WASTE LANDS BOARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 902, 13 March 1869, Page 11

WASTE LANDS BOARD.

The weekly meeting of the Waste Lands Board took place on Wednesday, at the office of the Commissioner of Crown Lands, there being present the Chief Commissioner and Messrs Burns and Hughes. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed.

Mr George Webb applied for the purchase of 13 acres of land, being section 2 of block 2, Tuapeka East. He stated, in support of his application, that the land, which he occupied, was laid down with grass and fenced.

The Chief Commissioner said theßoard had power only to sell land which had been held under lease by the applicant. The land in question seemed to have heen leased, but was not marked off on the map.

Mr Hughes said that a letter had been received from the Warden of ths district, which stated that all necessary requirements had been complied with in respect of the land, and recommended the resurvey of the dividing line and the creek on the adjoining section, No. 3. The purchase of what Mr Webb held under lease only was sanctioned, being ten acres, he having to apply for a lease of the remaining three acres.

With regard to the sale of land in the Maheno township, Kakanui, it was decided that the land, should be sold at an upset price of L 2 per section ; the sale to be advertised to take place at Oamaru immediately.

Mr Charles Colclough's letter respecting hi 3 application tor unappropriated waste lands between the Wakatipu district and Run No. 340, was referred to the Government for consideration and further information.

The bye-laws and regulations of the Tuturoa Hundred were sanctioned.

It wa3 decided that the lease of the police paddock at Frankton should be sold in accordance with the resolution of the Board at a meeting on the 24th Feb. , subject to mill reserves and road rights aa the Government might find necessary. The leases to be for 5 years, and the upset price to be 7s per acre. With regard to this subject, consideration of a letter from Mr Powell complaining that he had not got the sale of the leases, was postponed. Mr Jas. Doughty applied for permission to purchase the south-east part of section 12, Block 18, Clutha district. Mr Doughty explained that the land was required to complete a property. It appeared, however, that the land applied for formed part of Jew's Bush, and that if it were sold at all, it must be put up to auction. There was, however, a great objection to its being sold at all. Mr Burns suggested that, in a short time, the bush would be all removed from the land, and it could then be sold right out. The application was refused.

Mr Doughty applied on the part of Mr Charles Falkner, to purchase sections 26, 1 of 27, and 1 of 28, block I, Akatore district, and it was decided that the land should be put up to auction as land of special value, at an upset price of 21s per acre.

Mr James Newton applied to purchase section 1 of 51, block 11, Otago Peninsula, and a similar decision was arrived at.

Leases of the following sections for pastoral purposes were santioned :—District of Kuriwao, sections 4, 5, 6, Block 3 ; district of Ranklebura, section 4, Block 3 ; district of Wyndham, sections 21 and 24, Block 1 ; sections 35 and 36, Block 4 ; section 27, Block 2 ; section 13, Block 6 ; section 28, Block 2 ; and section 10, Block 3 ; district of Tuturoa, sections 1, 2, and 3, Block 10 ; section 3, Block 7 ; district of Maruwenua, sectiona 15, 19, and 24, Block 13.

The valuations of buildings at Roxburgh were sanctioned, and it was decided that the lands should be sold, subject to the valuations and to the agreements by the Government with those persons having houses on the reserves. The upset price to be Ll2 10s. per acre on blocks 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, and L 5 on all the rest. Mr Fache to be the auctioneer.

Sergeant Bullen's report on the dispute between Messrs Barberry and Davis and Win. Green, as to water races at Waikaka, was considered, and it was decided

that Barberry and Davis should be ordered off the ground if they interfered with Mr Green's water rights, contained in Mr Warden Stratford's certificate.

Mr J. L. Foot's application for a license to mine for lignite on the east boundary of the Hawks bury run was referred to the district officer to report upon.

A melancholy story come 3to us from Stan» ley, Falkland Islands . Her Majesty's ship Brißk touched there on the 26th of October, on her way home from Australia j and on the 28th a party of young officers left the vessel to go on a shooting excursion, and among them was Sub-Lieutenant Charles Ogle .Robertson. Tha sport was exciting, and the last-named gentleman became separated and was no more seen alive. It would seem that he became exhausted and lay down, went to sleep, and did not wake again. His body was discovered on the following day. His face did not denote any suffering. His flask of spirits and water was scarcely touched ; his gun was in his hand, and a bag of game by his side. He was buried in the afternoon with military honours, ►

Mr A. H. Jackson, of New York, will pub« lish ia a short time a statement of the cost and causes of the several Indian wars during the last 37 years, beginning with the Black Hawk war of 1831-32, which he says, cost in all about 5,000,000d01., and resulted in a loss of 400 lives. The Seminole, or Florida war, he states, cost 100,000,000d0l and 1500 h'ves. About the same time a difficulty with the Cherokees cost 1,000,Q00d01. In 1552 the Sioux war cost 40,000,000d0l and 300 lives. In 1864 the Cheyenne war and another difficulty with the Sioux cost 80,000,000d01. In 1867, the government again went to war with the Chejennes, which cost nearly 10.000.000d01, and is not settled yet. The report states that Indian wara on the Pacific slope have cost, during the last 20 years, nearly 300,000,000 dol. and that 150,000,000d0l have been expended in the territory of Ifew Mexico in the suppression of Indian outbreaks. Mr Jackson estimates that 1,000,000,000 have been spent by the government on claims growing out of them during the List 40 years. Mr Jackson must give something more than bold assertion in the matter of expenditure.

Our railways may find a useful hint in the last " notion" imported from America. The refreshment rooms were wont to be the worst accompaniments of Transatlantic railroad travelling. Wolverton, Swindon, and Peterborough ware luxurious compared with the dining-placea provided for hona fide travellers on the great through route s of tbe West. "If this is coffee, bring me tea ;if it's tea, bring me coffee," is only one of many sarcasms to which the enormities of such feeding dens as Odin Junction, on the Illinois Central, have given bitth. In about ten minutes, the hungry passenger was expected to gulp down an indescribable mass of tough steaks, sour apples, stale cake 3, and water thickened with tea leaves. All this is changed ; and on the Chic »go and St. Louis line the train has ceased to stop for refreshments. A restaurant car is added to every train ; and the traveller can walk into this car as often as he likes, and eat at any hour he thinks fit, selecting his viands from a carte dv jour equal to an}' t'/at could ba found in the great Western caravanserais . In a short time the system wiJl be extended to all the American through routes ; and it might be systematically applied with advantage to the trains which leave London on continuous journeys to the enda of Great Britain.

Our army, as we know, " swore terribly in Flanders ;" can it be true that the colonial forces are now drinking recklessly in New Zealand ? According to the Ofcago Times, Mr Fox says so ; and Mr Fox, who has been. Prime Minister of the colony, surely ought to know. His statements, too, are not vague generalities, but specific charges. He says, for instance, that while he was waiting at WauKanui for the steamer, an orderly was sent to the front with despatches ; and that next morning, at eight o'clock, a gentleman rushed into his lodgings, asking him to go to the lock-up, and, by his authoury as a magistrate, release this unhappy orderly, who had been taken into custody the night before in a state of helpless intoxication. Another orderly— "disorderly," perhaps, would be the better term — while carrying despatches, got so wretchedly drunk that he tumbled off his horse and had to be accommodated in a barn. At the Chatham Islands, again, from which the Maori prisoners so cleverly escaped, it seems tolerably clear that the European keepers, or some of them, were fuddled ; for there are two publichouses there, driving a flourishing trade, although theory customers are twei ty-eighfc policemen ! Worse still, Mr Fox accuses the Government of appointing to a command at the front an officer who was known to be utterly unfitted, by his dissipated habits, for even the ordinary business of life ; he affirms that another post had been given to a man who was refus'd employment at Nelson because he was notoriously a common drunkard ; while three other officers had been absolutely compelled to retire from the force on account of their swinish intemperance. It is true th.v theae charges are made by a member of tin; < sition ; but they cannot be passed in silonce. The accuser is a man of ability and position ; his statements are direct and positive ; and they must either be disproved— or if they are found substantially true, the people of New Zealand must take action to save the colonial army from disgraoe and disaster.