THE Otago Daily Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1872.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3368, 21 November 1872, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1872.

We have obtained through the courtesy of the Hon. the Speaker of the House of Representatives a copy of the 'Otago Waste Lands Act, 1872,' in advance of its publication in the usual course. The provisions of this Act, or a large proportion of them, are already known in a general way to the public ; but very little information has hitherto been obtainable as to the alterations which were made on the original Bill by the Assembly. We therefore purpose to publish as promptly as possible a very full abstract of it, knowing that no local political subject is at the present time of equal interest to the people of this Province. In the meantime, a few words upon the more striking contents of the Act may not be amiss. This Act now embodies the whole law on. the subject of the sale and administration of the Waste Lands of the Crown in Otago, or rather in that part of the Province which went exclusively by that name before tho re-union with Southland. Southland retains its old laws for the present. How long this anomaly will last, no one can judge, but if experience shows that the new Act works well in this part of the Province, we presume its provisions will eventually be extended to Southland also.

The first part of the Act, after some technical clauses, is devoted to the subject of the Waste Lands Board. A new system is here introduced, as to which it is very difficult to form an opinion. It may turn out that all the advantages claimed for it by its advocates are more than counterbalanced by unlooked for evils. In the meantime we can onJy rest in hope that this will not be the case. The clause which regulates the future constitution of the Board runs as follows :—'There shall be a Board of Commissioners, to be called the Waste Lands Board of the Province of Otago, and the said Board shall consist of one Chief Commissioner and of not less than two or more than five other Commissioners, all of whom shall be ! appointed and. be removable by warrant under the hand of the Superintendent, subject to the approval of tie Governor in Council. Provided tljat not more

than one member of the Executive Council shall be a member of the Board/ The object of these provisions, jas stated by those who have advocated them, and who have procured their insertion in, this Act, is to remove the decisions of the Waste Lands Board as much as possible from ' political influence.' A secondary object, no doubt, is to secure us much uniformity as possible in the manner iv which the decisions of the Board are arrived at. The latter object may be attained, because it is probable that there will hit a j greater degree of permanence in the com|H)siti<>n of the Board than has at times been the case under the old system, by which all members of the Executive Council have been made members of the Waste Lands Board. The other and more prominent object is less likely to be attained ; and if it should be, although at first sight it would seem to be a very desirable thing, experience will soon sho»v that the sup-

posed benefits arc altogether fallacious We cannot tolerate two Governments in the Province, even though the function of one of thorn should be confined to matters connected with the land. If a Waste Lands Board should persistently thwart the policy of thi; Executive, means of coercion would presently l>e found, and it would lx; a very unfortunate thing if they could not. It is because we do not really anticipate any such conflict between the new Waste Lands Hoard, and any future Executive, that we have ventured to express the hope that the new system may provesatisfaotory. As a matter of opinion we hold to that which we have long ago expressed, that there ought to be no Waste J-iands Board at all— that the Superintendent and Executive Council of this or of any other Pro-

vince arc the proper persons to regulate the whole of it« public business, and that there is nothing in. regard to which their power ought to be more decided and complete than the sulministration of the Waste Lands. Of all the numerous grotesque anomalies which present themselves under the cumbrous .system of government with which New Zealand Ik afflicted, none is more absurd than that which obtains in the management of the Waste Lands. To see, as has hitherto been the caae, a paid servant of the General Government sitting as chairman in a Council composed of representatives of the people holding high political offices, is to witness something that no Colony but this would have tolerated for a twelvemonth, and which would not have been tolerated in New Zealand had it not been for the scattered disposition of its population, which renders all attempts at constitutional reform so difficult. Tit is Act modifies the system, but only by introducing new and equally fantastic anomalies. It does not, however, render all the Commissioners servants of the General Government. The clause following that which we have quoted, provides that the salaries of all but the Chief Commissioner shall be paid out of the revenues of the Province as appropriated for the purpose by the Provincial Council. The next clause of the Act to those we have referred to, contains an instance of that tendency to legislating over-much, which is so common with Colonial Assemblies. It is very simple, but it is also very needless. Here it it is:—'The Board shall have an office in Dunedin, at which office the Board shall sit.' If it were necessary to legislate on this subject at all, surely power might have been given to the Board to pit at such places as it should from time to time determine. It might in many a case prove of the utmost advantage that the Board should sit elsewhere than in Dunedin. And why should it nojt? There was, indeed, Jio need for any clause on the subject; for if the Legislature had let the matter alone, the Board would of necessity have assumed and had the power to choose its own office, and to fix the place of ite own meetings. ■