WASTE LANDS BOARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 1149, 6 December 1873, Page 6

WASTE LANDS BOARD.

The regular weekly meeting of the Waste Land 3 Board was held at the office of the Board on the 27th ult. at eleven o'clock. There were present — The Chief Commissioner, Mr J. T. Thomson, in the chair, and Messrs Horace Bastings, John Reid, A. C. Strode, and J. L. Butterworth.

Sale of sT. bvthans.

Mr Thomas Mulvey, St. Bathans, requested by letter that the Waste Lands Board would pay the expenses of the members of the Board of Enquiry (which was reporting on objections raised by the Scandinavian Water Race Company to the sale of that town) to go to St. Bathans to hold the investigations into the objections to the sale, instead of sitting at Naseby.

Mr Mulvey wrote as follows :—"I: — "I have the honour to inform you on behalf of the business people of St. Bathans, that seeing the almost utter impossibilty of bringing a large number of witnesses to Naseby, some 25 miles distant, and also seeing that the District Board of Enquiry has no power to summon witne&ses, we, the holders of business licenses, have asked the said Board of Enquiry to hold the investigation here instead of at Naseby (and in this course the objectors to the sale have joined us). They (the Board) have agreed to come here on or about the thii'd of next month, but desire to have their expenses paid, which is only fair. ' We therefore request that the Waste Lands Board will not only instruct that the investigation will take place at St. Bathans at the time appointed, but that the expenses of the District Board of Enquiry, in coming here, be paid by the Government."

Mr Mulvey, who wrote "by order of the holders of business licenses in St. Bathans," added as a postscript that "it is the opinion of miners and business persons, both here and in other parts of the district, that District Boards, to be of any use, should be made moveable. "

The Chairman thought the expense under the proposed change would be more than the Sections would bring. Mr Strode said the answer he would give would be that if they, to use a legal term, wished to change the venue, they should pay for doing so. They should bear the expense incurred by the change. Mr Bastings remarked it was not those who wished to purchase the sections that caused the enquiry. After everything was prepared for selling the land the Scandinavian Co. stepped in and made the objections. He was going up to the district next month, and the matter had better lie over in the meantime. He thought it would be better if the Board referred the matter to the Government.

On Mr Bastings's suggestion, the matter was referred to the Government.

Mr W. D. Stewart subsequently appeared, and stated that he had been instructed by a number of the inhabitants of St. Bathans to support the application for the sale of the township, against the objections that had been made by the Scandinavian Co. Mr Stewart being informed that the matter had been referred to the Government, asked if it would come before the Board again.

The Chairman replied that the matter would come before the Board again after having been investigated by the Government.

FORMER DECISION CONFIRMED.

Messrs John Martin and Philip Broad wrote, submitting that the price of 60s per acre for their holdings, sections 40 and 41, block 11., Teviot, was excessive, and requested the Board to reconsider its decision, and make a reduction.

Applicants wrote, explaining that on making application for the land, they were under the impression that the price would not exceed 20s per acre, as the sections were not land of special value, and had not been taken up by them on account of any exceptionally good quality of soil, but as being suitable for residences ; and if they were of more value now than formerly, it was entirely owing to applicants' own labour, and from no special advantage either of locality or soil. The agricultural leaseholders in the vicinity, whose land was far superior to that for which applicants applied, would obtain their land at 20s per acre. They would further beg to draw attention to the excessive survey charges. Under the impression that the survey charged would be more moderate, four parties holding residence areas, agreed to have their respective allotments surveyed at the same time; but to their surprise they found that the surveyor at Clyde insisted on charging travelling expenses to each separately, exclusive of survey fees (£7 19s each). In many cases these survey charges alone were simply prohibitive ; as, for instance, where a person has only two or three acres, the survey charges alone would amount to more than the value of the land. They submitted that the price fixed was excessive, and requested the Board to reconsider its decision.

The Chairman said that the letter contained a statement which was incorrect. The surveyor's charge to each party was one third only" of the expenses, and not full expenses to each separately as alleged. Mr Strode said that the writers of the letter apparently forgot that they were in occupation of the land for some time without any payment. It was mentioned that the area of the sections in question wa3 about four or six acres each.

The Chairman remarked that charging £3 an acre for small spots did not bring anything into the public chest. The Board resolved to adhere to its former decision.

THE QUARRY AT HAWKSBURY.

Mr Henry Orbell wrote stating that it would be an injustice to the Hawksbury district to grant a seven years' license of the Hawksbury quarry to Mr Valentine. The letter was read and noted.

EXCHANGE OF IiEASEs

Mr Edwafd Ttibman wrote making application to exchange his lease of sections 4, 9, and 19, block 1., Benger district, from under •the Act of 1866 to the Act of 1872. The application was agreed to.