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(extract from Secretary's letter to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, dated 22nd September, 1909) : " (3.) The Westport Harbour Board do not object to the land being used as a golf-links providing an easy termination of any agreement for the same which may be made is allowed for, and the area to be used is laid out subject to the Board's Engineer's approval." The application was refused by the Land Board, who stated that " the Board cannot see its way to grant a more permanent tenure over the area in question than a temporary occupation license." On the Bth October Mr. Wilson again wrote to the Commissioner of Crown Lands asking the Board to reconsider its decision. The Board adhered to its former decision, and a member of the Land Board, Mr. Walker, wrote privately to Mr. Colvin suggesting that he should himself apply for the land on the proposed twenty-one years tenure, and after securing a lease transfer it to the Golf Club. Mr. Colvin endorsed a memo, on the letter to the effect: " Kindly see Messrs. Young and Greenland, and if you think it necessary apply for it for me. We can then arrange matters " ; and sent the letter so endorsed to Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson then made an application for the land in Mr. Colvin's name. This application is dated 29th November, 1909, and is signed by Mr. Colvin himself. It was for the same land and presumably for the same purpose. The application was approved by the Land Board and a survey ordered. The surveyor at Westport prepared a rough sketch of the land, and submitted it to the Secretary of the Harbour Board and to Mr. Sinclair, the Board's Draughtsman, who was acting in the absence of the Board's Engineer, Mr. Young. There existed on the land applied for a number of fixed, permanent standard blocks, at which beacons are temporarily erected for use in carrying out periodical soundings in the Westport roadstead. Mr. Sinclair marked off an area containing 64 acres as a reserve for the purposes of the Harbour Board. This rough sketch with the reservation was submitted to the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Chief Surveyor at Nelson for his approval, and he instructed the surveyor at Westport to survey the land, excluding the 64 acres as shown on the rough sketch. The new title applied for was for the whole of the land held by Mr. Colvin under a year-to-year license, and was described as containing by estimation 170 acres. After deducting the 64 acres as a Harbour Board reserve, the survey disclosed that there were still 184 acres left in the block for the purposes of the application. When Mr. Wilson heard of this proposed Harbour Board reservation he wrote to the Land Board and interviewed the Harbour Board officials with a view to getting the reservation removed. Mr. Colvin also saw the Secretary about the matter, but the exact nature of what took place has not been disclosed to us. Mr. Wilson persisted in his endeavour to have the reservation removed, and the final settlement was hung up for some time. The matter of this reservation, its extent, and its subsequent removal were never submitted to the Harbour Board. The question of a twenty-one-years lease of this land was not brought before the Board officially since its consent was obtained for the use of the ground for golf-links under suitable restrictions. On the 21st January, 1911, the Commissioner of Crown Lands wrote to the Secretary of the Board in regard to the application of Mr. Colvin. After referring to the rough tracing, the letter continues : "I have a copy of this tracing before me, and an area of 64 acres is shown at the northern end marked ' Proposed Harbour Board Reserve,' and was presumably so reserved by your Board. As the area held by Mr. Colvin on occupation license only contains 170 acres, and the area as surveyed 184 acres, he has already more than he applied for, and if this 64 acres is actually required by your Board as a reserve it should be retained for that purpose. Please inform me if you have the details of the transaction reported by Mr. Springall (the Surveyor at Westport) as to what areas should be excluded from the license." On the same day the Commissioner wrote to Mr. Wilson confirming the reserve. On the 24th January, 1911, Mr. Wilson replied to the Commissioner as follows : " Yours of the 21st instant to hand. I have again seen the Secretary and the Engineer of the Westport Harbour Board, and they both state they know nothing of the ' proposed Harbour Board Reserve.' The Engineer informs me he would like a reserve of 1\ acres for the signalman. Mr. Colvin will have no objection to this new area being excluded from the pastoral license." None of the correspondence came before the Harbour Board, and as a result of the whole negotiations the reservation of 64 acres was reduced by the Board's

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