselves. We would, however, advise, and that most strongly, the consideration of the question as to whether the Waste Lands Board as at present constituted, it being a purely irresponsible body, meets the requirements of chs times. From every side of the Provincial district of Otago comes the same howl of discontent, aud it must strike the most superficial thinker that a change is necessary. In other quarters it has been mooted that the Counties could the better administer the Land Laws, cud from the fact of their members having an intimate knowledge of the entire area under their control, and with the Warden as District Land Officer at their head, they should be able to combat the many questions with more wisdom than a body of men unknown to the country or to those they were dealing with. There is no time so opportune as the present for discussing the question, and we shall he pleased to aid, in so far as in ns lay, in setting afoot an agitation that may reach from one eud of the country to tlie other, towards getting up a monster memorial to the House of Assembly at its present sitting, to so aliev the existing “ Land Act,” by. abolishing tlie mischievous Waste Lands Board, rod to construct in its stead a Board for each Countv, with the Warden or District Land Officer at its head, who by virtue of his po ition would he re~ponsihle to the Government, and thus keep his Board responsible to the Minis*er of Lands.