OTAGO SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2087, 22 February 1894, Page 21

OTAGO SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS.

The monthly meeting of the School Commissioners was held on Tuesday, and attended by Mesc-rs J. P. Maitland (chairman), J. Walker Bain, W. Dallas J. Green, M.H.R., and A. Baldey. REPORT OF COMMITTEE. The committee deputed by the commission to visit the Wendon, Wendonside, and Walkaia districts and to inspect runs, the leases of which shortly fall in, gave ia the following report :— " Your committee has now the honour to report as follows, after a personal inspection, on tho various matters submitted for its consideration : — "1. Your committee is divided in opinion as to the sub li vision of sections 1, 2, and 3 of 41, Wairaki, and must leave the matter to ho settled at the meeting of the full bo.ml. "2. Your committee c.mnot recommend that Mr B.isstiau'« ren'iost for an extension of his li'aie till March JS'3 should bj granted, but would utifgdit that an a.rraug<'ment he made for Air K.i&ituu to ocuipy sections 1 and 2 until the 31st iJji-eniljyr ue.vfc, the siuiu concession to bo olleio I to Mr Spcntier, tho icjcupiur of section It ot -14, on condition that both paities iigien to a surveyor g-iing ou the latul during tlmir occupancy, iiirluiling the unuxpirud term of their leases, fur tlni purpose of subdividing it as directed by the commissioners ; rent to be charged for thy extended time <it tlio t-.uiw r.ito as uudcr t!ie leases

"%. In leginl to run 32ti, your committee has to report that a very general v,Kh was expressed by the settlets in the neighbouthood th it. tho run should not bo subdivided until the cominiaMonors hive obtaiucd th* legjl authority to limit tho area held by one individual. In the meantime your committee would suggest that Mr Gillanders be offered the right of occupation for one year, expiring on the 28th February 18D3, at the same rent as is being paid at present ; the right being re : erved to allow a surveyor to go on to the run for the purpose of its being subdivided. "4. Your committee is of opinion thit there had been no rectnt cropping on run 326, but regrets that some of the land on run 1!)4 which had been cropped had been neglected, and is now overgrown with weeds. "5. As to Mr A. H. Aitken's application to lease 400 or 500 acres on run 32' i, your committee would recommend that Mr Aitken be informed that tha commissioners cannot comply with his request.

"(5. As there seems to have been a misunderstanding as to the bidding at the sale for section 1, block IV, Wendonside, your committee recommpnds that the lease to Mr Wilson H:£ll be cancelled, aud the sections reoffered at the first sale. " 7. The question as to the length of leases was discussed with the settlera at different places by your committee. There seemed to be a general opinion that long leases, say for 21 year 3, were preferable to leases for 14 years. "8 Your committee would recommend that the mining reserve at the Ptob Koy diggings be let on a grazing lease from year to year, all rights of mining to be reserved. "9. The tenant of section 1, block V, Wendonside, brought under the notice of your committeo the encoaebments of tho river on his land. Your committee would suggest that the engineer to the Southland county be asked to report as to the best means of confining the river in its chaonel at this particular place." The Chairman expressed a wish that, as ho had not had the opportunity of inspecting the laud, the other members would give their viewp.

Mr Gkeln said he was of opinion that the commissidners should first determine whether the country now held under lease by Messrs Basstian and Spencer in tha Wairaki district was solely pastoral, and shouli be occupied solely as such There being a difference of opinion among the members of the committee on that subject, he might as well at once say that he considered there was enough agricultural land to admit of JO furms, and enough winter country left for the successful occupation of the higher country as one run, if there was a demand, for farms under the existing state of tho railway nominunieation. Although some of his colleagues would persist in c-nsiderintr there was railway commuDicatioti to and from Moasburu, he must remind the commispioners that trains only ran on that line two days a week — on Mondays and Rxturdays. If thit Hn > was used daily, or extended, to Hamilton Burn, as was at one time proposed, then he would most certainly say that agricultural farms should at once be surveyed and opened fur application, but without better accps3 to market th*n at present existed, he was of opinion that the three runs should be subdividedinto four runs and relet for five or seven years, in hopes that by that time there would, be improved means of communication by rail, and that the low-lying land would at the end of the proposed new term be used for its legitimate purpose of agriculture, and that only the high land would he let for pastoral pursuits, and that in one run.

