NEVIS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 39

NEVIS.

July 25.—The leaden heels of winter are slowly, but surely, bearing us along, and the sun', who- shows us his first bright beams at about 8 a.m. and hides again over the nerfir-western peaks of the- Hector Mbuntains at 4.25 p.m.. is- gradually mounting higher- and still higher in the northern 9kies, but not nearly so fast as our impatience would have him. Still, w& gladly mark his progress, and hope that our inforced idleness is no bar to old Sol's steady advance towards a longer and warmer d*y. On the whole, we have no great cause to complain of tne winter, now soon to be like » "tale that is told." There have been a couple of nice fails of snow, and the Remarkables are pretty well capped with the snow, which has been , well frozen, and the basins on the high tops are well drifted in. Feed and Stock.—The feed for the stock, though pretty dry and sapless, is plentiful both on flat and height; and the stock are, on the whole, in good condition, especially the younger portion. Mr W. H'Caughn, who put abcut 5080 sheep on the Old Glen Nevis run at Upper Nevis, has been very fortunate in having so good a season for a stark. The sheep;, I hear, are in excellent condition, and his losses should not be great. The grass in Upper Nevis presents an apoearanca quite like the old time before the invasion of the rabbit. You may ride mile a and miles and not start a. white tail in half a day, where they used to be in thousands. Closer Settlement.—l am pleased to note the interest that is being- taken throughout the whole of Central Otago in the matter of seeking to have the large runs—notably the Mbrvea Hills, Mount Pisa-, and tbe Kiaworu subdivided and cut up as soon, as the present leases expire. I have no hesitation in affirming, that, if properly cut up in blbcks of from 5060 to 10,000 acrea by a judicious assortment of a proportion of high and law ground* together, scarcely -an acre of these runs but- will be competed for at a. vastly higher annual rental than is now obtained. I trust, before the time comes, the present anomalies in regard to allotment of blocks will be removed by our legislators, so as to afford to local people a, reasonable chance of obtaining a slice of the good things going. We here are watching the trend of affairs re the- Land Bill now being discussed by our wise men in Parliament assembled, and the- usual divergence of opinion is rife re leasehold versus freehold. I am able a state thai by far the larger portion of our people are decidedly with our gallant Minister of Lands, and we hope to see him come out of the fight with, the laurels of victory for State ownership. Surely we h«ve now plenty of sad object lessons of the evil of land monopoly all over the world. What can any reasonable man desire more than a. life-long lease, with valuation at the end for improvements, and the option of renewals? What essential difference is there between the pastoral lands and the agricultural? No one cries out for the freehold of the former. As for the "unearned increment" squabble, as the interests of the State is- more important than the individual, so the State's right should be predominant. The veriest tyro can see that those who are now so loud in clammering to obtain the freehold of that which .they obtained of the Government as a lease have done so well out of it as now to be in a position to buy.