a—No. i,
!)>'. Douglas. Continued.
agricultural produce is already greater than the demand. A large export of grain was made from this district last year. If anybody in this town wished to run cattle, the whole of the country around the town is available for that purpose. 1 know the land under the Remarkable Mountains (Hector Mountains), and I don't think there is at present any necessity for opening it up. I have had good opportunity of knowing this land ; and, with the exception of swampy land, which would bo expensive to drain, there is not any really good land under the hills. 1 consider the hilly land towards the Lake much better land. At present Messrs. Boyes are fencing it off into paddocks for sheep-washing purposes. I think the number of miners who want land to settle on, is very small indeed in this district. A great number have cattle, and many 30, 40, and even 80 head of great cattle ; some own sheep as well. I have ;ni opportunity of knowing this from my being one of the Board of Wardens. I think the Board would be revy useful if Government would carry out their views. The Board have very difficult work to perform; but they have not received the prompt assistance from Government which they were entitled to expect. For instance, when the people were complaining loudly of the sheep running all over the country, on the ground which should have been kept for cattle, there was a delay in approving of their recommendations, which the Wai-dens thought unjustifiable. I mean that the Government were not sufficiently speedy in approving of the division between sheep and cattle. I know nothing about the covenants in the Pastoral Leases ; but with respect to the blocks to be taken out of Runs under the Goldfiekfe Act, it would operate as a discouragement to settlement thereupon, if the runholder does retain the right of depasturing stock over the unsold portion of the block. The system of leasing has this disadvantage for the ultimate purchasers, that whereas the purchasers of land on the seaboard (which i.s more valuable) pay only .£1 per acre, those situated far inland pay £1 7s (id per acre for their land. The only abuse I know of in this district relating to the administration of the Land Laws is. that some persons hold land under Agricultural Lease which they neglect to improve, as the Regulations require.
Thursday, March 4, 1869. No. 61. Mr, Eichmond Beetham being duly sworn, examined: —■ I am Warden and Resident Magistrate, of Queenstown. I consider there are about 30,000 acres of agricultural land open for settlement in Ihe Wakatipu Goldfield District. Mr. Spence, the Surveyor, will give the exact acreage. I should think there is sufficient open to satisfy the d( inand for some years to come. There is very little available agricultural land in the immediate neighbourhood oi mining ground in this district. Where there is it is mostly already taken up. There are very few applicants who are unable to get land in the locality they wish to take it in, because as a rule, miners will not apply fir any land which it is at all probable may turn out auriferous. Very few miners in this district have iipplied for agricultural leases, which, in the mining portions of the district, are applied for by those engaged in business, such as store-keepers, dairymen, and stock-owners.. There are very few instances in which persons combine mining and agricultural pursuits. Mining and stock-owning are commonly carried on together; almost every miner owns a horse or two. There is sufficient land open for pasturage for treble the present population of the district. There are no complaints of the pastoral land not being near enough to the mining localities to enable the miners to keep their stock. In fact these localities are surrounded by pastoral land. The mining in this district is much more scattered than in any other district of Otago. A population of 200 miners in one instance being distributed over a length of 5)0 miles along the Shotover River, surrounded by pastoral country. The land has been taken in this district by the Provincial Government under the Coldfields Act, and only two pieces have been acquired under the Waste Lands Act. These two pieces are on Mr. Trotter's Run, No, 325—one of 50 acres and one of 25 acres. These are the only two instances in which it has been necessary to trench on any runholders land. These two pieces are situated at Kingston, and it is land immediately adjoining those two that it is the Boyea's desire to obtain. I think the 1000 acres, which the Provincial Government have a right to take on that Run, might be selected in two blocks within a very small distance of Kingston, which would answer all requirements for some years to come. I do not think the taking of these blocks would materially damage the runholders property. There is a township laid out at Kingston, and that place being the terminus of the Southland traffic via, The Lake, I think there ought to be agricultural land thrown open for settlement there. I think Messrs. Boyes would make very useful settlers. They are very hard working, steady, and industrious Devonshire fanners, and would be an acquisition to any district. I know of several parties of miners 'in the Upper Shotover who have large herds of cattle. I mean 60 and 70 head each. They do cultivate gardens or small plots, but being oil the outskirts of the district do not think it worth while to apply for agricultural lenses.
No. 61. Mr. Beetham. 4th March, 1809.
No. 62. Mr. James William Robertson being duly sworn, examined r— lam Mayor of this Corporate town. This i.s the third year of my Mayoralty. Our firm are proprietors of the only saw mills in the district, a flour mill at Fraukton, and of the steamer "Antrim" running on The Lake. 1 have great opportunities of judging of the wants of the people of the district respecting laud. We urn engaged largely in agriculture, having 300 acres ploughed this season. Our firm holds altogether 752 acres of land. All the land is under Agricultural Lease. There are six of us in the tii-in. We have had to pay £2 an acre for some of this land to other lessees in order to make our blocks complete, which land is to be transferred to us in accordance with the Regulations. All the land
No. 62. Mr. Robertß&n. 4th March, 1869.
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ADMINISTRATION OF CROWN