Mr Baloey fcaid that with regard to runs 1 and 2, at present occupied by Mr Basstian, and comprising 14.501 acre.", he considered that the country was well adapted — a portion for agricultural purpose and a portion also forsina'l crazing i uns ; and he thought from observation Ih.lt a cci t tin amount of flat country, which would be suitable for agriculture, could be taken in with tho hilly country. He was of opinion that tho whole country, including Mr Spencer's run, should be cut up into eight subdivisions, and that would give to each a fair proportion of hilly country, some of which was very poor With respect to Mr Spencer's run of 10.780 acres, he thought that thrs country was considerably better even than the country held by Mr Basstian, which it adjoined, for there was some excellent land on the flat, and most of tha ridgev, though they were not very good so far as natural pasture was concerned, were very passable Hn noticed on Mr Spencer's run that a portion of the lower flat next, the river was exceedingly good land — he imagined rich land. If they managed to cut up the country to that eich run would have a portion of the flat and a portion of the hilly country his idea was that it wouM bsa success. Supposing the countiy was cut up info eight runs, that would give an average of 309) acres fur each. So far as the means of communication went, there was very little country in Southland now to be tak^n up whern there was so much convenience; for if they took the country as a whole, from Mossbiu-n to Night caps, there were two railways— the i-xtremo end of Mr Basstkti's run was U miles fivm Moss'nirn, and Mr Spencer's run was 12 miles from Nightcap*', and supposing that the settlers pavo> their attention to growing giain they would be within a day's, drive from the railway. There w.i-. no d.->ubt that the fencing cost a rood Heal of money, but then; were plenty of people who were willing to cope with that, and who would be oaly too glad to have countiy like th-it thrown open. If the commissioners cut this lmid up into oOOfl o>- 0000-acre blocks it redly meant tbat the runholders would take it up again, for these areas would not suit small holders, and if they cut tho land up in that way he would suggest that it should be put up in

alternate block?, and that theyshou'd nit put the whole lot up at one sale. He thought it was now timo "that country )ike that should be thrown open to the public.

