Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 2295, 24 February 1898, Page 11

OCCUPATION LEASES AT TAPANUI.

The Land S jaid at its meeting on the 9th considered the following applications for oeeupu turn leas.es iv t'.eTapa .ui'li-.tiiet :—E. W*. CJowdy, 100 acres, run ]4t/B ; J il Btomley, 40 acres, tuiih 140 a and 14';H ; W. H. Ohuidler, 100 aero-, lun I<lUb; M. M. C. Bui amy, 5'J acre,-, urn MOB; A. M. W. Keir, 100 acres, iuii Uuß ; J*cob Be] lawy, P5 acres mv 140b; It. A. vVtatlierly, 100 a.-res, in a 163; Vv\ I*. W<ti c, 1(0 i.cies, tun 140« , T. Stivens, jun., 60 rtCies, ma 14''A ; Jolin Carroll, 50 acres, mv 140 a ; Mary Revie, l"0 acres, run 163; George Jarrold, 55 acrct, mv 14t'B ; Unarle Emery, GO acres, iuu 140b; ALuy X Quin, 50 acres, ruu HUB; J. S. Uayue, 60 acre;, run 14' 18. Mr William <4nia, of Tapamii, appeared for a number of the applicants. The implications for urn 163 were first dealt with. M: Quin said that there was only ou° applicatioo, Wcatheily'i- having ''een witudrawo. .Alan Kevie was the cUuguter of a veiy old settlei, and ehd herselt had been 40 years in the country, yet. did n"t own a single acre. Her Lusosnd w,upheepfarmiug on ,"540 -.tciec- of freehold adjacrnr. The 100-acre piece for which she applied w,t& of no special use to ihe mv, atid it was lilled with rabbits. Ttie applicant wanted it for aakyinp on her separate account. The Chief Commissioner remarked that the act was not p.ts'-ed to the purpose of enabliDg settlers to ada to their holdings, and it looked »& if this was the object in this mep, applicant's husband having 340 acres. Mr Qain replied Tha" women all ove" the couutiy were coming to the front aud desiring to hld <<n their own account 'Hie Government said they wanted to put sm-.1l settlers on the land, and ;t seemed to him that applications of this sort were the very thing: to meet that want. This woninu h<»d means of her own and autle, and she though* bhe should hay.' a show. She was a b ana fid' applicant, complying with every condition of the act. The CHiKb Commissioner said that what ths board h-id to considei would auply to all th-se applications. They had to s».e, first, whether the warden found any objection on the ground th.it the granting would cause an obstruction of miniug. Practically, of course, there was no mining here — th« people applying were not miners ; still the question htd to be referred to the warden. Secondly, ',he boaid had to consider whether the granting of the applications would prejudicially affect the profitable or convenient occupation of the other down Jandj aftected. Mr Quin a6ked whe her, if th* boaid declined to givnt the preterit app'icatiou, they would re-eive one under <-ccuon 1!5 of the Land Act. The Chikf Commissioner leplied th-it that would not meet t,.ie case, this laud being under licence f)t pastoral pmposv'B. Mr Qain poiiteri oat that one lady, Mrs Kirk, had aheadv bueu g.'-anr.e.l some land in that way. The Chiei' Commissioner : That was on a run she wa« ocji-pymg herself, and we found that it would not nitt-rfere with tht run. Mr Quia : Well, -Ui [ can say ie> that the appli- s cition is a born It!- oh?, ,\ud that the land she asks for is an isolated bit. i\ letier i\a>> rea fjom DeJgety aud Co, as sgeiits for the i upholder, saying tbat the K'O jcres applied for constituted ths- ouly agricultural land « the foo: of the Jiiue Mountain.', and that if the application we.re granted they would probably '••>v« to ask the board to accept .surrender of the run. i ->ir Quin : That is a natural objection. They vll object, and I should piobably do so mjsplf. Hanger Hughan taid, in answer to a question, <hatif the run fell into t.ther baudd it was. not; j likeiy that the homestead would be placed on this piece. The Chief Commissioner said the principle was that if thd low country was taken off the mountain part became valueless. The Brookiddle v«'>ple had low land of their own, held ou fieeh.ilt l, but the next man who took the run might not have such an option. Mr Quin SAid he felt sure that the run would >«aye to be worked, not from this 100 aces but from Molynenx Flat. He could assure the board that practically the runholders did not uce this 100 acres, but were firnply playing the part of the flog in the manger. They put up one of their shepherdi- to dummy the 100 acies, and when they found tha:, woula not do they withdrew. The Cuinr Commissioner : \Ve don't know anvvbii g about that. ' Mr Quin : But I do, aud it should be known. Mr Clark s^id that he did noi like the proposal at all. He supposed the applicant lived with Ler husband, and they had & farm of 340 acres. He did not think it would damage the run veiy much, bus the act never intended that such a request a.-; this should be gtaiited, The Chief Commissioner. s>aid it was not a ca3e that had anj' claims upon the board. 'I be husband beem dto bu in a good pobition. If he had m. land it might be a different mutter. Mr Dallas letnarked that if the low land were taken away the run nvght be worth nothing. Messrs Duncan and Kirkpatrick agiced with these views, and The Chief Commissioner said : The bo^rd aic not willing to giant the application under the circumstances. The applications fur 140b were then taken. 'ihe Chief CoMMiSbiONKit b.ud that, there woro 1000 acres of good land here, and 740 acres were applied for. It seemed to him that what was mentioned as a difficulty in legard to the other run applied iv a stronger degree here. If the whole 740 acres were taken oft—and one man had as good .i right to apply as another —the bulk of tl^ good land would be gone. He might also say that theie was a verj- strong x 3etitiou tigauibu the application?. Mr Quin : From those who have not got their pegf, in. The petition was read. The petitioneis said that they were only aware of one of the applicants who had not aheady a freehold, and they afeked that a thorough investigation be made into each application. The Chief Commissioner said it appeared to him that where there were hosts of applications for paits of a run it looked like trjiug to get an advantage by securing land that was not open for purposes of settlemr-nt in the ordinaly way. I Mr Quin asked whether the board would take the applications seriatim instead of en bloc ; then perhaps they would gi-ant some of them. The Chief Commissioner said he thought the frontage of low land was so small that to grant anything like all that was asked for would be to make the run next 1o useless. Mr Quin : Well, take the first three applications, in respect to the land that has been cultivated illegally by the runholder —cultivated, I understand, without the consent of tho board. I

