The Otago Witness. DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, AUGUST 21.

Otago Witness, Issue 925, 21 August 1869, Page 13

The Otago Witness. DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, AUGUST 21.

It appears probablo that the Otagyo Waste Lands Act Amendment Bill -will be paiwed. This Bill is founded on Resolutions passed during tho late tesfuon of tlie Provincial Council, and has for its object the centralisation of the authority now vested in Wardens of Huudrodfl in tho hands of the Waste Land Board. In the original R*>flolutions it was not the Waste Land Board, but tho Exocutivo Council, to whom theso powors were designed

'jkcfW .transferred/ , ' THe change 'B this, particular was .intrpduced into tlie Bill by the Select .Committee on the Waste Lands to whichthe Bill was; according to the standing orders of the House/ remitted after its first reading. When' the resolutions were before .the. Provincial Council we drew attention to their character, and pointed out the results which , would follow 'if they were made law. From the general silence of the country districts in regard to them, it, may be assumed that they were accepted as. a necessary reform. The freeholders in some of the Northern Hundreds have, however, petitioned ih'e JBEouse of Representatives against the- Bill, and> on their' behalf, Mr Graham-, the member ' for Qamaruy opppsed^the Bill, bub ( witliqut success.

The fact that the system instituted by the< Waste Lands < Act has not worked well is much* to be regretted; We, believe, that the, real reason /for this has been that the machinery provided was too cumbrous. More trouble was imposed upon the freeholders than they were disposed to take. Before the system was brought into working order men had been accustomed to run such stock on the Hundreds as it suited their purposes thus to depasture. They did not care to have the trouble of going perhaps many miles to elect | representatives who should have the power to regulate their privileges. They had also no doubt the usual unconquerable aversion to being taxed. One of the special duties of the Wardens was to levy an assessment on all stock depastured in •Hundreds. When ,-it; was provided that one half of the proceeds of this assessment should be divided amongst the Road Boards within the Hundred it was, no doubt, expected that those bodies would be vigilant in looking after the Wardens and seeing that a fair assessment was levied. Even this precaution has failed, and in many Hundreds no assessment has been levied at all. The Provincial Government has apparently found itself unable to enforce the oarrying out of the law. Instead of preparing a Bill which might have enabled it to supervise more effectually the action of the Wardens, the Executive has preferred to abolish the whole system, and take matters into its own hands. Why the majority of the country settlers silently agree to this we really cannot imagine. When the new system comes into play we shall probably have universal complaint. Nor do we doubt that eventually there will be a return to the old plan, under some modified form. With the Government this is a revenue question — of that there can be no doubt. The means for subsidising the Road Boards fall off yearly; at least they have been doing so, and the probabilities of the immediate future point to a still further reduction of them. Undor these circumstances the Government very naturally looks with a jealous eye upon tho stock which is depastured on Crown Lands without paying anything to tho State. The assessments which come into the Treasury from the! pastoral districts form a very important item in the yearly estimates of Wayn and Means. If the stock running on Waste Landu in Hundreds returned a proportionate sum, the provincial revenue would be bettered by some £8000 or £10,000 per annum. There is certainly no reason why it should not do bo. Wej know that it is held by some that tho right of pasturage ought to be free to | the purchaser of land — that his contri- 1 bution to tho revonue in the form of purchase money ought to be a sufficient equivalent. Such, indeed,! was the stAto of matters in tho early days of the colony. Times are changed however, and as tho squatter is now made to pay a reasonable sum for tho right of pasture on waste lands, so also should it bo with | the settler. If tho money were taken i away for tho benefit of some foreign potentate, thore might be some ground for objection* But tho iwea to which revenue dorived from wwowimonta in to be applied are strictly local. It in to secure the means of subsidizing Road Boards and constructing public

works -inr-the' very fronv wfcfeh the hiotiey _' is 'to ttef drawn.; • , ' • Bo far, ;as the revenue , question' is )t conbet'nea, jwe cannot, therefore* but /believe, that.the' toleration , of the, Amendment Act will prove salutary. Whether it will 'be equally possible ; fdr' the Waste tititid Bpard ,tq perform the .other functions, of the. Wardens* ;is another matter. " The apportion-, meht of grazing 1 "'rights amongst the freeholders who take ',out ".depasturing. licenses,, ; is. a piece of- ,busi- J ( ness which, requires local knowledge." ,So,also the .question, as to, the tion of sheep and cattle u to be run 1 . -on, any particular Hundred, and the division where .required- as^to r the^ localities to which each class, of .stock is iio.be * restricted. , The system must viaow,. /we"; presttineyhaveatrial. /i There' ap^eari to be little prpbabiUty;'6f the, t tTpper House throwing o&kthe Bill ,after the, triumphant manner in -which, ( it has been carried through the House of Representatives. As an experiment* ii may do some good and little harm; but we feel convinced that the system is not one which can be perpetuated. , .