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into an agreement on the basis of an annual suspension of the license, the only practicable basis—which, however, was not accepted.

Our Land Regulations of 1856 were of such a character as to present considerable attractions to intending immigrants; but the introduction of the “Land Sales and Leases Ordinance of 1856” closed the entire country against settlement, except in the case of declared Hundreds; and now the restriction is drawn tighter by an assumption of vested rights against population. It would have been a suicidal policy to have handed over the country on terms such as are adduced. The mere shreds and patches of land, which have been freely selected over, never had nor can have any attraction to the small freeholder. He asks, as he is entitled to ask, for a free selection over a large area; and I cannot conceive that the licensee, who pays a more nominal rent—less than one farthing an acre—can fairly close the country against him. I can testify, from personal enquiry on the gold fields, that the mining population are possessed of an earnest desire to settle on their own land, close to their work. Many have visited Victoria and returned with their families; and it is my firm belief that if obstacles are interposed to prevent the attainment of their wishes, a serious blow will be struck, not only against the prosperity of this Province, but against the well-being of the Colony as a whole.

The offer of the Government is liberal; has at once been accepted by one run-holder as far as he is concerned, and I have therefore the less hesitation in urging his Excellency’s Government to avoid disappointing a body of men whose exemplary conduct demands, as it deserves, every encouragement, and the possession of those privileges which they enjoyed in the Australian Colonies, whence many of them have brought their families, in the confident hope of a just, if not a liberal treatment. I have, &c.,

(Signed) J. RICHARDSON,
Superintendent.

To the Hon. the Colonial Secretary.

[The Hon. the Colonial Secretary to his Honor the Superintendent.]

Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Auckland, 5th March, 1862.

SIR,—His Excellency’s Government have given the most careful consideration to the request contained in your letter of the 20th February, for the proclamation of a Hundred at Waitahuna,* and to the correspondence which you enclosed in that letter.

The points involved appear to be these: firstly, the rights of the licensees of Runs, Nos. 53 and 54; and secondly, the necessity for making provision for the permanent location of the miners by laying out Townships. It will be convenient to take these separately:—

1. On the first point, I have to observe that chapter XII of the Otago Land Regulations (sections 87 to 96) provides for the pastoral occupation of Crown Lands outside Hundreds. In the first sub-section of section 94, it is enacted that if at any time during the currency of a license, any of the land comprised therein shall be included within the boundaries of a Hundred, the license shall cease and determine over so much of the land as is included within such boundaries, from a day to be fixed in the proclamation. This provision was made upon the clearly recognised principle, that the occupation of land for pastoral purposes must always give way to the progress of settlement, and to the demand of a growing population for the permanent acquisition of land. In ordinary circumstances, therefore, it would clearly be the duty of the General Government, whenever such demand should spring up, to open the country for agricultural purposes, by proclaiming a Hundred in the district required, for the permanent location of bona fide settlers.

It was the policy of the Legislature, however, to make special provision by law in cases where land held under a pastoral license was required, not for the ordinary extension of agricultural settlement, but for gold mining operations. The 10th section of the Gold Fields Act, passed in 1858, provided, that if a gold field should be discovered on land held under a license, the license might be suspended so far as was requisite for effectually working such gold field; whereupon compensation should be made to the licensee, the amount being determined by arbitration. And by the Gold Fields Act, passed in 1860, after making specific provision for the leasing of any land included within a gold field, it was enacted that districts proclaimed to be gold fields should not be subject to the provisions of the Waste Lands Act, 1858, or the land regulations thereby validated.

If the result of proclaiming a Hundred at Waitahuna would be again to place the land under the operation of the land regulations, and thus enable your Honor to offer it for sale, there could be no reason why the General Government should not on the principle above referred to, at once open the land for permanent settlement. But it appears to them that, inasmuch as the law does not allow of the sale of any land which is included within the limits of a proclaimed gold field, but only permits leases for a limited time to be granted, the

• Clerical error for “Gabriel’s.”