The Chairman thought that what the commissioners h.id to aim at was to put the country up in biieh sized areas as would allow as many pursous as possible to occupy it protitably. If they could only find what areas would allow of profitable occupation, what they should aim at was to put as many people as possible on it. Mr Dallas quite agreed with Mr Baldey as to the advisability of subdivding the country into eight runs, which would give an average of 3160 acres to each ; but in order that the commissioners might come to a decision unanimously he had moved in committee that it should bo cut up into seven runs. The country would carry about one shesp to two rtcres. and that meant 1600 sheep to ' a holding if they decided to cut the laad up into eight runs ; but he considered that some of the j country should be put in at a less area than tbe rest, aud that would give perhaps 5000 acres to some of the runs ; for when they spoke of subdividing the land into eight runs they did not mran tbat it should be cut up into equal areas', as the character of the country would have to be taken into consideration— the areas of the runs might vary from 2500 to over 5000 acres. As to the means of communication, he might point out that a good many runs had been taken up in the Tukatimos, which were perhaps three times as far from the railways as the Wairaki country was, and he did not know that there was any country more suitable for cutting up into small holdings thin this was. Mr Bain was very glad that Mr Dallas had admitted that the cjuniry took two acres to carry, a sheep, for that waa a point which the public should know. Mr Dallas would like to add that if the country were cut up into eight runs there would be enough flat land left in each to enable ample provision to be made for winter feed. Mr Bain said that Mr Spencer's property had be>_-n alluded to very pointedly, but, with all the good land ou the run to provide for winter feed, Mr Speuce was only able to carry a littte over sooo sheep on the 10.000 acre 3. He (Mr Bain) held a very strong opinion that the cJommissioners should provide for nil classes of settlers, and that it should ndt be their purpose or object to reduce everything to the very lowest level in order to accommodate men with neither means nor experience. Thi-y should give an opportunity to men wuh e\p<Ticuco and capital to take up land, and Iv: would therefore support a propos.il to divide the country into six, in which event tho largest holding would, he thought, not exceed 6000 acres, when the configuration of the country and the nalunil boundaries were taken into consideration, and even that would only allow 3000 sheep to the holJor. The leuat a man could do with, if he was to ni.ikc a living at all, was 3000 sheep. It would not rt«> tho commissioner auy go >d to put people on the land to drag out a miserable existence, without capital or experience, and without tho means of making a living., 'Ihc hilly country was no good uuless an opportunity of obtaining winter feed was given to the holder, and on lhat ground ho thought the maximum into which the country should be divided was six runs. That arrangement would give sufficient variety to enable those who took up the country to occupy it successfully, and that would give successful settlement, which was what he wanted to see. It was not to the ntercst of the commissioners to induce people to go on to the country in the hope of making a ving, undertaking to pay certain rentals which hey could not get out of the land. After giving careful consideration to the matter and getting 1 as much information as he could from those who know the country, and who knew what it was to carry on sheepfarming there, he had cd*me to the conclusion that it would not be wise on their part to subdivide tho runs into any smaller number than six holdings, the area varying according to the natural configuration of the country. lie felt very strongly on the subject, and he did not see his way to accede to Mr JJallas's proposal that the country should be divided into seven runs, for he thought the subdivisions would ba too small for successful settlement ; whereas if the country was cut up into six runs they would have an opportunity of getting the land divided in such a way that those who took it up would be able to do good for themselves, and that they would not take it up in the expectation of coming to the commissioners by-and-bye for a reduction of their rent. The policy of tho commissioners had been to fix such a rent as people could afford to pay After taking every care to make all the inquiries he could, he had come to the conclusion that the maximum subdivision should be six runs. He would strongly urgo the employment of a thoroughly competent man to go carefully over tho country, and advise tho commissioners as to how it should be divided for profitable occupation. He would move that Mr James Blackie bo asked to make a survey of the country. The CiuuuuN suggested that the surveyor should be asked to give an alternative scheme of survey, for six or for eight runs. Mr Dallas thought it would be advisable to give the surveyor to understand th»t the runs need not be of the same size, but that the areas might vary according to the character of the country and the natural boundaries. It was resolved on the motion of Mr Bain, seconded by Mr Dallas—" That Mr James Blackie, surveyor, ht employed to inspect tuds 1, 2, and 3 of 44, Wairaki, and submit to tho commissioners alternative schemes of subdivisijn of the country into from six to eight runs, ranging from 2500 acres upwards, taking into consideration the natural boundaries, the carrying capacity of the country, and as far as possible the utilisation of. existing fence*, with any suggestions and remarks he may think fit to report." The remaining paragraphs of the report elicited no discussion, excepting that on the third clause Mr Dallas suggested, and it was agreed, that it should be n condition of the extension granted to Mr Gillanders that no cropping should take place during the extended term, and the various recommendations made by the committca were approved. SOUTHLAND AGENT'S REPORT. The Southland agent, Mr J L. M'Donald, forwarded hi 3 monthly report. He stated that the lease of section 9, block X, Wyndham, expired on the 23rd June next, and that Mr A. Robinton, the tenant, was willing to terminate it o;i tho 30th April if tho commissioners allowed bim three monthb' rent — It was agieed to comply with the condition. It was reported nlso that Mr N. M'Leorl, les&ce of section 11, lili ck LIII, Inverciivtill, agreed to | tei uiinalc his lei-o on the 30th April. Thu iig.jiit ou^gested that the commissioners cut a largo uitch through section 6, block IX, Wai- j k*ia (about 70 chains at, say, 12s per chain), and : it was resolved to inform the adjoining land- ] holders that it was intended to cut the ditch for the purpose of draining the section, and to ask them if they had any objection The agent forwarded a list of sections which, he suggested, could be offered for lease at an early date. He recommended, also, that the sale Bhould. be held at ltiversdale about the end of M irch next, possession being given on the Ist M^y; and that the areas subject to the Mining Act be let conditionally on tho consent of the Governor being obtained. — It was agreed that the sections should be offered at Eiversdale at the end of March as suggested for 21 years' leases, and that the agent should submit the up^et prices to Messrs Bain and Balde> for approval. The agont rec-Hnmended that Mr John M'Kinnell, jud., lessee of the reserve opposite eections 9 ami IU, block X, Waikaia, be allowed to surrender, and that the land be reoffer«d at the first tale — The recommendation was adopted, the surrender to be as from the 30th April, and that the up^et price be submitted for approval by Messrs Bain and Baldey. It was suggested that ths sections in the township of Mai akura be offered for lease at the fi ret sale in Invercargill at reduced upsets, and that the sections occupied by Messrs Duncan, Crosbu-, and Dore be offered at tho same time. —Tho suggestion was approved of so far as the sections occupied by Messrs Duncan, (Jrobbie, and Don; are concerned, and ie was agreed that tbese should be offered to the occupants at a yearly rent of £1, aud that, whon oflertd for permanent lease, they should be burdened with valuation. It was decided to offer no other sections in the meantime, Mr Dallas and other commissioners expiessing the opinion that it was not advisable to force land in the township on the market.

