Lands fo Settlement.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 20 August 1910, Page 3

Lands fo Settlement.

OPERATION Ol' , TfJIO ACL , . The report of the land purchase •inspector (Mr J. D. Ritchie) under the Lands for Settlement Act has been laid before Parliament. He states that during the year there were 122 properties, containing 231,802 acres, offered, to the Government, 'of which 11, containing 48,'287 acres, were purchased, hut I'ouir had not oeon taken possession of. The actual expenditure for the year was £260,703, making the total" £0,4()7,792 paid since the commencement of the Act, wliiich gives the right to the owner of a lense-in-pernotiiity to purchase the fee simple, and £1457 under section I'll, of the Act which gives the owner of a renewable lease the .right to pay 90 per cent, of the oapitftl value. As to the Laud Settlement Finance Act, the Inspectinr reports that the principal Act is good, but complaint is made of the conditions to he observed before the Hoard can consider any application for the pu; , - ohase of the estate. The procedure might be much simplified without impairing the value of the mea.sure, with fewer restrictions. The genoral pro-visions of the Act would he largely availed of. There appears to ilie an unlimited demand for land, but the Hoard is I'n'jeJ with a difficult task in finding suitable areas at anything like a price that will allow of their being disposed of in reason-ably-sized farms at a rental that wiH onable the lessee to make a fair living. The value put upon tho bulk of the land offered is such as to place it practically beyond the meach of the Board. Notwithstanding the higih prices, everything lMifsibk is being done to secure suitable properties.