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Otago Witness, Issue 1581, 4 March 1882, Page 17

The Otago Witness.

WITH WHICH IB IKOOBPOBATED THB 'SOUTHBRM MBBOUBY.' SATURDAY, 4th MARCH, 1882.

We have all along asserted that there would be plenty of competition for the Ofcago runs, but we certainly did not anticipate a result so favourable to the revenue as that which has actually been realised. The new rentals average three times, and are in some cases as much as six or seven times, the amount paid before. A aura of nearly £70,000 will be at once paid into the Colonial Treasury, and for several years to come will be annually paid, in place of about £24,000, which represents the average receipts from the same country previously. Next year a further area of about two millions of acres will be offered, and it is quite eviden' hat Otago is retainiug its character 1 1" being the good milch cow of the Colony, which can always be relied on. It is impossible not to feel some regret that something like two-thirds of the amount will be ex*

ponded outside of Otago ; but henceforth the claims of Otago for liberal expenditure out of the next loan, for the making of the Otago Central and other much-needed lines of railway to open up the country, wilt 'surely, be' irresistible. The annual renial from these runs alone will be sufficient to pay interest on nearly a million and a-half of money. And it must be remembered that, besides all this, 360,000 acres have been reserved from the runs for sale on deferred payment or for cash, and this large area may fairly be valued at half a million more., Among other collateral results of the present sale, it should both improve our credit, at Home and give stability to the value of land held by private persons and companies. We do not think it is much to be regretted that the greater part of the runs fell once ' more into' their original holders' hands. They are for the most part men of substance, well able to work the country to the best advantage, and to cope energetically with the rabbit pest. If they are paying more than they can afford to pay as rentals, they do it with their eyes open, and the lessening of the margin of profit will tend to induce economical working and the stocking of the country up to its full capacity when cleared of rabbits. Those who have oeen disappointed by not obtaining a run can hardly with any fairness complain, since they were manifestly not prepared to give as much for the privilege as anyone else; and small capitalists will still have a chance when the deferred-payment blocks are put up. For the first time the Colony is realising something like the real value of its pastoral estate, and if wool maintains its value we may look forward to a steady increase from this source as the leases of runs in Canterbury and Otago fall in. The Colonial Treasurer -will this year, as we are led to expect, be able to show a very substantial surplus, to which this £70,000 will be an important addition ; and we may therefore look forward to some remission of taxation, even after providing' for, the first instalments of the interest on the

new loan which is likely to be raised early next year. „ ,