The Argus at KellyGang 20/3/1879 (2)
see previous
Thomas Cahall gave it as his opinion that the best way to deal with the remaining lands was to give selectors areas of from 5,000 to 10,000 acres each, with fixity of tenure, so that they would be encouraged to fence and improve their holdings. He was opposed, however, to stopping selection. He would lease the land subject to selection, giving the holder fixity of tenure as against other graziers.
Andrew Paton a squatter on the Mitta Mitta, said he thought it would be desirable to cut the lands up into smaller areas and sell the grazing rights by auction. It would not be wise to give fixity of tenure. They could not draw the line between selectable land and grazing land.
Wm Carkuk stated he was a publican and selector. He had been living in that part of the country for 21 years- in the mountains for a great part of the time. He had more experience of the high lands of the North Eastern district than anybody else, having lived for 13 years in the mountains. In the highest country the Australian Alps excepted, the land was rich and good up to the hill tops, and was fit either for wheat, potatoes or fruit. Some of the best farming land in the colony was on the Cooyatong Ranges, and some of the very best farming land was on the top of the hills; but it had been hidden from the public by scrub. He disagreed with the idea of giving fixity of tenure over areas ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 acres as that would bar selection. If selectors had 640 acres and grazing rights, they would do well. The grass right should be at the back of a water frontage. He did not believe in putting the rents up to auction. They should be let by private tender. If the grazing land were selected, the selector should be obliged to pay for those improvements he took up.
Robert Cardwell gave it as his opinion that selectors should be allowed to take up 640 acres, and have a grazing right. He would give about three acres of grazing land for every acre of selected land. The grazing land should remain open to selection. No man should be allowed to take up more than one lot.
The commission adjourned.
TOWONG- MARCH 12,
The commission sat at Towong on the above date Present-Messrs W J O'Hea (chairman), and D M Davies and J Rees M L As
David Waller was called, and entered into long explanations of his difficulties with Mr S G Watson a pastoral tenant in the district, who he complained was favoured by the Beechworth office.
Crown Lands Bailiff Fitzjohn gave corroborative evidence.
PINE MOUNT -March 12
On the above date the commission sat at Pine Mount, a place visited by the Kellys shortly after the Mansfield murders.
Henry Dobinson, a resident of the district since 1861, said he would recommend that when the squatting leases came to an end, the land should be let in blocks of from 1,000 to 2,000 acres in extent to selectors, and in some cases in the back country in blocks ranging from 8,000 to 10,000 acres. Men would not improve the land unless they had fixity of tenure. The land so disposed of would not be taken up for agricultural pur- poses. Land improved by ringing the trees and clearing off the dead timber doubled its capacity.
Annie Dobson James Copperthwaite, and Connor Magrath narrated circumstances under which they had been subjected to in- convenience and delay in applying for land at the Beechworth office.
BENAMBRA -MARCH 15
James M'Gill said he had applied for a piece of land on the Mitta Mitta, and though it was surrounded on all sides by private property, and though there were no indications of mineral deposits, he was informed by the Beechworth office that the land had been reserved for mining purposes. He had been trying for two years to get the land, and he had got no satisfactory reply yet. He had expended £4 3s in trying to get the land, to say nothing of his loss of time. He did not believe the land was within a mining reserve Land should not be sold at all. The waste lands should be given to the selectors to work in connexion with their selections.
Henry Schumann said he had farmed in this colony and in Germany . He desired to select 250 acres, but he found the land was locked up in various directions. He had been tired out, but if he knew how to get a good piece of land he would select now. He believed the land he desired to select on the Mitta Mitta had been reserved for the benefit of the squatter who had the adjacent lands purchased. The complaints about the difficulties thrown in the way of selectors were very general, and he thought they were well grounded, and that the mining board had a great deal to do with it.
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