THE HUNDREDS REGULATION ACT.

Otago Witness, Issue 925, 21 August 1869, Page 20

THE HUNDREDS REGULATION ACT.

The following extract from a private letter received from Wellington with regard to the Hundreds Begulation Act, has been handed to us for publication :— " I note your remarks about the ferment in re Hundreds Regulation Bill. It is clear that the parties .who are pairing all the noise know nothing of what they are talking about, and have mixed up two distinct Acts. The Act introduced by Mr Macandrew was one embodying the reso'utions of the Provincial Council with regard to assessment on stock within proclaimed Hundredß. This was strongly opposed by Mr Graham of Oamaru, and Mr Mervyn of ManuheriMa. All the other Otago members supported it, and the Bill has pjWßed. The other Bill— to regulate the proclamation of Hundreds— was introduced by the Government, as recommended by the Joint Waste Lands Committee of hoth Houses The object of the Bill was to define the manner in whioh, and conditions upon which, the Government will proclaim new Huudrcda. The principle of tho Bill TH absented to by all the Otago members ■srifihout a Ringle exception, the only differersce of opinion being about certain details, aabrought forth by an amendment by Mr Mftoandrew to the effect that a maximum rate of compensation to runholders should be fixed instead of leaving it a solutely to the discretion of arbiters, as proposed by the Government and Waste Lands Committee. Mr M»oandrew's amendment was carried, the result being that the rate of compensation to runholders shall not exceed Is Gd per acre, when the whole ran is taken, and 2s 6d when only the best portion ii taken. This is in respect of the cancellation of lease. It will be ohserved th*t it does not follow that the arbiter* will award these figures ; they may not give half the sum named, aad they cannot give more. The other amendment was that no compensation shall be given for buildiDgo. or improvement* other tban fencing, land ploughed, cropped, or in English K rasa, or draiuaste. From what I can learn, the Bill is considered ft great step towards setting nt rest the vexed quertion of hundreds, by laying down a tixed rule, under which they may be readily proclaimed when required, nil over tbe province, both within ami without goldflelds. All thit is required now to procure a new Hundred is for the Superintendent to apply to the Gnver nor, who, on tho preserved conditions b*inp complied with, proolaims the Hundred at once, such conditions being that the area jof any single Hundred shall not exceed 15.000 acres ; that it possesses a moiety of agricultural land, and that the Government p»ys auoh compensation to tho pastoral tenant as may be awarded by arbiters appointed by the Governor. I may nay that there were so many petitions against tho proclamation of the Hundreds lately applied for by the Superintendent, in accordance with the resolutions of the Provincial Counoil, that the General Government declined to take any aotion towards compliance with this *PP«cation, excepting upon the terms prescribed by the Waste Lands Committoe, and now ombodied in tho Hundred* Regulation Act."