THE STRATH TAIERI AND NENTHORN LANDS.

Evening Star, Issue 6895, 6 May 1886, Page 1

THE STRATH TAIERI AND NENTHORN LANDS.

The letter from the Chief Surveyor which was read at the meeting of the Land Board yesterday does not by any means dispose of the questions raised in the report of the Commissioners who recently visited the Strath Taieri and Nenthorn lands. The pertinent facts are that the blocks proclaimed , open for selection have been subdivided and apportioned for agricultural and pastoral purposes in such a manner that the lands have been practically

closed to settlement. Small sections for the plough have been surveyed, at an elevation of from 1,400 ft to 2,200 ft, at a distance of ten miles from the Otago Central Railway, whilst far more suitable land for agricultui’al purposes has been surveyed into large allotments for depasturing within half the distance from the railway. The Commissioners very properly point out that there has thus been an unnecessary expenditure in the survey, which, with the very considerable cost of opening up by roads and bridges lands unsuitable for agriculture, may be considered to have been money thrown away. If this were an isolated case it would demand close investigation, but.we believe it to be only an illustration of what has been almost reduced to a system to the great detriment of the interests of settlement. The truth is that, except when on occasions political feeling has been infused into the proceedings.

the Land Board have transacted the business brought forward at the ordinary meetings in a very perfunctory manner. If proof of this were needed, we have it to demonstration in the resolution, adopted on the motion of Mr J. 0. Brown at the meeting on the 29th April ult: “ That all outward “and inward correspondence in connection with the decisions of the “ Board be laid on the table at each “sitting of ihe Board.” Hereby, it may truly be said, “hangs a tale," The members of the Board—we except, of course, the Chief Commissioner—have evidently been accustomed to take for granted the representations of the officials of the Land and Survey Department, and have really known very little of what has been doing. The Board have been little else, it would appear, than a court of record of what has been quietly settled by the permanent staff. It is by no means surprising, therefore, that the independent members should find themselves just now in somewhat of a fix.;

the endeavor being made to saddle them with responsibility in respect to matters of which they have practically had no cognisance. The constitution of the Land Boards naturally induces a sort of laissez oiler way of carrying on business. Paid nominees of the Ministry of the day, presided over by a departmental officer, are likely enough to fall' into the “Government strobe,” and even if active minded can hardly resist the circumstances of the position. Another element which tends to reduce the individuality of members to a minimum has been introduced by the present Administration, who have awarded seats on the Land Boards, with screws and perquisites attached, to supporters in the House. These gentlemen, as a matter of course, have political axes to grind, and can hardly give their minds to the humdrum routine of regular business during the portion of the year when they are able to attend the meetings at all. Honor, however, to whom honor , is due; and it-is to one of . these thiek-and-thin Ministerialists that we owe the present shaking-up o£ the dry bones, which is likely enough to bring about a wholesome reform in the method of administering the Crown lands. The member for Tuapeka, we may well conceive, would hardly have been nominated had there been any idea that he would have developed such a facility for “wanting to know, you know.” The Chief Surveyor, in our conception, has rushed in somewhat inadvisedly where men of calmer judgment might have hesitated to tread. The

old proverb—and proverbs contain 'in homely words a world of wisdom—says “ It is a very good dog who barks when he is told.” The letter to the Board; was, speaking by analogy, a barking out of place, and by no means incum--bent on the barker. A simple statement as to the circumstances of the survey in question, if such statement would have vindicated the survey branch of the Land Department, would have been ' at least justifiable; but it was singularly injudicious to attempt to set up, in anticipation as it were of trouble, a case against the Board, which was unsupported by a tittle of evidence. Possibly enough Mr Adams knows very little about this particular matter. He

admits that the surveys were executed before he took charge; but from.the, whole tone of his letter he evidently holds the opinion that the Chief Surveyor, and not the Board, should settle the sectional surveys for settlement. We shall nof just now discuss the comparative qualifications; but experience certainly induces the conviction that this . most important work should not be absolutely relegated to any departmental officer. It is distinctly the duty of the Board to see for themselves that the lands are surveved with a view to the class of settlement desired, and that no other considerations of any bind are allowed to intervene. Judging from the discussion yesterday, at the Bpani, ,the members are in a complete fog as to the source from which the authority emanates upon which the Chief Surveyor is presumed to act in making his surveys

of blocks for settlement. The Chief Commissioner says the instructions nre given by the Board “ or the Government ” in every case, which is hardly a satisfactory explanation, and speaks at least of a divided authority. In regard to the Strath Taieri and Nenthorn lands the saddle may perhaps be put upon the right horse, since the Board have ordered “the instructions received “ by the Survey Department for the “ survey of the land referred to ” to be produced. We hope that this matter, once opened up, will lead to an investigation as to other blocks which are commonly reported to have been subdivided after such a fashion as rather to repel than attract selectors. It is useless to pass liberal land laws if their spirit is to be thwarted by seemingly perverse administration.