THE SHORTLAND SAW MILL COMPANY'S LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4425, 19 January 1876, Page 3

THE SHORTLAND SAW MILL COMPANY'S LAND.

We publish -below a correspondence which has taken .place relative to the land, in the ranges at <thes back of Shortland, which the Shortland Saw Mill Company hold on lease, and which is covered by a kauri forest. We cannot help thinking that thoro is some mistake ia this matter, us in the forest land held by the company, there is very little land at all fit for cultivation, the country being rough and. .broken to an extent rarely found even in the. kauri land of this province. Those parties who maAo representations to the Superintendent mnst surely have mistaken the boundaries of the company's lease. At all events, in any.dealings with the land, it must be remembered that the company hold a lease from the, natives, that they have expended a very large-sum of money in the erection of a saw miffand appliances for getting the timber out .of the bush, and that by their operations they give employment to a large number of men. The following is the . correspondence:— yrovlnciulGovernment Offices, Grabamstown, Dec. 4, 1575. ;3ir,—l have the honor to inform yon that I hnve deceived several applications from miners and others >(oc land at the back of theranges adjoining thi3 town ,for agricultural purposes. The Provincial Govern,meni have no land whatever in this locality, but I .'cesUy acquired two blocks—the Mangatehu and the {Wiliriiakaurunga—which are bdleved-to be suitable •for, (be purpose. I therefore ask that these blocks iKsay.lw transferred to the Provincial .Government, >with.a\view to their being immediately utilised to ifta.iianer juggested,-lhave,&c,, (Signed) ,Q. GItEY. She Hon. Colonial Secretary. Wellington. Colonial Secretary's OIHco, Wellington, Dec. 28,iJ875. $«,—Jli«a tho honor to acknowledge the loceipt / of your letter.of the 4th instant, in which you ask that / tbe3tfengarehu and Waiwhakaurunga blocks may be "tansterredtto the Provincial Government, with a vi«. 4» thuir being used to satisfy tho Appllcatlonjof ' mlnetsjind others for land for agricultural purposes At the urg«nt request of your Honor* predecessor, thevs ; end other ,tlocks of Ja'nd have been acquired for fold-mining .purposes ns forming parts of the ■ Thamea jgoldfleliis. This fiovernment, .of Its own motion, loould not have expended money in purchases which, excepting tho specinc use, are almost valueless. Jt has been indispensable in acquiring the f«eof Krtaiu blocks, amongst which aro waiwnal»nrnng»and Manfiarehn. to recognise existing rights to Umber and .certain easements necessary to make the timber wallable, and tho Government is Sound jo keep faith with the sellers and fueir lessees. These blocks, which ace known or commonly believed to be •nriferooj. being within the limits of the Thame3 gold-mining district, are available for gold-mining Purposes under tho law now in force—the Goldmuung District! Aet, IS7S—but are not available 'ongricultural purposes, the Legislature in that Act n&visg made no provision for Applying land to such sue. your Honor asks that the blocks which you have

«amed may be transferred to the Provincial Govern«cent in order that they may be utilised for agricultural purpose. Being thus transferred, these I»nd3, known or commonly believed, as I have before said, to be •uriferboj, conld only be utilised u proposed by withdrawing them from tho operation of the Goldfleldi Act, and dealing with them as ordinary waste Ijuids. It does not appear that under existing conditions ihls would be a desirable course of proceeding in the Interest of the goldfields or of the miners whilst it might serlonsly affect existing legal rights which this Government la bound to ««pect. 1 do not doubt, however, that if there are uuragit those persons, miners and others who have applied to yonr Bonor, any who really desire to obtain l"«s for agricultural uses only within the bloeks JjeaUoned, «neh arrangements might be made with {M lejKes as will give to these applicants all the laclliHej for settlement which they can reasonably JJWtfra. Bhould your Honor not be disposed to assist w« applicants in this way, I have to request that you •WU be good enough to transmit fieir applications to me 001 earliest convenience.—l have, So., . (3ig»ed) ' Daniel Polms. General Government Offices, -. _ , Auckland, Jan. 17,1876. iJ!£ » ' ndo »e for the information of your company f?JJ of correspondence with His Honoi the SuperlnJ«a>nt of Anckland on the subject of a proposed transfer of the Waiwhakaurunga and Mangarehu rnHMLAo Provincial administration. Iα stating to

Hl* Honor my opinion that satisfactory arrangemenU might be maVwith your company 1 «£«s«£ agricultural r belleTe —I haye, to. uaotsi. Poilw. The Chairman Shortland Saw-mill Company, Auckland.