THE HUNDRED REGULATIONS BILL.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1956, 12 August 1869, Page 2

THE HUNDRED REGULATIONS BILL.

In compliance with a numerously signed requisition of settlers and others in the Tokomairiro district, a public meeting was convened by Messrs Gillies, Clark, and Murray, members of the Provincial Council, and held in the Volunt er Hall, Milton, on Monday evening last. The object of the meeting was to consider the action of the General Assembly in parsing the “Otago Hundreds Regulations Bill.” The hall was crowded by the inhabitants of both the town and country. The following resolution was carried : “ That this meeting, having had submitted and explained to it the Otago Hundreds Regulation Bill, 1869, is of opinion that said Bill introduces a new' and important principle in the management of the provincial estate, and which is calculated seriously to imoedo the progress of settlement in the country.”

The following petition to the Governor has been extensively signed in the Tokomairiro distiict :

“To His Excellency, the Governor of Now Zealand ; The Petition of the undersigned, a Committee appointed at a public meeting of the settle) s of Tokomairiro, for the purpose of framing a memorial anent the Otago Hundreds, humbly sheweth—that your memorialist.-i having had under their consideration a Bill introduced and passed in the General Assembly, find that said Bill has been introduced and passed contrary to all precedent, inasmuch that it has not received the sanction of the local legislature. That said Hill has been based upon a report of a commission—a report wh ch the people of the Province or even their representatives have had no opportunity of discussing. That said Bill involves a vital alteration in the principles connected with the original policy of Hundreds, both as regards extent of Hundreds, and also as regards what Hundreds should consist of. That the Waste Lands Act, 1806, clause 82, provide* that compensation for improvements shall not exceed three years rental, and further that no compensation shall he given for improvements on laud proclaimed into Hundreds during the term for which the license was originally held. That by clause 9of the Otago Hundreds Regulation Bill, it is provided that compensation is to he given for the determination of the lease, not to exceed 2s 6d per acre, and that compensation is to he given for improvements, fencing, p'onghing, draining, and sowing in Knglish grasses. That under the or ginal conditio s of license for depasturing, coiipeiisati‘’ii was never contemplated That under the latter provision of clause 9, the runholder is placed in an incomparably better position than the hounjule settler, be he freeholder or agricultural leaseholder. That while the freeholder has to pay his 20s or 80s per acre, and the agricultural leaseholder 2s Gd per annum, the runholder can enter into agricultural competition jwyiug only in the shape of assessment on stock about 2d per acre, having the further advantage of taking the pick of his run to the exclusion of all others, and as a security for his operations, the right to compensation for all his outlay. That the effect of this Act will he most ruinous to the agricultural interest of the Province by forcing them into competition with a section of the community who may enter into agricultural competition on far more favorable terms than they have any right to. That the further settlement and development of the Province will inevitably he put a stop to by the operation of said Act. Your memo)ialists then fore humbly beg that your Excellency will exercise the prerogative of the Grown, and refuse your assent to the Otago Hundreds Regulation Bill, and yqur petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.”