e.—B

2

Extract from Resolution referred to. —The Land Board having been requested to fix new terms and rentals for the following runs, the leases of which expire in March, 1890, the following terms and rentals were adopted : — Run. Acreage. Term of Years. Upset Rental. 28 20,000 21 £200 28a 11,880 21 £125

Petition. Kurow, 19th January, 1889. The petition of the undersigned settlers in the County of Waitaki humbly showeth, — 1. That the leases of Buns 28 and 28a, Otekaike, expire on or about 28th February, 1889. 2. That, with a view to a more effectual settlement of the people on the lands, your petitioners respectfully pray that Buns 28 and 28a be cut up into small grazing-runs. 3. That the same be sold by public auction under the perpetual-lease system. 4. That, should such a course be pursued, your petitioners have no hesitation in saying that all the aforesaid laud will be taken up at a fair and reasonable rental. And your petitioners will, as in duty bound, ever pray. B. P. Sharp. Michael McHenry. C. Shine. John Meagher. L. Daster. John Palmer. John Grant. W. J. Cain. James Gibbins. Andrew Gray. Thomas Milne. John Smith. William Bobinson. W. McAughten. A. Griffin. W. Fraser. John Godsell. The Hon. G. F. Bichardson, Minister of Lands, Wellington.

The Under- Secretary for Crown Lands to Messrs. B. P. Sharp and C. Shine, Kurow. ■Gentlemen, — General Crown Lands Office, Wellington, 11th February, 1889. I have the honour, by direction of the Hon. the Minister of Lands, to acknowledge the receipt of a petition dated the 19th January, but which only reached this office on the 16th instant, signed by yourself and fifteen other settlers in the County of Waitaki, praying that Buns 28 and 28a, to be offered on the 28th instant for pastoral leases, may be disposed of on the small grazingrun system. In reply, I am to point out that, owing to the altitude of the country in question, ranging as it does from 4,000 ft. to 6,000 ft., much of it must be covered with snow during a great part of the year, which would make it unsuitable for subdivision into small areas for settlement. This fact evidently was taken into consideration by the Classification Commissioners, who classified these runs as purely pastoral country suitable to be held in large areas only, and by the Land Board when it decided upon offering the runs with a fixed tenure of twenty-one years at small upset rentals. As, however, the Government is desirous of meeting the wishes of the settlers in the locality as far as possible, the Minister of Lands would suggest that such of the petitioners as are anxious to acquire the runs should bid for them at the approaching sale, when, if they are secured by persons who wish to hold them in smaller areas than at present proposed, they can, with the sanction of the Land Board, be subdivided into five runs, as shown on the lithograph forwarded herewith, the rent being apportioned to each subdivision as provided by section 182 of " The Land Act, 1885." I am to add that, as the runs are to be offered on a fixed tenure for twenty-one years, this proposal would probably suit such of the settlers who signed the petition as are desirous of acquiring further lands for pastoral purposes. A copy of this correspondence will be forwarded to the Land Board at Dunedin, with a request that it will concur in these proposals. I have, &c, H. J. H. Eliott,

Under-Secretary. Memorandum from the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Dunedin, to the Under-Secretary for Crown Lands. Crown Lands Department, Dunedin, 13th February, 1889. In terms of resolution of the Land Board, I have to transmit to Government for consideration a telegram received from Mr. Thomas Duncan, M.H.8., intimating that a large number of persons are desirous of having Buns 28 and 28a, Otekaike, opened under the small grazing-run system. These runs are advertised for leasing on the 28th instant. The Under-Secretary, Crown Lands, Wellington. J. P. Maitland.

Thomas Duncan, M.H.E., Pukeuri, to the Chief Commissioner, Waste Lands, Dunedin (Telegram.) 13th February, 1889. Large number of people wanting Otekaike under small grazing-run system. Thomas Duncan, M.H.E.

Memorandum from the Under-Secretaby for Cbown Lands to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Dunedin. General Crown Lands Office, Wellington, 18th February, 1889. Eeperring to your memorandum of the 13th instant, forwarding a telegram from Mr. Duncan, M.H.8., intimating the desire to have Buns 28 and 28a opened under the small grazing-run system,