THE HUNDREDS ACT.

Otago Witness, Issue 931, 2 October 1869, Page 9

THE HUNDREDS ACT.

To the Editor of the Otaoo Witness. Sm-From what I see in the papers about the Hundreds BiU, it appears that the, squatters want to appropriate the whole ot the surface of the land for their own especial benefit. Now, to my" knowledge, the Nevis district was, until lately, without a sheep to graze upon it. The miners and tradespeople began to keep cows and settle down -, then, when the squatters found the land capable of grazing stock, flocks and herds were drafted on to it, and the owners of the cattle whioh were running on the ground have got ' notice either to remove them or pay LI per head per annum to the runholdera. This appears to me an injustice, when it s considered that for years the grass was left without stock to eat it, by the grasping avarioioushess of the squatters, to hold more land . than they could profitably occupy. The land from which the rent is demanded for depasturing has not had any station stock upon it up to the present time. Another view I take of the subject is, that the Nevia is a goldfield, therefore what rigfht have the squatters to tax the miners for grazing cows upon the ground ? If the squatters are to be indemnified for the portion of their runs whioh have been proclaimed goldfields, why not look to the Government for redress, and not tax the already over-taxed mining and mercantile community?— lam, &c, A Nevis Resident. Nevis, 23rd September.