D.—4a

34

" The New Zealand Midland Bailway Company (Limited), Greymouth, " 23rd November, 1889. " Sir, —I beg to draw your attention to the advertisement from the Greymouth paper in the margin. From this you will see that the Bailway Commissioners are in the market for silver-pine sleepers. This will undoubtedly cause persons without licenses or authority to cut timber in any direction in the forests now reserved for the New Zealand Midland Bailway Company. I would therefore suggest for your consideration that an advertisement to the following effect, and signed by you, should be inserted in these local papers, in order to warn people that they will not be permitted to take timber belonging to the Government or the company without first obtaining authority : ' Notice.—All persons cutting timber on Crown lands without authority will be prosecuted.—A. Greenfield, Commissioner of Crown Lands.' " The Government is, I am aware, as anxious as the company to prevent the forests being destroyed, and the proceedings taken last week at Oxford by the Lands Department in Canterbury (see Christchurch papers of the 16th November instant), where fines ranging from £75 down to £2 were inflicted on persons cutting timber on Government lands in the Oxford bush, will no doubt have considerable effect in deterring persons from doing so in future in this district. " In order to avoid, if possible, the expense and unpleasantness of taking proceedings shortly against persons who may ignorantly put in tenders for these sleepers on the assumption that they can cut timber without license or payment, I would suggest that some such advertisement as proposed be telegraphed to the local papers at once. So as to facilitate persons getting lands from which they can cut this or other timber, my company will be prepared to deal at once with any such applicants, with your concurrence, under clause 33 of the contract, and I will, if you think it advisable, advertise to that effect. " I am, &c, " Bobert Wilson, " The Commissioner of Crown Lands, Nelson. General Manager." The suggested notice was, I believe, inserted in some of the local papers. As to the value of this land thus interfered with, I would quote from the report of the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Westland' District, within which a great part of this timber land was situated. It was addressed to the Under-Secretary for Lands, Wellington— Sir C. Lilley : This was for damages. Mr. Hutchison: This goes to show the value of the land generally for timber, and lam dealing with paragraphs two and three of the particulars together, as they both relate to timber. Sir C. Lilley : Within the area within which these selections could be made. Mr. Hutchison: The memorandum states: "Under section 18 of the Midland Bailway Contract the company is selecting lands in the Waimea and other districts, lands which, on account of their known auriferous value, the company cannot purchase, but can utilise the timber growing thereon. Good timber lands accessible to the existing sawmills are of considerable value, and as much as £6 and, in some isolated cases, £8 per acre has been paid by some of the sawmillers for the right to cut timber on certain freehold lands. " I am requested, under subsection (2), section 33, of the Midland Bailway Contract, to assess the value of some of these timber lands, and the question is whether, in doing so, I am to take into consideration the value of the timber, or whether I shall assess them simply as lands for settlement. In the former case their value may be, say, £5 per acre, and in the latter they will be worth no more than any of the other lands around them—say, £1 per acre, because the heavier the timber on lands intended for settlement the greater the cost to the settler to bring such land under cultivation. " In all cases of applications for assessment of values of lands which I know the company cannot purchase on account of its auriferous nature it must be borne in mind that I am fully aware that it is not for settlement purposes, but purely for the purpose of selling the timber thereon that the application is made, and that in doing so they may, on the basis of their scale of charges for timber-licenses, receive as much as £20 royalty from a single acre of good timberland. The stringency of the conditions under which the company is leasing timber lands in the Grey Valley, and. now propose to do so also within Westland, is severely felt by people in the timber trade, and is much commented upon just now, and the opinion is freely expressed that the Government assessment of these timber lands, which bring so rich a harvest to the company, should be proportionately high, &c." This gentleman then proceeds to offer an opinion as to the construction of the clause, which interpretation is not material. He concludes : — " I have written at such length because it is an important point, involving a considerable sum of money. Now that the company has commenced farming out our forest lands on the coast, and is on the point of developing the timber trade with Australia, &c, I am anxious to have your opinion on the subject. Please let me have an answer at an early date to the following question: Have I, when valuing land applied for by the company (rather by persons through the company), under section 18 of the contract, to take into consideration the value of the timber on the land, as well as the value of the land proper, or only the value of the land ? " Gerhard Mueller, " The Under-Secretary for Lands, Wellington. Commissioner of Crown Lands." I quote this to show how valuable the concession to the company was under section 18. The timber was really what gave the value to the land. Sir B. Burnside : That you say was the report. From whom was it ? Mr. Hutchison: The Commissioner of Crown Lands at Hokitika to the Minister of his department, in Wellington; and it indicates the value of the timber concession to the company.