A NICE POINT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 287, 28 August 1908, Page 8

A NICE POINT.

AGGREGATION OF ESTATES. There was a rather nice point involved in a case which camo before the Land Board at yesterday s meeting concerning tho transfer of one block of Crown leasehold land to a tenant of an adjacent block, tho question at issue being: At what point can tho aggregar tion of estates be said to begin? The matter referred, to two_ blocks of first-class land in the Kairanga County. One owner's land had suffered by erosion from floods in the Oroua flavor, and ho desired to mako tho lost,land good and increase his holdins bv acquiring another Crown lessee's block adjacent The two farmers had met and signed a legal document to bind the deal, but when the matter came before the board it ira* found that tho wife of the farmer who had agreed to transfer his holding to his neighbour strenuously objected. . The Commissioner of Crown Lands (Mr. James Mackenzie) hold that, in view of the fact that both men had been able to support big families on their holdings, small as they were, owing to the richness of' tho soil, it tho 1 transfer 1 . agßroßation ° f ° StatCS

fW l +L J f' m Gra j la ? l " of Feilding, appeared for tho farmor -desirous of acquiring his , oI H Pointed 'out that the land Idst by orosion was considerable and hkely to bo moro in the futuro, and while admitting that the acquisition of tho farm would more than compensate for the land lost submitted that it oould hardly bo termed an aggregation of estates. He also pointed out that there was no objection to tho transfer from, tho wife beforo tho board at its last meeting, and tho lady had hitherto boon agreoablo to tho transfer. He could only infer that, her objection was tho result of having received a bettor offer for tho property. I'urthor, his client had had to lenso certain Nativo lands to work with his own, and these might not bo available when a renowal was wanted. tJwU? m H S ' onCr ¥ d t0 his conviction that tho transfer was tantamount to an aggregation of estates, and the question wf s put to the board, whon tho motion" to agree to the transfer was carried by three votes to two. Tho comparative value of big areas of poor and as against small areas of good entered largely into tho discussion, on which point tho Commissioner said: "Somotimes a small area is an advantage. I havo known of a section ill the Manawatu that would carry 13 sheep to tho acre. Well, a thousand acres of such land would be much hotter than IojOUU acrcs of iand that would carry but ono shoop to tho acre. The matter of cconomy in management comes in.