THE TE AKAU BALLOT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 497, 21 October 1909, Page 2

THE TE AKAU BALLOT.

In a description of the Te Akau ballot, the New Zealand Herald says “They talk about putting a stop to dummying,” said a bona fide applicant, who had journeyed to try his luck in the ballot, during one of many wordy arguments this evening, “but, I tell you, speculators wink at it.” A man who drew a big lot at Opotiki worked the same oracle shortly after in his sister’s name. They do just the same with their cousins and their aunts. “Its all rot,” said another keen seeker after laud, “to say the land is not much good. If you are lucky enough to draw a section you will do.” “The sections are too small for me,” complained an apparent new chum, of relative stature. “Say, matie,” rejoined a hardy son of toil, “I guess you’ll hang on to her if you pull a neat little block out of the box.’' “Are you. a reporter?” asked an enthusiastic sheepfarmer from North Canterbury, of a scribe, working amid the babel of a crowded hotel. “Then,” he added, without awaiting an answer, “rub it into the Government for not providing enough land. I’ve been chasing the ballots for two years* with about as much hope of success as in . Tattersall’s sweeps.” The same speaker intimated that he was anxious for Te Akau. For sheepfarming, it Was the finest hill countiy that he had seen in North Island, and eminently suitable for the purpose.