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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 24

Chief Surveyor's Report

Chief Surveyor's Report.

Dunedin, Re Nature of Country Cancelled on Runs Nos. 170, 48, 199, 369, and 247.

Memo, for Provincial Secretary—

Run No. 170.—The 13,000 acres cancelled on this run is a piece of very rugged, scrubby country. It is bounded on the south by the Beaumont Burn, on the west by the Clutha River for fully six miles, and extends back from the Clutha in a breadth varying from two and a-half to four miles. The country is intersected by several streams, and, as they and the Clutha run in deep rocky gorges, the country is very broken and difficult of access. It is only approachable by dray, along the mountain track, availed of, in former times, between Tuapeka and Teviot, when there were no made roads. This track will run off and on the back line of cancellation, and will keep open the access to the remaining 17,000 acres of leasehold on the run. The general elevation above sea level of the part cancelled will be from 1,000 to 1,600 feet, and of the part on leasehold from 1,200 to 3,000 feet. No part of this run can be considered agricultural land, and in its present circumstances the pastoral occupation can only be profitable in large areas. In the gorge of the Clutha there is a bush of small extent, which, for the present is completely shut in by rocky bluffs; but in the event of the railway being extended inland from Lawrence, it would be taken up the Clutha gorge, and the bush would then be- page 27 come very valuable, from the fact of its being on the verge of the great treeless interior of Otago. The bush ought, therefore, to be reserved, as also a sufficient width alongside the road for road and railway purposes.

Run No. 48.—The 3,000 acres cancelled on this run lie in the fork between the Lee Stream and South Rock Creek, and surround the homestead of the run. This area calls for no particular description other than that it is part of the undulating grassy country, stretching away from behind Maungatua to the heights of Waipori. The altitude of the cancellation above sea level is from 1,400 to 1,600 feet. As indicative of the value of the country it may be mentioned that it lies alongside of the Lee Stream Hundred for four miles, which is similar country. The Hundred has been surveyed, and open for application for about two years, but the part adjacent to the area cancelled has not yet been selected.

Run No. 199.—The 15,000 acres cancelled on this run is high lying back country, which will be under snow for a considerable time after every winter storm. The general elevation will be from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the sea level. A reference to the map will show that this country is simply an extension of the back line of Cargill and Anderson's purchase, nearer to the summits of Pinelheugh and Lammerlaw. There is no agricultural land iu the block, and the only reservation requiring to be seen to will be the proposed dam site for the miners at Teviot, should it happen to come within the limits of the block.

Run No. 369.—The 10,000 acres cancelled on this run lie north from Roxburgh, seven or eight miles by the main interior road, which runs through the block for nearly two miles. Between the road and the Clutha River there is of this block
1,500 acres of an altitude of 1,000ft.
On the west side of road 800 acres of shattered landslip country, altitude 1,000 to 1,600 feet.
The balance is mountain slope 7,700 acres rising from 1,600 to 5,000 feet on the summit of Obelisk Range.
10,000
With the exception of the 1,500 acres, about one-half of which is inferior agricultural land, all the rest is purely pastoral country. In marking off the boundaries of this block, care has been taken not to impinge on land which settlers resident in the district may have been looking to as the natural extension of their properties. Thus the country around M'Loughlin's improvements is still left intact up to the winter snow line, as is also all the road frontage on both sides, extending from M'Loughlin's to the landslips. The line of the block has been kept well away from the coal reserve at Coal Creek, reported on some page 28 time ago by Capt. Hutton. Regarding the settlers along the road between Coal Creek and Roxburgh, it may be mentioned that their back country is in no way interfered with.

Run No. 247.—The 23,000 acres cancelled on this run, consist of 8,000 acres of hard, gravelly plain, and 15,000 acres of mountain country. The plain is from 1,250 to 1,400 feet above sea level, and the mountainous part rises from these levels up to the summit ridge, 3,150 to 3,350 feet. The Hock has a frontage to the Taieri River of tour and a half miles, and extends back to the summit of Rough Ridge, a distance of from six to seven miles. This is excellent pastoral country, but it is too hard and dry for agriculture. Even if it were suitable for agriculture, its position away from any market, and lying many miles off the main road, would preclude profitable cultivation on any scale. The natural destiny of the Upper Taieri Plain and district, of which the block forms a part, is pasturage, and to this purpose it will be devoted for generations to come.

James McKerrow,

Chief Surveyor.