OTAGO.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 621, 20 October 1858, Page 4

OTAGO.

By the Lord Worsley we have Otago papers to the 16th instant. The tone oi' the papers indicates a very satisfactory activity in all departments of the province. A public dinner had been given to Mr. Adam, the late Immigration Agent, who returned from England in the Jara. An interesting fact in connection with the Scab Question is incidentally mentioned by the ; ' Witness, 1 in noticing the appointment of the ; Inspector, Mr. Logic, to the Waste Lands • Board. That paper says that in the Northern : districts in' 1857 there were 24,800 diseased sheep out of 101,000; while in 18-58 there are ; only 2,560 out of 130,000. ! At a meeting of the Waste Lands Board, the following opinion of the Provincial Solicitor as to abandoned runs being sold by auction was read :— I think it within the competency of the Board to put up abandoned runs to competition by auction. It would not be consistent with equal justice to all to throw o >en suchxuns to applications at once. Time fir lodging'applications' should be given to a'iow nanie3 at a distance a fair chance for thorn with those who are near. If that course be followed and there be competitors, the Board must either deal arbitrarily with those who should be avoided, or adopt some course, such as by lot or by auction, for deciding who is to be preferred. If it be thought advisable to adopt the last mentioned expedient— auction, there is a precedent for it in section 94 (art. 4) of the regulations. But here a difficulty occurs. The Baard is not entitled to exact for a license or occupancy of a run more than the | regulations prescribed. Thu.3 the Board is not authorised to stipulate for or exact a grassum ■or premium. I think, however, that the difficulty may be got over in this way.' Article 3 of section 94 states that the annual license fee shall be in all cases at least five pounds. Br implication, therefore, the Board may make the license more than £5, and it may therefore be ruled by the Board that in all the cases in question the upset license fee shall be at lea3t five pounds, and the party making the highest offer above that Bum shall be preferred. This increased license fee may also be declared to be for all the years of the lease or only for the first I year, the fee for the subsequent years being at I the usual rate.

For ensuring uniformitj' of procedure in all such cases, I would suggest such rules as the following-:—

1. When the Board shall have declared a run to be abandoned in respect of its not having been stocked, in the public notification of such abandonment there shall also be notified a date on which it shall be open to applicants to apply for the same; and all such applications lodged

on or before the date specified in said notification .shall beheld to have been lodged of the date so specified. . 2 If there be more than one such application the Board shall fix a day for said run being put up for competition by public auction, such competition to be confined to such applicants. Ihe upset annual license fee shall not bo less than five pounds, and the offerer of the highest license fee for the first year (or the highest annual license fee for the period of the lease) shall be preferred, and shall in all respects be subject to the laws and regulations aflecting pasturage licences « 3 In" the event of no applications for any such run being lodged on or before the date specified in said notification, posterior applicants shall be preferred according to the Parity of their applications, which shall be held to be proved by a marking thereon of the: day^and hour of lodgment, initialed both by the Chief Commissioner or one of the office clerks, and the applicant or his agent at lodging the same. The ' Witness' publishes some account ot the Motyneux coal, contained in the following communication, which had just been received by Mr. Thomson, the Chief Surveyor.—

" Coal Point, October 4. " Sir,—l received your note per ' Ann Jane.' I send 8 or 10 tons with her. "I have got the road finished, and the coal opened out; it improves as we get into it. I will be able to deliver about four tons per day. "Dimensions of seam —top coal, 13ft. 6 in. ; band, lft. 6in. ; bottom coal (good), 4ft. : total, 19 feet. " The first coal will not be so good as I will get in about a week. I will write per next post. " I remain, sir, &c, " G. GEEY." The schooner Ann Jane has brought up 16 tons of coal, which is to be equally divided between the White Swan, the Queen, and the Lord Worsley, for the purpose of testing its quality. Appointments.—The 'Gazette' issued on Monday last contains the appointment of Mr. Robert Short as Acting1 Chief Commissioner during Mr. Cutten's leave of absence for one month on account of ill health; also the reconstruction of the Waste Laud Board by the appointment of the heads of departments, viz., Messrs. J. T. Thomson, W. Logic, J. M'Glashan, and C. Logic, as Commissioners of the Board; also the appointment of Mr. Gillies as Assistant Surveyor. The next Session.—The Provincial Council meet in Dunedin on the 3rd November, proximo, at noon, in terms of the last prorogation, of date 16th November, 1857. We understand that it is deemed of great importance on this occasion that there should be a,, full attendance of members at the opening of the Conncil,