The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5466, 3 October 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1878.

One o£ the advantages of Abolition is that we are able to get, from the colonial point of view, a comprehensive glance at the operations upon the Crown lands throughout the whole of New Zealand. For the first taste of this pleasure we are indebted to the Secretary of Crown L inds, Mr. McKbreow, whose report for the year ended 30th *Tune last has been presented to Parliament by command of hia Excellency the Governor, and printed. It is an able and very interesting, as well as suggestive paper, which if the demands upon our space permitted we should have been glad to republish in extenso. We are obliged to content ourselves with a notice of the principal points. The total area of the colony is more than sixty-four millions of acres; of this amount more than thirteen millions of acres have been already sold or otherwise disposed of ; the cash received for these sales was nearly ten and a half millions sterling. Nearly fifteen millions'of acres were on the 30th June last .open for sale or selection; nearly twenty millions of acres were at the disposal of tho Waste Lands Boards, and either presently withheld from sale or held under lease. Of native lands still in possession of the Maoris, or sold by them to Europeans, there were about sixteen and a half million acres. . The total receipts for sales during the past financial year was £1,477,479, whereof £27,228 represented scrip of various kinds. The sales in the several classes of land wore as follows :

a. b. r. Town Lands .. .. 467 117 to 969 purchasers Suburban Lands .. 2023 027 to 174 ~ Rural Lands .. ..823,383 313 t0u561 . ~

As might bs expected Ciuiterbury has been the largest contributor to the Land Revenue, and has provided seven-tenths of the area sold, seven tenths of the number of purchasers, and eight tenths (£1,123,823) of the total revenue of the whole oniony. The more immediate causes of this great superiority on the part of Canterbury are stated to be, first, that the Crown lands are all open to free selection ; secondly, the extension of the railway from Lyttelton over the plains ; the bridging of the larger rivers, and the annihilation of the obstacles to traffic which they presented by all of which the arable lands are brought immediately or prospectively within reach of easy means of communication with the markets and the port of the district. In Otago, where the extent of Crown lands is double that in Canterbury, the pecuniary results have been, comparatively, very small, the total for the year being £141,950. This difference is accounted for by the fact that in Otago the lands are either-held under pastoral lease or withheld from sale as railway and other reserves. The country feeds two million sheep, the assessment. for which at present produces £60,000 a year. The lands so hold will produce, when judiciously let, a probable annual revenue of £150,000. ’ Xn Southland, Mr. McKeeeow says, “the area of “ Crown lands open for selection is over “ a million acres. It is mostly the hilly “ and back-lying portions of the runs “ which are leased at 2d. per acre, subject “ to the right of free selection. Under “ this system the extensive inland plains “ were taken up in large purchases, prin- “ cipally at 20s. per acre. The frontages “ being secured to the rivers and plains, “ there was no necessity on the part of “ tlie large freeholders to purchase the “ back country, and now that it is so “ much afflicted with the rabbit pest, “ and the price has been increased to £2 < ‘ per acre, there is still less inducement. “ The sale of this country is likely to be “ very tardy. The forests in Southland, “ as also in Otago, are not opened by the “Land Boards for. sala until they have “ been cut over by the sawmillers and “ woodmen, who pay either royalties, “ rents, or license fees, for their privi- “ leges.” In Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland, the other land districts of the South Island, the sales for the last year are small. In tho two first-named districts the operation of the Crown Land Sales Act of. last session, whilst it stops sales, is said to affect injuriously many persons who have made engagements relying on the permanence of the price of ten shillings per acre, and in many cases it renders the possession of tho back country quite secure to the present leasees. In Westland settlement on land proceeds slowly. Mining interests form tho chief business of the people. ... The receipts from land sales in the North Island for the year amounted to £146,756, of which £24,836 was represented by land scrip. The sales were a. k. r. Town Lamia .. 108 3 10 to 224 purchasers Suburban Lauds ~ 021 0 23 to 45 Rural Lamia .. 133,903 3 39 to 841 „ The high prices obtained for the Patutahi land raised the average price per acre obtained for rural lands in Auckland to £2 7b. Speaking of the system of selling land on deferred payment Mr. McKbrrow says:— By tho Land Act. 1877. the deferred payment system was 1 galised lor the whole colony. As yet it had no application In Auckland. Marlborough, or Canterbury, but as it is soon to bo tried in ono or more of these districts. It will be worth while to review shortly Us working and results In Otavo—tho provincial district in which it has bad most development. It was first brought into operation in 1873, and in Its inception was meant as a boon and e-i- ouragement to families who h »<1 not the money wherewith to buy land, but had the labor and tho will to cu tivate it, andtho management to make tbo land pay for itself. At first the price wan fixed at 255. per aero, payable io twenty half-yearly payments of Is. 3d. per acre, or, ut the option of tho selector, six such half-yearly payments with tho balance of J7a. 6d. at the end of throe years. In tho case of two or more applicants making selection of tho same piece of land, it was decided bj ballot who should have It. The conditions of residence and Improvement wore nearly the same then m now As thor« was a great demand for land on these terms, the choice sections were invariably over applied for and tho obtaining of land became so much a lotterr. that many instances occurred of persons Incurring* tho expense time after time of making long journeys to examine and select land without ever the lupk to draw successfully. It was also noticeable that tMi element of clia co and uncertainty was very db» useful to many suitab e persons who did not apply at all. In 187», the ballot was rupewededV the auction gystei», so that under It there is tho certainty of a selector getting his choice, provided ho bide the highest. The introduction of the auction system has no doubt been a partial departure from tho original principle of helping tho njan of small means to a farm. For ths land, wherever suitable far farming, is now so keenly sought after that the Commissioner reports It fetches from £J to £lO per aero, that Is. twenty half-yearly Payments of 3s. or 10s. per acre before the land is crown granted, or as tho law now stands, tho option of twelve halfyearly payments with the balance at tho end of the six years. Of course, no one can pay the higher price unless there is conelderabe capital at once available to cultivate and Improve the land. Tho residence and improvement clauses, and the restriction of the area within the limit of 320 acres, most effectually prevent anyone from buying up the Crown lands in large estates. In the system as nowin force, tho Government just take tho same position with regard to tho Crown lands tliftt largo proprietors do when they subdfvido {heir and as an inducement to buyers

