DEPUTATION TO LAND BOARD.

Evening Star, Issue 5610, 2 March 1881, Page 2

DEPUTATION TO LAND BOARD.

A deputation from Tuapek:-, oompridsg Mo&s-5 Divioa, Br>>v;ufi, Smart, asid Ds.ui«;)., waited upon the Lfcod Board to-day with reference to the qae&tion Qf dealing with Itun 106.

Mr Stout appeared with tho deputation, J and In iutrodueiog them to the Board said ] that they had been eppdnicd by a publio ] meoiinsr hold at Laurence on Monday tvsn- 1 lag. No doubt tho Board would bo gl«d to j hear fcho op'.nioa of eotikcr. lutorected in I regard to this matter. Already in tho same ] ru-igbborhoad large block"; wore he'd by j single owners, aud aa the rrwolntion of tho j Board at last meeting in regard to th!g ruu ] road, it seemed that tho Board had deter- | mined to sell thy whole area on the aystem of immediate payments. Tue Chairman and other members : No, no.

Mr Stout said tho resolution certainly read as if that ware meant. Aud if it were, then there could bo no doubt that the vrholo would pass Into tho hands of one owner, which would bo an injury to the district. Tho Chairman had to explain to the deputation at onco that the Board, in so far aa it had considered the queetion conntctod with Run 10G, had not cmsidered yet the question of how tho land should be dealt with. The Board had only in effeot decided that the run should not be released. It had

j eoI; oome to any decision us to how the land ! should bo opened ; and as a mailer of fact j the Governor could, If neceaaary, opea every I Inch of it on deferred py.ymonts. Mr Stoct said that'Mio settlors fait that | the Government would most likely bo j swayed by the recommendation of the j Board in the matter, and, as tho resolution J of tho Board appcarel in tho papers, it read au if they intended r, commending that the land be sold on immediate payments. Tito Chairman : Tho Board caid that it j should be teb aside as rural lands uader i part; 2 of the Act.. » Mir Stout : Well, that niotns that it shaß bo sold on immediate payments. j The CuAin.MAS' said the resolution had j been in tho form tho Board always adopted jin 6uch cases, When the survey of this I block was finished, and' the Board had got | in tho maj>G, then the people of the district could be heard on the question, and the Board would then deoidounder •what system ] tho land should be efferod. But they must j remember that it would be at least twelve months before this land could be surveyed and sold. Mr Sioux caid ho knew that the runboldor'3 tenancy would not be up until then, But the settlei s wished an assurance that when the land cams to be dealt with it would bo set aside on tho deferred-payment system; and, asooe of the deputation had just suggested to him, there waa the point that, if it wfcra to be opened on this system, different instructions as to laying off tho S6ctions might have to be given to the surveyors. Tho Chairman paid that would make no difference as far as the surv»y was con*e<n«d, for the seeiions would require to be surveyed in cizes of 200 to 320 asres however the land wss to be dealt with, Mr Stout *a!d no dcubt the size would be the same; but if tho surveyors were informed tkal the sections were required for amt.ll settlers, they might lay them off so sb to give eaoh aocesa to water, etc., and cot merely make fanoy lines on the map. However, the members o? the deputation would no doubt be able f,o give the Board full information as to tho quality of the land, and ha woald leave them to address the Board. Mr T. Darton epok? at length as to the suitability of the laad for settlement en the agricultural dsforrad payment jyatem—or at I least the most of it: for ho said he had \ been informed by Mr Pater R"»b*ri3on, who j wee particularly well tcquaintsd with the • locality, that at least twe-thirda of it was fit I ;'or f-grlcnlture, and the other 2,000 acres I might well b* plso?A under the pastoral * paymsni; system. 5 The other members of tho deputation j followed in the sein* strain, assuring the 1 Board that persons in the district were now [ ! prepared to take up a Imrgoi proportion of J I she blook. I The Chairman assured the deputation \ that the Board never oontsmpiated throwing ( open the laad for immediate sals, or at any , j rate not tho whole of ffe. ! i Mr Reeves said the deputation and the , \ settlers sserntd to have misunderstood the ) Board's action. Tne Board' 3 dtcialon had \ b»en to cUscify the land in the meantime as i rural lands, a»d afterwards, when the survey wss eompSete, to settle whether the whole of , it should be placed under the deferred payI ment cystous, or aomo of it under agrioul- \ \ tnral loaee. The Board had been thoroughly u«a»imous in this, and it was a pity that ini QinuatioES ehonM have beon made againct Borne niembors of tho Bard, for ho waa cure every member w*s pc*uated like himcslf by a deaire to see the settlement of the country being pushed on in legitimate way. Mr Batiigatn said there could be no doubt that the Board fead by no means committod iiseif to reliine tne land on immediate pftyments ; but it would have saved a good deal of trouble if the Board h*d at the j timo oome to the dscieion that tho whole of the land was suitable for deferred payments. If that had besn dona, &Dd it had afterwards I be*n found that some portion was unsuitable, it would have been an easy thing for the j Governor to have revoked tho proclamation over that part and offered it in another way. J The deputation had done good by coining j before the Board ; and affcor th« public ex- ? pression of opinion by the Board it would be j obvious tha* when tho proper timo oame i l steps would be taken to open the block on deferred payments. The dopufc*tion oonld ; be perfectly saiiefied that the interests of , I tho eettlera wonld be attended to. j Mr Grejest also spoke on the question, ex-1 plaining that tho Board fully intended to ] j open part of the land at any rate on deferred i j payment?. Ho instanced former cases in ' j which greatly exaggerated statements about J 1 the quality of land at Waipori had induced j the Ifoard to open blocks on the deferred payment system, and such ooourranoes had 1 made the Board oaution*. He felt sure, jj however, from what he had heard, that at I least two-thirds of this block would be suit- j ! ab-e for opening on deferred payments. The deputation then thanked the B3»rd ■ and withdrew.