360

that the Hundreds in question were de-cided on "without discussion."

7. I readily admit that reasonable time should at all times be afforded for the con-sideration of the claims of runholders; but I feel sure that His Excellency’s Govern-ment will remember, when asked to be-lieve, in the language of the memorialists, "that any extension of Hundreds at pre-sent is utterly unwarranted by the re-quirements of the Province," that they, the memorialists themselves, are but occu-pants upon sufferance, at a mere nominal rent, and, of course, would naturally regard any disturbance of their possession with but little favour, and that, consequently, their judgment in considering so import-ant a question might be expected to be considerably influenced by their interests.

8. I cannot test the accuracy of the assertion that "many hundreds of thou-sands of acres in the Hundreds remain "unsold," unless it is the intention to in-clude the Northern Hundreds, which were only just proclaimed, and which the memo-rialists know were not surveyed, and could not, as they elsewhere remark, be sold "until surveyed;" but I have no hesitation in asserting that not even one hundred thousand of that which is surveyed is un-sold.

9. The memorialists proceed to details, and state that between Dunedin and the Molyneux or Clutha River, and extending to the boundary of the gold-fields, there are 250,000 acres still unsold. They, however, omit to mention that a large portion of this is unsurveyed, or is swampy and rough hilly land, in some parts of con-siderable height, and affords pasturage to the cattle of the freeholders, in accordance with the system of Hundreds—a system known to the memorialists when they were first licensed—and, moreover, is not, from the scattered nature of much of it, adapted for sheep-farming on the prevailing system; and in the very margin of the Hundreds; and it might have occurred to some of the memorialists to have at least simply ac-knowledged that the Wardens of the Hun-dreds had for years allowed them to depasture their sheep on these portions, even though, thereby, the depasturing of the freeholders’ cattle was injuriously affected.

10. Of the 50,000 acres represented as remaining unsold south of that river—" of which quantity about 33,000 acres of "good agricultural land have been sur-veyed into fifty-acre sections and open "for selection for several years,"—I can only remark that a considerable portion is swampy; but, so far from the conclusion arrived at being just, "that there is not "an immediate demand for more Crown "Land being thrown open for purchase in "that neighbourhood," I may state that, despite the great disadvantage arising from timber being at a distance of from two to ten miles, and the less desirable character of the lands referred to, and the total absence of practicable roads from the absurd nature of the original survey, some-where about two thousand acres have been sold since the date of the memorialists’ letter; and about 5000 in the original sur-vey; and Mr. Kettle, one of the memo-rialists, will doubtless remember whose sheep were depastured unmolested for years on a considerable portion of the Clutha Hundreds.

11. Of the 360,000 acres to the north of Dunedin recently declared into Hun-dreds, of which only 18,000 are represented as having been sold, I can only observe that of the 83,315 acres surveyed, 48,000 acres have been sold at prices considerably above the upset price, and that, had not the gold mining operations been transferred from the north to the south, and the staff of surveyors consequently been removed, there would have been no difficulty in finding purchasers for as much land as could have been thrown into the market.

12. As the remaining observations of the memorialists are merely speculative, I would beg to observe that, according to an approximate calculation of the Crown Lands of Otago, it would appear that 12,980 square miles are occupied as sheep or cattle runs;

1,513 square miles as Hundreds; and 8,597 square miles include what are not occupied, or what are barren: and I would ask His Excellency’s Govern-ment to consider whether it is reasonable to expect that the gentlemen, represented by the memorialists—holding 12,980 square miles, for which they paid last year about £3510 19s. 9d., or rather less than half of a farthing an acre, on a tenure which they knew to be insecure, from the nominal rent demanded—should protest in the language of the memorial against the absorption of more land by the agri-culturist on the system of Hundreds (which was known to be in existence in the Pro-vince when the licenses were applied for, and which combines as an essential part full pasturage for cattle, with the freehold rights). The arguments adduced would come with more propriety from those who paid higher rents for a secure and definite tenure, and were not in possession of such large and valuable tracts of land.

13. The Victorian Government, by a bill just introduced, proposes to lay out ten millions of acres for selection, and, for two future, never less than two millions. Is it not too much to expect that the Otago Government, at a period, too, like the present, should be dwarfed to half a mil-