PETITIONS.

7

G,

7. That the Provincial Council at its last Session passed a Resolution that there is a necessity for a new Hundred of about twenty thousand acres on runs seventy-eight and thirty-one. 8. That the plan drawn in the margin hereof, and edged with green, gives a correct delineation of runs numbers seventy-eight and thirty-one, while the portions thereof coloured red show those parts which the Provincial Government desire to take from your petitioner, from which it will appear that it is proposed to deprive him of the whole of run thirty-one, and by far the best part of run seventy-eight thus rendering the whole of the remainder comparatively useless to him. _ 9. That with the exception of about three thousand acres the land proposed to be taken from your petitioner is not suitable for agriculture, much of it being situated at an altitude of about one thousand two hundred feet above the sea level. 10. That your petitioner has (acting on the belief that he would be dealt with in good faith) expended large sums of money in improving the breed of his stock, and has also expended upwards of two thousand five hundred pounds in improvements (which will become useless to him should he be deprived of his land) including fencing, sheep-wash, houses, woolshed, &c. 11. That additional injustice would be caused to your petitioner by the proclamation of the said Hundred, inasmuch as the remainder of run seventy-eight would be quite inadequate to maintain his stock, which consequently he would be compelled to throw upon the market, at a time when any stock of all descriptions are almost unsaleable, and thus entail upon him a heavy loss. _ 12. That from his own knowledge, and on the authority of statements made by many of the agricultural settlers themselves, your petitioner can confidently state that agriculturarfarming is not at present a remunerative occupation; also, that in the event of any of the land within the proposed new Hundred being purchased in small parcels or otherwise, it will not be used for agricultural purposes, but solely with the view of securing grazing rights to the purchasers ; in short,°the result would be merely a change of pastoral, tenants, id est, from your petitioner, who has in good faith acquired by lease from the Crown a vested right in the land, and for which he pays a high rent, to a, few small squatters, who have no such right, and from whom no rent would be obtained. 13. That your petitioner is informed and verily believes that on a previous occasion the Provincial Government of Otago were induced to recommend your Excellency to proclaim a new Hundred in this Province on the faith of a promise by a large number of settlers that they would, on such proclamation being made, purchase at twenty shillings per acre the greater portion of the land thrown open for sale; but that, notwithstanding such promise, on the said land being opened for sale, not one of the said' persons applied for or purchased a single acre, and that to the present time only a few hundreds of acres of the said land have been purchased, and those by one of the pastoral tenants of the run so thrown open for sale. Tour petitioner therefore prays that your Excellency will be pleased to prevent an act of injustice and wrong being done to him, by refusing to proclaim the said runs into a hundred, unless under such conditions as will afford to your petitioner a fair and full compensation for the losses he would sustain by being deprived of his property. And your petitioner will ever pray, &c. Haerie C. Robison.

No. 6. PETITION OF E. W. EGGERS AND OTHERS. To His Excellency Sir George Bowen, G.C.M.G., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's Colony of New Zealand, The Petition of Miners of the Macrae's Plat Gold Fields, Sheweth, — Whereas we view with distrust and alarm a Resolution of the Provincial Council of Otago, passed fourth June, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, withdrawing a largo tract of land (no less than sixty thousand acres) from the Gold Fields : We humbly petition and pray your Excellency to exercise your sovereign prerogative and authority of veto upon such resolution taking effect without complete and full evidence being taken on the part of the mining interest of Otago that such land is not required for gold-mining purposes. And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c. [Here follow 34 signatures.]

No. 7. PETITION OF JOHN McKELLAR, OF TAPANUI, OTAGO. To His Excellency Sir George Ferguson Bowen, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same, The Humble Petition of John McKellar, of Tapanui, in the Province of Otago, New Zealand, Sheepfarmer and Grazier. Sheweth, — That your petitioner and his brother are, as copartners, joint lessees and occupiers of the Tapanui Station, in the Province of Otago. That your petitioner and his copartner purchased the said Tapanui Station from the then licensee thereof, about the period when the occupiers of country under pastoral leases were required, if they so desired, to apply for a lease under the provisions of " The Otago Waste Lands Act, 1866," and as a