Invercargill Chamber of Commerce.

Southland Times, Issue 8090, 19 August 1885, Page 2

Invercargill Chamber of Commerce.

Tuesday, 18th Aug. The special general meeting of the Chamber was attended by 3. W« Bain (Chairman), Bcrutton, Carswell, Turnbull, J. L. McDonald, E. Tanner, Handyside, Aitkin, J. T, Martio, Wftde, and W. V, H. Hall. ' The Chairman said the meeting had been called to consider the Government's proposal to make the revenue from the extended land district of Southland pay* able at Danedin instead of Invercargill, This matter had been brought before him by Mr Wade, President of the Law So* ciety, and es it was one of public import* ance a meeting of the Chamber had been called to consider it. He had discovered that under the Land Act any person on payment of 2s 6d could obtain copies of any correspondence which.' had paßßed between the Department and its offi* cere, and therefore he had authorised the Secretary to oopy all the correej pondence relative to the matter. He wished it to be distinctly understood that the copies had not bsen procured mdi» reotly, but ie the manner specified and provided for by the Land Act, 1877. (He then read the copies of the letters referred to, showing that the alteration was the proposal of the Chief Commissioner ol Dunedin). A letter had been forwarded to the Minister by Mr Spence, Chief Com. misaioner for Southland, strongly disap* proving of the alteration. For the infor« mation of the Chamber he had obtained all available information on the point at isaaß, One of th« articles of the basis oi settlement for the reunion of the province of Southland with Ougo, was that tha Crown lands east of the Mafaura, within certain limits, should be administered from Invercargill, and this had been the origin of the Invercargill land district. At the same time the Land Transfer Act w«s brought into operation, and after a long struggle a separate Registration District was constituted here, including the Invercargill Land district as well as that of Southland, and as a Land Transfer District without a Receiver of Land Bavenue resident therein would be almost a nullity, the Receiver at Invercargill was appointed to act for the local district as well as Southland. The offices of receiver and registrar are inseparable. A receipt for the purchase money of land under the hand ot the Receiver represents the buyer's title till the (ague of the certificate of title, and its duplicate forwarded at the same time to the iiansfer office forms the Provisional Register on which transactions affecting the land are registered, so that at the present land can be bought and dealt with at the same time and without delay. But a purchaser of land in the extended district (the Receiver having ceased to act in that capacity) could not do so, for the Registrar would refuse to accept the receipt of the local offices as a valid title, neither would he permit the duplicate to be entered on the Provisional j Register. The money therefore would be ! sent to Dunedin for payment to tho Receiver there, who would then, after much loss of time and additional expeaso, forward |his duplicate to the Registrar at Inveroargill, No saving would be effected in any way. The work of the office would be carried On, under the proposed change, as before, the Receiver of Land Revenue being an unsilaried appointment. The claim pat forward by Mr Reads (Receiver of Land Revenue, at Dunedin) that the Invercargill Land District should account to bis office, as all other local districts in Otago did, was untenable, because they formed portions of the/Ofcago Registration District ;as the IttvenrcarjgUl Land District Jdoe* 6£ the SQuthland^Tßegistratibn Disjftctf aiad the cases were not parallel. After 15 y;|ara of fporkiDgifc was surely too late to: discover now that the present arrangement caused any.inconvenierxce tohisdepartment^a plea tvbich had nover been raised until be became r ßeceiver, Borne -two or 'thretfj years yMr Wade said the matter was of some importance to the profession to wbjc.h h$ bejongedi but of sqw Impoftajsee |9 tfef

public. The trouble was that when any one was completing hi» title to land he «roiild?rcqQire to send his money to, and receive a receipt from, Dunediu before he conW register in InvercafgilL This procewlinvblyed delay, inconvenience, and ri|t^wihile if he : could transact all the ; biwtfeßi in 'vlnvercargill it wonld be attended with tapediency and perfect "safety^ Iteippearjtdto him that ihe' w.hbJe queltiln ~ : 'Mw one oi departmental yeoieiice •«/ against public convenience. The officers seemed to be under the impresaioii ifiatX tue pablic lived^for the pufposo of keeping up the DeparliiiontJ and notfthat the Department existed for the benefit and convenience of the public. ;Mr B; Tanner could not. help regarding the proposal as an underhand attempt to alter; the arrangemßnt come to at the time of the union of the^ provinces. If they gave wny to this altpration it would simply mean that befbre long that the whole of the baßineßß'b£ the extended iliatrict woald be transacted in Dunediii; and Southland would be driven back to the Mataura. /■. It was an attempt to %htabattle over again which had ;long ago i been decidedl A •■rbngCi representation should be ••; made to the .Government that the people of Southland would not stand the alteration, aod it WMonly common sen66- to think that the two districts i should, as pointed out by the chairman, be co-terminus. Mr J.T. c Martin move'!:— "That in tho opinion of this Pharaber the action of the GoVernment in removing the Receivership of that position of the Southland distict lyiog to the east of the Mataura fiver from'Tlnyercargill to Dunedin, is highlyinjurious to Sonthland, and. a direct infringement of the conditions of tho union between Otago and Southland made in 1879, and further, that the Land Registration district and that of the Receiver of Land Revenue should be co terminus as heretofore."" Mr J. TurobulL seconded the motion. The proposal to" make the alteration teemed to him to be an endeavour on tbg part of the Dunedin people to get in the thin end of the wedge, and he waß convinced, that the Hon. Mr Stout would readily! listen to the Suggestion. If the Dunedin people carried tbis they would loon afterwards carry something else and get nearer to Invercargill, till they eventually were in possession of Dee street. A strong protest ''should be made against the alteration, as it simply meant that all the basiness would be conducted in Dunedin instead 6t in Invercargill. The change would necessitate the employment of a solicitor or agent in Dunedin whenever business had to be transacted. Mr Carswell said that as an old settler in the district affected he knew something of the difficulties which had to be overcome in the old days when the system existed which it was now sought to revive. If tfie settlers were aware of the proposed Alteration they wonld, no doabt, make a strong protect against it. The motion was put and carried unanimously. '. ..- It was resolved that a copy of the resolution should be telegraphed to the Hon. Dr Menzies and Mr Hatch, M.H.R., with a request that the other Southland members be requested to co-operate in oppoeing the objectionable alteration. The Secretary was also authorised to forward a copy to the Minister for Public Works. The Chamber then adjourned.