HIGH SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1970, 22 August 1889, Page 15

HIGH SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS.

The monthly meetiug of the Otago School Commissioners was held on Tuesday, and attended by Messrs J. P. Maltland (chairman), J. Walker. Bain, T. Dennis6on, and J. Grejsn. ' . - A petition was received from tenants of eectiprß in the township of Sawsb'ury, asking for a reduction of rent; also a report from the secretary on tl>e oame.— The. commissioners did, not see any reason for reducing the rentals,: with the exception of that of section 6, block 11, the rest of which ib wan decided to reduce to 10s per acre s The secretary was instructed to give notice to persons occupying sections without having a' title to them, that uulesa they left the sections they would be required to pay for the use and occupation of the same. Ad application was received from Mr A. G. White, lessee of section 37, block VIII, Glenomaru, for a reduction of rent. — The secretary was Instructed to obtain a report as- to the valuation of the section from Distriot-Burveyor Strachan. Mr James Gall wrote ashing the commissioners to accept surrender of the lease of section 2, block IX, Waikaia, — The request was granted. A letter was received from the Chief Surveyor, Dunediu, asking the commissioners -to exchange a portion of section 1, block V, GHenomaru, for another portion, and to make a road ou the west. and southwest of the section the boundary. — The commissioners' had no objection to the arrangement being carried out. Offers for the survey of the Glenledi estate were received from Messrs F. Duthie, J. Keid and Sons, and J. Cummin.— The offer of Mr Cummin was accepted. A report was received on sections 158, 159, 160, 173, and 175, block 11, Tuapska Fast, lately ocaupied by K. W. Nichols ; and section 35, block 11. Tuapeka East, occupied by J. Michael ; also recommendations with regard to their disposal. — It was decided to offer all the sections, with the exception of the last,; at 2s 6d per acre for It years, and allow a valuation for fencing. As regards section 35, it was agreed to reduce the rent to Is per acre. A report was read from the secretary on vacant sections in the township of Lawrence, the leases of which were to, be sold ou the 30th insb., together with recommendations as to the upset rents — T ( ho recommendations arid valuations were approved. • The Chairman reported with regard to certain paragraphs that had appeared in last week's' Parliamentary news, to the effect that numerous complaints had been mide ag'inst the School Commissioners for refusing to grant relief to their tenants, and Btated'thafc he had sent the following letiterjto the Minister of Lands on the subject :— t • 1 ""' ' ' " 14th August 1889. The Honourable the Minister for Lands, ' •.Wellington. Referring to, ,the Parliamentary report of the j special correspondent of the Otago Daily Times,,'in yesterday 'B Issue of that paper, to the effect that numerous complaints continue to be made* with re- I gard to the -action of the School Commissioners 1 iv I dealing with the lands under their control, and fch'at I whilst the Government has agreed to deal fairly.-in fact, even liberally with its tenants, the commissioners seem little disposed to Undertake the taek;of considering the position of their settlers 1 I have tho honour to lay the 1 facts before you w^th a view of refutiDg the allegations which have been made againgfciihe commissioners. The fcchoc^Oornimssidners'eo far from being inqispostd to consider the position of thejr'tenanls hove during the last 18 months made numerous and large reductions In the rents, in fact their monthly meetings have been prlncipally'occupied by the consideration and settlement of, claims for reductions^ rent, and they have spared neither time nor trouble Jin fully considering each case on its merits. In order to obtain tha fullest information they have had a careful inspection of the reserves- made by a thoroughly: competent inspector, and, in deciding applications for relief have beeq guided by his reports and recommendations. , • ,t, t ) . Most of the dissatisfaction and hardship exists '.in Connection with reserves which have been' dealt with by the land boards on behalf of .the School 'Coinmißßloner&'ln terms of the Land Acts of 1882 andlßßs.<" '.*-'' • ' 1 ' In ithese cases the ' commissioners have received eeyeral petitions, for relief, but. owing to the fact that the control of the lands referred to bad passed" into the- bandß of the land boards, they had no power to consider them, and the land. boards. not having any authority themselves to grant relipf, nothing could be done. . " ' '-• j As you are no doubt aware, the commissioners in March 1888 asked the Government to amend the " Public Bodies Powers Act 1887" so as to enable the land boards to reduce, rente, and instalments'of purchase mpney at tha request of tha School Commissioners .where such a course is deemed advisable, but owing to pressure of business no amendment took place last session. , j In forwarding their report of proceedings for last ! year, the commissioners again urged upon the | Government the necessity of giving the land j boards this power during the present sesoion, and they earnestly hope that this will be done as, they fully admit the necessity of granting relief iv certain cases. I rflay say that, although the commissioners hav6 nob considered the caseß of tenants 'holding under the land boards, they have not sought to prevent those bodies from dealing with the reserves under their control, in the same manner as if they were Crown lands. > j There is another class of occupiers under the commissioners — viz., those who bought education reserves from, tha land boards for cash, to whom the commissioners advanced two-thirds of the purchase money to enable them to complete their payment to the Government .'arid took a mortgage to Becure repayment at 6 per cent. Interest. Theße purchases | took place at a time when high prices were ruling, | and in a number of instances the competition was Fo keen that uDduly high prices were obtained. ' ! The majority of those mortgagors petitioned tha j commissioners last year for a rebate of part of the purchase money on the ground that' they had given coo high-prices for the land. The petitioners stated, and there Is no doubt' a great amount of truth in the statement, that tb<?y were unable to compete with their neighbours who bought adjoining sections on deferred payment arid perpetual lease, and who have since been allowed to surrender their holdings and obtain them at greatly reduced prices. ' After giving the matter most careful consideration, the commissioners camp to the conclusion that in vieW'Of the fact that a numbs? of cash purchasers of reserves in the same 'districts had paid the full amount of purchase money on the day of sale, it would be unwise to make any rebate of purchase 'money to the petitioners; but they decided that iv all cases in which lands have been purchased from the commissioners (through the lard boards) fr-r cash when high prices were ruling, whf re application i 3 made, the present mortgagors be offered a reduction of 2 per cent., bringing the rate of interest down fo 4 per cent, on tha present mortages, eaid reductions to date from the commencement of the term of the present mortgage, and the payments made over that rate to be credited to the-'intere&t account of the mortgagors ; also at the dates of expiry of the present mortgages an extension of the same for a further t6rm of seven years to be allowed, bearing interpst at 4 per cent. A large number nf the purchasers availed themselves of this offer, which is equal to au actual cash reduction of about one-fourth of the purchase money, that is calculating interest at 4 per cent, instead of 6 per cent, for the fcerra of 12 years. I will draw your attention to the fact that in thus relieving settlers, who purchased their land for caab, the School Commissioners have gone beyond any proposal of the Government for the relief of selectors of Crown lands, such proposals of relief being limited to selectors of land under perpetual lease and deferred payment, and not extending to purchasers of such lnnd for cash. It will bo seen from the foregoing cxp'anation that the commission^™ have given the matter serious consideration, and that they have been actuated by a desire to afford as much relief aa possible to thgfr tenants. . - , . ■ . In Borne cases the tenants have doubtless good grounds for complaint, owing to the high prices which they gave for the land, bad seasons, and distance of land f ronr marketa : but in oihors they are able to pay, bub will not do so until they are pressed; and la dealing with the lafltnamed class oi'

| tenants the commissioners consider It their duty to ! tako albreaaonable sfcepi to onforce/paym'efcit. . . I . .> -. \ i -f..j. p ; Mix&tAxntS Chairman. Ihe letter was .approved, and ifc was decided to : incorporate it in the proceedings of, that day's meeting, also to record the thanks of the meeting to tho chairman for his' 'promptitude in answering the mißstatements with regard to the commissioner*' action. . ... A monthly report was received from 1 Mr J. L. M'Donald, the commissioners' agent, on the following matters : — . . - In terms of the authority obtaiued at last meeting, he had advertised section 1, block 111, Toi-Tois, for lease at the upset of 9d per acre.*— Approved ' He had inspected section 7, block VIII, Wyndham. and reported that the section would be advertised for lease at the upsefc of 3s 6d per acre for 14 years.