THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, MAY 5, 1876.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 374, 5 May 1876, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, MAY 5, 1876.

The ; cancelled runs are either in the disposal of the Warte Lands Board or »tixeV v JPEO.vincial Governments ,If Mr. Haggitt is righVthat clause 16 of the r&'olSfifeldW'Act is unimpaired by- the Act oflS.72,;eliiuse49 is .also unimpaired. This clause runs tfruß : Provided also-that .if a depas- " turing lease or license shall not at " the date of the passing of this Act granted or shall havfcieen "" a>* shallte cancelled j)ver any Grown yi'jl'ands within a Go?djield it shall be .'"■■lawfulfor the Governor from time to by proclamation to declare such, ""'lands or any part thereof open for ," sale preelection in sections of such "■' size and form as he may determine. r" :•; j ?'vl • . •_ and the Governor may time to time alter amend or re"syoke any such proclamation." To inprdyas- did Mr. Eeid and Mr. Haggitt, ; that the cancellations had been proclaimed without the consent of the lessees; is to hold that the Goldfields Act is unimpaired by the "Waste Lands Act. Then why were the applicants referred jto the vy aste Land Board at all ? Did 'Ahe Government discredit its own power its members dread.the publicity of the proclamation, and fear corapetitors_for_,these lands would give ..too,, much, for, them, to their own detriment?! POr hrtisha of

..».^jaia.Ul(k^feiii..said r thatxiause JS.Q of "tLieiyuata'Laiids Act r made it itnpossible'Tor e'itlicr Provincial Government or Wasto liiuida Board to sell a leased run, or any part thereof, without the ',\ T? comment pfjthe jlessee.- : If the action were Honest; if it were lawful to cancel arbitrarily—such cancellation having h:u; been? a xontingency against, any and every run for a longer period than the present lea»e« themselves have run—what pre-emption had the lesßee? Why should nottho Government haveetriveu rr-r-rtcrget-aa muclrasit cmildfor th'6'laud? M „ Or, in other words, How can it justify itaelf from the charge of having attempted to make a fraudulent gift of public money to the lessees of the can'YV.'co.Ued.aKeay. i ' .■-,,'. ■ • . Mr. Haggitt's reason for wishing to make the cancellation appear an arbitrary one is not very far to seek—he a .': little overdid it. If it could be shown that his clients did not consent, even »" ■•' though they agreed what compensation ' to deduct from their purchase money, ",_. the cancellation itself, if necessary, ' '.'■„ could be shown to be bad. If the Board ~,; . tripped up the applicants no one else ■ ■ ■•" could get a title: It was a safe speculation, in which they had every thing to 1? gnin, and nothing-to lose. As the runs stand now the cancellaV. tiou is on record. It cannot be held to v be bnd unless proved so. It cannot be ;'■ ' revoked. Proclamations which should follow the famous one of the 2Gth .'. : April, setting out under clause 49 how ,/n, the cancelled country should be ; offered to the public, eould be altered, amended, or revoked, but not the original. The Provincial Government:did v.v. not dare to carry pretence so far as to ,"■■'• assume power uuder clause 49. In not ■•',■ doing m they have recognised the pow- '".'*." er of the Land Act of 1572, Although ,{ there can, we tbin.k, he no doubt under that AcVthat no land could be sold on this cancelled country to any other persons except the late lessees, there is nothing to prevent the Board leasing , the area in such sized sections as it sees : , • iit—the leases,to be offered by public competition. A Mr. Campbell has made such an application for the whole • area under clauses 153 and 154 of the Waste Lands Act, on the assumption ~., : that the area, being outside, any .proclaimed Hundreds, is open, as lands over which no lease is existing. This "application must be refused, for the clauses quoted apply to lands unleased when the Act came into operation—- ,, that is. January, 1873. At that date the country now opened for application was held under lease. Any persons ,'... wishing to obtain small leaseholds on ;,,. the cancelled country should apply to the Board. The Board should be memorialised to open suitable areixs to public competition upon ten years' leases. In default of public memorials, .. private applicants should be stirring to take care of themselves. If each of our agricultural lessees and holders of land on deferred payments outsido Hundreds could obtain from 1000 to 5000 acres of grazing country in his own ri ' right, we should very soon havo apr 05,,'.'.,,, ~'.'.,,, .perous population upon the Goldfields.

We see by our telegrams to hand that the wind has been tempered to the shorn lambs. The cancellation of the runs has been, revoked by ■' Gazette "YY e are curious to see by what process this Jinn been done. The Actß in force give the Government no such power.