The agent reported that he had offered the grazing right of section 3, block 111, Wyndham

.district, to several of the settlers in the neighbourhood, but that ho had not yet received an offer for it. — It was decided to offer the right, at an upset to bo determined by Messrs Bain and Baldey, for a term of li years at -the first sale An application was 'forwarded from- Mr S. M'Dowoll, lessee of section 7, block IX, Waikaia district, for a reduction of his rent, and the agent recommended the acceptance of the surrender on certain conditions. — It was decided to inform Mr M'DoNyell that tho commissioners could not entertain his application until he had paid up all arrears of rent. A recommendation that sections 5 and 6, block 111, Wendonßide, should be grouped was approved, and it was resolved that section 19 in the same block should be grouped with section 16. A list was forwarded of tenants whose rent wag more than half a year in arrear, and the agent was instructed to take legal proceedings in these cases. CONDITIONS OF PASTORAL LEASES. Mr Baldey desired to move—" That in view of having the conditions contained in all leases of pastoral land carried out, the Southland agent, Mr M'Donald, be asked to make an annual report to tho commissioners, say in the month of March in each J'ear, dealing with any infringements of such Conditions, and that a special condition bo inserted in all new leases, strictly pastoral, disallowing cropping." The question of cropping had, be said, caused some little unpleasantness of late. The CiiAißMAtf remarked that any right of cropping was now f pecially excluded in leases. Mr B \in thought that notice should be given of the motion. Mr Baldey said he was only asking for a statement, and he thought the motion should be taken at that meeting, so that they might have Mr M'Donald's report next month. Mr Bain said [it was a debatable question, and he thought, therefore, that notice should be given of the motion. Mr Baldey had not intimated to anyone that he intended to move in the.matter. Mr Baldey : You would have been the first, Mr Bain, to blame me if I had given intimation to anyone. Mr Bain : I would be the last. Mr Green pointed out that their lessees must grow winter feed, and they could not he stopped from growing grain to poison tho rabbits. Mr Bat.pky then gave notice of the motion for tho next meetiug, altering the word " March " in it to "April." MISCELLANEOUS. An application from the Inchclutha River Board for permission to cut a drain through sections fl, 10, 11, and 12, block 1 1, 1 Inchclutha, was granted, tho tenant (Mr Rutherford) concurring in tho request. Mr Henry Clurk reported valuing the improvements on section 15, block VIII, i'»irfax, at ,£2 15s, and Mrs Burke wrote asking the commissioners to put a charge of £3 in her favour.— lt was decided ta ro-offor the section, with valuation of £2 15s for improvements, in favour of Mrs Burke. Tho Secretary of tho .Southland Education Board forwarded an application to have section 10, block XIII, Town of Invcrcargill, vested iv tho board as a site for public school purposes. — The application was granted. A letter from the Southland County Council asking if tho conrrnicsioners were prepared to pay half tr c cost of acquiring a road along the south boundaries of sections 11, 12, 13, and 14 of dOJA, Hokonui, to givo access to section 14 of 404 a, was referred to the Southland agent for a report. It was agreed to offer Mr T. Brodrick a tenancy from year to year of tho section occupied by him at Marakura at a rental of £.2 ; valuation for improvements to be added by arbitration when it should bo decided to offer tho section for a term of years. Mr James Oliver's application for a yearly tenancy of section 6, block XX, Lawrence, at a rental of ss, wbb granted. On tho recommendation of Mr Dallas, it was decided to ask the Clutha County Council to close the block road at the end of section 9, block XVII, Clutha, tho commissioners paying any expenses incurred by the council. The commissioners gave their consent to certain sub-leases being executed. Accounts amounting to £73 6s Id were pasaed for payment.