The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1932. CROWN LANDS.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 October 1932, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1932. CROWN LANDS.

The annual report of the. Crown Lands Department submitted to parliament for the iperiod! ended on March 31st. last states the year must be placed on record as' a period during which the machinery for the administration of Crown lands was subject to a most severe trial. The readjustment in public and private finance rendered necessary by the substantial drop in the national income has shown only too plainly to town and country alike the severity of the existing depression, but it has also served as a ispur to greater endeavours. The economic conditions have borne with particular severity on the primary producers but they have made strenuous efforts to maintain and even to increase (production, and as h. class the tenants of iflio Crown have responded well to the demands made upon them in this time of stress. Active steps have been taken by the Department to encourage settlers by ,!, "1 reasonable means and this has n: I -.:rally involved the granting of con: c"sions to a considerable extent. The necessity of keeping settlers on the land and of maintaining

■production has been kept in the foreground, but at the same time steady progress has been made with landdevelopmemt work and with the opening of available lands for settlement. Weather conditions during the year were not particularly favourable to farming operations. There was considerable mortality among lambs, particularly in. Canterbury sand the ;Waikato, but the lambing percentages in most districts was satisfactory. Selections of Crown and settlement lands on all tenures during the year totalled 406,408 acres. Tenants on the Department’s hooks at March 31st., numbered 37,423, occupying a total area of over 19,000,000 acres. During the year the sum of £67,000' was advanced to Grown tenants for the development of their sections. The total receipts declined from £1,290,856 in 1929, to £776,489 in 1932. Pointing out that arrears of rent at March 3lst. amounted to £807,311, the Department says that under existing conditions no action is being taken to deprive the farmers of their holdings merely on account of their failure to pay rent. In some quarters, continues the report, a suggestion has been nuule that a more or less general writing d’own of capital values should be made. There is, however, ample authority for the postponement or remission, of rent and for revaluations of Crown leaseholds, sufficient to meet all reasonable requirements, and the Department does not consider that a general revaluation is necessary, or desirable.