moan the applications of Jarrold, Mary Qiuu.and linierj\ yii«niion o d aR to these applications, Mr Quin -.iii. that Miss Quin wat- his aaufrhtei. tht> had bee'i dairy Tig fur two ytats and wanted tlusl'iid 0" work it for dairying. Kmery wjb the co.poratiou djym n, and JWiold was a circer und a, piacticdl ugriculturijt A letter was here lea^i from tbe licensee iatim.'titig that if the applications or any part of them were giant-d the remainder or tbe run \v->uld be of no rue tc him, aiid the petition ab.)ve retOi-ied to was bliowu to jJr Q'i>", who it-marked that petitions v<ere meauu.^less documeau, snd Ihur. if he h^d a day'« time ho could reauily S t thiee tiini'S s.b ninny fci^n-ttures to a petition :n favour of the appli'-atiouß Jlr Qain further ltmarked tbat tbe land ia question could not be of an5 r value lo the ruu-lul-iei, at it bad bceu exhaus-ed by perpetuai and nidiicrpet cropping, and was now a mass of sorxel nid an eyes ac Ranger Hucfbau said that ithadbet-n very badly farmed. Mr Ci.aiik thought that if the land wis >% Anted il ought to be opened publicly to everyone. Mr Quin said that the people had a«=ked the '-overnaaebt for this laud, atici xhe Answer was thar, there wa° 'he act for th' in to apply under. Thi > Wi r-' airdctlv prompted to «pyly lor it Tbe Ohjcf (JoMMls^lO^'EK : But that was not leallj' f h'= lnietilio'i uf tbe net. h\r Quiii a-^ked whether tbe boar-l would grant v. portion or tbe land if they would not give the 10 1. The Ohiisf ' '<j"iIMISSIOm:e. : A« M"r Clarksavs.it would be invioiouii to do that — to grant ir. to some and decline others. Mi'Qlihi: WeJJ, will \ou cumioer the granting of fh-i whole The ( 'iiick CqJIHiSSTOVER saii if that woe t)ie bctct would hi>.\e to decline tht application. Mr (!i ajik vho'ight they should not grant any, bur ix iliey d ; d tney Ehould pat all on the sanie fcotiaK. Mr Dallas : That is my op'nion, too. The CiiiKt- Coiimissio.ner did not free that any uf th- sow ground couid bo taken otf ?/ithoat ii.jurj-. jMrQuin sgjd that, if all tbe frontage weie taken l/n- iuu vvoum Ftiil tetch »tletst i.23 The Chjbp \ OMMISSIONER : 'The board appear to be uns4iiimo'i» .igAinvt grnntin{j it at present. Mr Quin: 'Jhe Government are prepa en to give the people the laud, and the board s»y they will not. The Chief Commissioner : We say not at piescnl. Mi Quin : Very well ; thank you. The following iei c thfi res; ilv.tion uf the board as minuied :—": — " The tiuard decliaed to graut the applications ;in the ground that the granting of the same would prejudicially i-tfbC tbe Crown lands ut preoent undei (j<istor<il Lcen<>e aojucent to the areas applied for."