CORRESPONDENCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7659, 18 June 1896, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

II^TING OJ"- "'SMALL GRAZING |p%V y '-..:-": RUNS. : ;%H V \'.f' (Tothb Eoitok of the Hebald.) |Siß,-?Aigreat attempt is being made to fiieprive:tlie, holders of small grazing runs fof the immunity from local taxation which j'they:- at present enjoy, and many people ■'ask; "Why these runholders should not pay jtitHJSitjhe' same as their neighbors who ■vhfcve laticV on perpetual lease or on other tenures. Perhaps you will allow me to -my' side of the case. These special privileges were granted by Parliament to enable the Government to get rid of land. / Wiiicli they could not otherwise dispose of, and it is only such land that has been cut into grazing runs. As an instance, take - those on Arakihi here. This block hung '.'in. the .market' for seven or eight years ".white We Government tried to dispose of it aa pastoral runs, but) no one would look ;'.j*t.;tnem. . Then they were put up hs grazing runs, and even then, with all their ; " unjust privileges" attached to them, there was little competition for them. ■ At the time when these runs were let it ; jvas known by the lessees that they ' would 'be'practically free from rates, and this was part of the inducement to take .them. Ib inny have been an injudicious ..thing for theGovernwent thus to bribe ihe .lessees at the expenso of the local authori- ■ ties, bub the bargain was clearly made,

and if the ratepayers find the consequences inconvenient now, they should blame the .Government and not us. Ib was by these privileges -we. were induced to acquire the runs, and to withdraw them now would be

a breach of faith. Many people now talk as if we were enjoying " a good thing " at |"Ithe public expense, but those who know Vtodat -.'abouti it — practical sheepfarmers for land— do not think so, for they .'? have fought shy of these runs from the ■I first. They are nob gold mines by any - means. Everyone knows that when they were let they were remote and inaccessible, and many of them rough and of very 'inferior quality. At first we had to pay extremely high rates of carriage, and even i' workmen objected to come to such places, :\-_" beyond the bounds of civilisation " they Xaaid. From their nature and position

'these ruus have been expensive to clear, and by no means extravagantly profitable. •Tp'.come on us now and break the terms on whioh we took them up will make most .':,.of..us ' ' rue the bargain. " ;j-r'Tp. ■recapitulate. — It is true we are -^practically, freefrom rates ; but that was . one of the inducements held out to intending settlers, and was a vital part of our 'bargain with the Government. The land :; had, and has yet, many disadvantages, so that without these , speoial privileges it would never have been taken up, and even _' with them there is little demand for.it. Hardly any of us could now obtain for his property what has been sunk in it, and ' ordinary remuneration for his labor and "capital. . If the Government wish to repair . the -injustice of unequal ratiug, we claim - aa a right that the error, which was none of our making, should not be repaired at our expense. Let them offer us other .privileges equal in value. RTothing else is -]ÜBti. Thoiias Todd.