offer to receive payment byinstalments. The system has been largely availed of by pushing laboring men and by small settlers from the early sett ed districts, who have sent forth their sous and daughters, and in gome instances have sold out and gone themselves, to have a fresh start with more -cope. In this way a very superior class of set lers have spread over and occupied the country beneficially to themselves and to it. No other system that has been tried has so effectually secured this desirable result

A summary of the lands throughout the colony held under pnsfcor&l license or lease gives the area as over thirteen and a quarter -millions of acres, and the annual income at £110,147- With regard to the operation of the Land Sales Act of last year, the Secretary thinks that it will not affect Canterbury or Ofago. It will certainly diminish sales in those districts where the land is inferior or covered with forests; and generally he looks upon it as making practically a reservation of largo areas of country until the general progress makes it worth the while of purchasers to give the larger price now put upon those lands. A large, sum of money, £50,000 we think, is proposed to be appropriated this year to the work of opening up lands intended to be sold. With respect to this project Mr. MoKrrrow gives this warning note : It will be impossible to carry out in one season all that lias been suggested, and Indeed it would not be wise to enter at first too largely on a scheme which, although very sound in principle. Is one that a groat deal of money tnlghr, very easily bo thrown away on without any adequate result. At first the expenditure will mainly, if not altogether, be towards improving the access to lands already surveyed. If it proves a success, an effort must be made to have the tracks pushed on in advance of the sectional surveyor, and care must bo taken that they are carefully graded, c® that all present and subsequent works will concentrate on the making ultimately of good practicable roads. There is a vast amount of this sort of work requiring to be done, more especially in the North Island, .and the settlement of that part of the colony is only but beginning. We have been able to touch only the salient points of this very instructive and interesting paper ; but we shall have occasion to recur to it hereafter as a valuable record of facts.