Land Board.

Otago Witness, Issue 1586, 15 April 1882, Page 19

Land Board.

The regular, weekly meeting was held on Wednesday; 'and was attended by Mossra 0. P. Maitland (phairman), H. Clark, J. Groeta; J. Duncan, and R. Stout. f

' •) •- OTAMA. ■• ' ' '! , A. ; dlclfields applied for a license' to occupyi a portion of' 'section 19a, block llj Otama d^s- - trict. Mr Mouat appeared to support the application. It,willbe remembered that at the Board's last meeting some discussion took place in reference to this coal reserve, and that ft was decided to inform D. M'Lean, to whom a license had been granted, that he was not entitled to occupy the land, as hehadpaid no ' Mr- Mouat stated that his client desired 1 to secure seven acres, because the five acres licensed tb M'Lean had been partly .worked out. ' ' ' { The Chaibman explained that he had not heard from ,Mr M'Lean, the former licensee, who, however, he might state, had no legal , status. The question now was whether the Board were prepared to grant a license to' tpe - present applicant. He thought it. would be i more (Convenient* if the same area as before was granted, and if the applicant found lit necessary he could subsequently apply for the., extended area; < If - ' ■ ' '' "(I'°" (I '° ' The other members of the. Boardi saw no reascitf why the application should not jbe 1 granted, -and it was therefore agreed'to issue a license for seveff "years, at an annual fee of £1 per acre.' '"'■>' | " '' I - • PUKEBAU. . - ■ / j F. M, Dawson applied to purchase or lease ' about' three roods of the east portion of block IV, Pukerau, fronting the railway-line and .. Taylor street. j> ' '■ >," j' , The Chairman explained that the applicant | had put up a Btore on reserve before ijhe survey took place in the township, and as 'he I wanted to add to his store, he naturally wished to secure a title. He (the 'Chairman) had looked.into tbe,matt,er, and^p^ardly'likedjtp | recommend' the^pard td p'art'withar>y r of p wie reserve, as it ' was necessary to ha, ye a v'ac^nt piece of ground near the railway for camp^ig j and other purposes. • ' I ' ■ It was decided to refer the question to she Chief Surveyor, to see if there was any objection to making the, land a section and putting it up to auction, with valuation for improvements added. ■ , ■ ' WAKATIPU HUNS. ' ! The Superintending Sheep, lnspector transmitted a letter ftom'Mr R. F. CUthbertson [in I reference to what action it is intended' to tajke J with regard to Runs 389, 391, ,452,415, 418, a)id 438, in ! the' neighbourhood of 'Lakea Wakatfpu and Te'Anau. In a memo, accompanying yio letter the 1 Inspector said : "There seemsto.be a doubt whether these runs are in the le^al occupation of anyone, or whether they have been abandoned by consent of the Lafrd Board, and consequently have become wnfete lands of' the Crown. Under the' prbvisionsj of the Rabbit Act the occupancy or ownership of this country will require to be determined before the 'ntbbiti' inspectors can safely deal v/|th' the matter. If waste lands of the Croy/n, provision will require to be made' to destroy ihe rabbits at Government expense : if still inletal occupancy pf tenants, they can be hold respon-sible."-rlt'was agreed tp refer the question of Runs 331 aWid. 4s2 to tlie Chief Commission 1 sr, and with .respect" to 'Runs 415, 418, and 43s it was resolved that' notice ( 'sh6uld be Ejent to ;he lessees intimating that if the' rents due' are not }>aid within' one month the license will bo 1 orfeitedi ' ' I ' ' waipori. , J;' A petition \yas considered from settler's at "V^aiifcpori, requestingthat blocks 11, V,"Vll,'and X|EI, district, be, withdrawn from sale ton account of their auriferous character. The petitioners stated that if the land were sbld great injury would result to the mining interest of the district. —An applicant appeared before tho Board and said that he would like to take up one of the blocka that had been withdrawn. — The Chaikh.yn mentioned that the petition had been before them in November last, but, owihg to a change of Wardens, the Board had not received a report until now. — The Warden, in his report, stated that ho had visited Waipori and found that there, wore only a few men working on the land. FTe had been informed by Mr Mulholland, wlio had been working in the neighbourhood of yhepherd's Creek for some time, that the gullies were all more or less auriferous, and would pay small wagey. Tho informant himbelf had earned in the locality as high as 12k pur day. Another miner suited thai ho had dono a good deal of piuspectiug. and he thought that uudoi' favourable circunistniioes men could cam from 30s to 3f>s per week. Ho (the Warden) was told by old residents that tho land was totally unfit for agricultural purposes 5 and this was borne out by its miserable appearance and

