WASTE LANDS BOARD.

Southland Times, Issue 1984, 18 September 1874, Page 2

WASTE LANDS BOARD.

THtresDAY, Sbptehbsb 17. Present — The Chief Commissioner and all the members, it being the monthly meeting. VABIOFB APPLICATION. John Jenkins applied for 60 acres in Waimatnku district. — Granted. Thomas Sutton requested liberty to leave out one half of his application in New River Hundred, it being wholly composed of peat bog. Referred to the District Surveyor. tFhe same applicant wished to know whether the Board would refund the sum of £12 10a, being deposit on 200 acres deferred payment land in Oreti District, taken up by him in the belief that he could also obtain other 520 acres contiguous to it. He had since learnt that he could not obtain the land in question, and the small parcel was of no use to him. The Board declined to take any action in tho matter. Mr M'Pherson appeared, requesting the Board to give its decision re Mr G. M. Bell's application for the removal of all restrictions in connection with his sawmill license in Croydon Bush, Hokanui. Resolved— That all restrictions in \ connection with Mr Bell's application of 320 acres in Croydon Bush be removed. Mr R. Spence's application in re the Board accepting payment for surplus acreage in Messrs Speqpe Brothers' application in Taringatura district was held over for one month, at the request of Mr Spence. Mr J. S. Manning asked leave to shift the boundary of a section in Waiau district, in order to enable him to fence a portion of his property. Granted. The following report by the Inspector of Forests was read : — Invercargill, 17th Sept., 1874. Sib, — I have tha honor to report that the quantity of timber cufc by tho sawmills du-ing the month of August amounted to 1,024,767 feet, and the Royalty on the same to £127 6s sd. At this rate the average for a yeir would be 12,000,000 feet, and the Royalty upward* of £1500. The gross value of the above quantity, at 10s per 100 feet, would amount to £60,000, the most of which large sum would be distributed over the community, directly or indirectly, being equal to £6 or £7 for every man, woman, and child in Southland. The 18 mills now in operation employ about 220 men, which, at five to a family, represents a community of upwards of a thousand individuals dependent upon and maintained by this recentlyestablished industry. The operations of the month of August exceed the previous one by 30 and the month of January by 100 per cent. It is impossible to regulate and control the proper utilization of the reserves for splitters and firewood cutters until the back lines of bush sections are cut, as if; cannot be known where the one begins and the other ends. Till this is done, and blocks iaid off under cut lines, sputters and firewood cutters necessarily roam at will over the particular bush named in their licenses, creating and extending the evil referred to in previous reports, viz., preparing the forests for destruction by fire. I would therefore recommend the consideration of this matter with as little delay as possible.— l have, &c, D. M'Aethite, Inspector of Forests. The Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands.