LAND AND AGRICULTURE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 691, 16 December 1909, Page 10

LAND AND AGRICULTURE.

- ■ - QUESTIONS . IN: PARLIAMENT.' :[ ;. The following Toplics vrorojjriYeii. to various questions relating to/land anu'A«griculhiro-in Parliament :yttst-e'rday:—\; / ■'•.-'" : Tho.Land Ac(> 1892 did not authorise. holders ?of 6mall gracing runs to exchango their leases for leases lit perpetuity, 'and..ij/was not until tho passing of, tho" Land Act Amendment Act, ;1895 .'(Section? 15), that such exchanges were v permitted. Even then tho right was only a limited One and applied to areas of 2000 acres .and,,unde'r.f, As tHo results of such 'exchanges of tenure were' not satisfactory tho right was wholly, taken away by Section 50 of ■tho land. laws 'Amendment Act, 1907, 'and it is inadvisable"to restore' it.: Discussing this reply; Mr.'. Massey. urged that it' was .advisable, to revert as soon as possiblo to the'position which obtained before 1907. ■■!. .'■ Tho-"areas of'"land in tho Hauraki Plains now being subdivided for settlement, and which it is hoped to place on '.the. ; market about the first;week, in May, will.bo handed ovor to :the Auckland iLand Board for disposal under, the. Land Act in accordance with tho provisions' of Section 7, Sub-section (1), of the.Haurnki Plains- Act, 1908.- The board will 'then'KaVe' potyor/to deal -.with such" areas'as, ordinary Crown lands, as they arc outsido the boundaries..of ; tho national, endowment area, ■ and-they will-,'no doubt, 'bo opened under the optional system of ■ the, Land Act. '-,-'.. -■ Although- tobacco' has /been successfully grown on an experimental scale at .'Waerenga lExporiment elsewhere- in the Auckland province,'it' still requires to'.' be ascertained, by,, practical trials whether, it can ho profitably'grown'on a commercial basis in ■ the Dominion. The matter, will receive,tho careful consideration of the Government. :■'. ' ■"■' -Commissioners of Crown Lands'havo'been : instructed' that,' ,-in ■ cases,, where ('timber' < .> on Crown"ialids'has"''been removed' and the 1 land is" in'--jnch a condition that grasses,;, can ! bo sown upon"it" tho matter should be at'onco brought ;under the notice of ..the Minister/so that''seed may 'he\ ; ' supplied.;./In 1 : many cases, nbweyer, , ''thisi>canhot"'be: done,.,as..,though., the area'may be cleared 'of milling timber'it has not been ''. under-scrubbed and* burnt; whilst "in other cases all the 1 milling; timber may not havo'been removed. It is not,/therefore, ways advisable to under-scrub and burn • the area owing to tho danger of such fires spreading to the remainder of the. forest. .;'