— Approved. • * - He recommended that a lease of section J, block 11,-Toi-Tois, be issued to Mrs Monaghan."— Approved?. Be forwarded an application from the Southland Education Board to have section 13, Mock I, Otautau, set apart ass School site, and recommended-that the same be' granted.— lt wes resolved to accede' to the request of , the board. ' * ' , ' >• i . He forwarded the'following letter from the ehairnjan of tho luirisden, Progress Committee : — : • uTo the'Schodl .Commissioners of Otago. ' "Sire.-rl'liavo bepji instructed by the Lnmsden Progress Comraittee.to draw your attention to the damage done to the board's property, as well as tb the private property of the board's tenants by the encroachment of the river, prlsumably eaiissd I'ytlje eml-ankment of the Mararoa railway. I will endeavour to explain the circumstances of the case as concisely as I can. , " Before the, railway was built the flood waters of . the' river always inclined to the t eat bank above the bridge; consequently the township was very little affected by floods, and when the railway \vas made, the engineer provided for the flood water getting away by leaving several openings in the embankment, but some time ago these openings have beoa filled in, and a c msiderable amount of stone work put in on the upper Bide of the bridge to shunt water over the cist bank, which they have pretty well succeeded in dojpg fco tho great detriment, of the Lumsden township, as a portion' of the east bank \t very, low, and the river, when iv flood, makes a straight courpft down .through ' the township, in f?et a few months ago .i good sized stote *aa lifted off a section, leased from the br>ard, and washed into the middle of ths street, and if the proprietor had not got a rope round it, at the risk of his life, no one could tell where it would have stopped, but th,e river is still intfined to keep on the west bank in spite of the stone barricade. So one of the railway engineers has been up here lately planning -some new device to shunt the whole body of water on to the eastern bank, and if he succeeds it is just a question of months when the river will take a permanent course right through the township. But I believe it could be avoided at very little expense at present by puttiug in a substantial stone groin at the low bank on the eaefc side a little below tho bridge, but if it is notdotio at once, and the engineer suoceedain his designs of forcing nil the water on to the east bank, nothing will save Lumadeu from being washed down the river. "My reason for addressing the board on tho matter is that they, having a considerable monetary interest in the locality, will use their influence with tho railway authorities to provide some means to stay the encroachment of the river on the eastern bank. ' • " I may state, as'l'eonßider thnt the case is urgent, I fcave written to the Southland County Council, also to Mr C. Cowan, M.H.R., our representative, to use their influence in the same direction.— George Allan. Chairman Progress Committee." Mr Bain explained the position, of 'the matter referred to in the letter, Rnd it was decided' to forward a copy thereof fco the Hon. W. H. Heyrjolda.'and to request him to co operate with Mr Oowan_ M.H.H., in any steps he might deem it advisable to take iv connection with the matter. , He forwardpd an application from Mr Joseph Attewell to lease portion of section Bt, block I, Wendon.— Consideration of the matter was deferred until next meeting. He reported on section 25, block XXIV, Otautau, and recommended that the rent be reduced to £1 10s per annum on condition that the arrears of rent be paid up.— The recommendation was agreed to. The following tenders were accepted for leases :— Section 1, Waikaia, sections 8, 9, and 14, block.VJl, E. B. King, 6s per acre ;' sections 11, 12, and 13, block VII, Waikaia, K. E- King, 6s per acre ; section 42, block Vltl, T. STKintfell, Is 7d per acre ';' section 2, block IX, M. M'Xenzie, 6d per acre ; eections'26 and 27, block IX, and section 59, O. and -A: Robertson, 2d per acre; sections Lto'6, block.'!, Smith Mossburn, V. J. Diyer, 14s ; sections, 1 «nd 2, block V, F. J.,Pyer, 38s. . ,: „ " 1 A memo, was read from the Education department stating bh&t the sale of part of section. 61, block I, Waikaia, was approved of, and a proelamatiou'wbuld be issued in due course. • ■ ' .• .■ - ■ Mr James White wrote forwarding a eppy of a petition for presentation to Parliament by cash purchasers of land in Wendon, Wendonslde, ai.4 Long Kidge, who had bougnt their land from the commissioners through 1 the Land Board. The petitioners asked that their lands might be included in.^the Hevaluation Bill now before Parliament. . : Accounts amounting to £liS 4s 4d were passed for payment. ' "