-observe the Waste Lands Board,; lncftwithsta.-nding the memo, from the! to the Board, has re-i •solved to adhere to its former decision •of forbido^Hig -tire sale of land, and the; Provincial tioVetnttient appear to have adopted > the -only course, which in jus-! lice was open to it, viz., that of allow-! ing the lessees to regain possession ofj the cancelled portions of iheir runs.j Probably a considerable proportion oi' '.Lie outside public has been unable quite zo make up its mind whether to ap-; prove of the acriot of the Board or. not.! "There appears to be some force in what 3Mr Dustings said, that "if these lands •on the mountains were put up to sale by : auction in reasonable blocks, there was a largo number of settlers in the country •quite prepared to buy if you gave them some iow-lying land as well." The question appears to be, whether this ■land, "if it be sold, might not have been -sold ia a manner more beneficial to the; 'country, if nmX to the provincial ex-' chequer, thatt 3n *fee way proposed. It; appears that in the session of 1873, the! Provincial Council resolved upon the ; ■sale of 00,000 acres of hilly land under! -clause 150 of the Utago Waste Lahds^ Act, 1872, which 'clause empowers the : Council and Superintendent to sell by; public auction land of *i mountainous | description) contained in a pastoral' lease, on obtaining the runholders' coti ■sent to the sale. Instead of acting in strict accordance with this resolution! •of the Council, the Executive adopted such a course as would have enabled •certain run holder* to purchase the iVee. hold of large portions of their runs without any competition. The Super intendent maintains, that by so doing the Government would have , got a better price for the land than if the land Lad been offered for sale at auction at ten shillings an acre, under clause .150 ofthe ; Act. The question, however, still remains; whether the land tniglit tiot have been sold in a mariner more satisfactory than 'allowing a few indi viduals to obtain the freehold of such a jF-rge extent of- country. 