the experience of those persons who took up agricultural leases at Waipori, In conclusion , he, wrote : ' *-' I think, therofore, it would be impolitic 1 to sell ' the land where it could be utiliseuinore profitably to the State by! leasing' it' say in threa small runs for seven of ten yearsj the same.as those leased within the Tuapeka de • ' pasturing 'district on' the east and west branches of Upper Waipori, and I have no' doubt it would bring from Gd to 9d pei'jacre per annum when it would be available for holders of miners' rights, and the Government might reserve the right to take any land required for mining or mineral leases without > compensation." — Tt was resolved to refer the 'matter td the ' Chief Commissioner, • witlh' the' view of having the land' leased' for pastoral' purposed, ' ' ']tfOUNT Ib/Ll ] ' ■ ; T ' ' ';' 1 ' 'The Chief Commissioner 'requested', the" Board to decide, as to the mode (if Mealing with] blocks IV and V,' in'^he^, Mount Ida district,;,, and it was. agreed to' re6omniond' J the Government to" set apart;, for sale , off deferred payments all the sections within tHe. blocks with the exception of section 19,, block QUEENSTOWN, ' , ', .',>,' A letter was' received, froni^Mr'W.rTu'ftpn,', of Queenstown, asking that Mr,'T. Gf. Bettor be, • allowed tb p.urchase'/land, lately held by, him" under agricultural lea'de.— lt' Was,' Resolved' to allow the" purchase,' rent due to date' to" be; paid. ' ',' „". _ '" ' ' '".' I , i DEFERRED PAYMENTS , , i ' , j » Licenses for rural deferradrpayment Unds were issued to the following applicants :-TJ.as: Crawford, section 17, block IX, Waipahi; J. M. Smith, section 17; J. Smith,:jun., eeqti^n' 18; A., A. Wymar, section 'l9;' i j. Hughes, section 20— all of block "VT, Waitahuna Wesij j T. Roughan, section 8 ; R. Lowe, section ill; W. Jamießon,, section 12 ; W. Durrant, seoticn 13 ; W. Smith, section 14 ;J. Jones, section* 15 ; J. Robertson, section 9— all of block IX, Waitahuna West; J. Donoghue, section -22, block V, Waitahuna West;:D. Keenanjiseip- 1 ' tion 11; E. T. Bull, section 16 ; J, >Gilland, section! 17; Hi Eadie, section 18— rblock- ,Xt^ Waitahuna West, ■ . , ,• (, t , ( ,% '. The following applications to purchase 'and $r deforred-paym.ont, leases .were approved': 11 — P. J. Greei-, sec'tion' 3, block I, ;Uppei'Taioii,' and section 2, block XII, Maniototo ; W. Ci Ider, section s', block 111, Chatton.' ■ - ■ l .

AGBIOULTURAL LEASES. _ j The application of Thomas H. Bell to purchase 1 uh'der agricultural' lease sections 29,>" 44, anc] 45, tyock f, Ti'gdr Hill, was 'recommended for' the Governor's approval. '"''" ')", ' > " 1 { The certificate of application for 'agricultural lease of t sections 8 and 9, block I, Boaujnont, by Walter Blackley, was approved. . ■ '• j