PAPERS PRESENTED TO PARLIAMENT.

Patea Mail, Volume III, Issue 241, 1 August 1877, Page 2

PAPERS PRESENTED TO PARLIAMENT.

Ansual return of lands sold or otherwise disposed o ' in the several provincial districts for the year ending 31st December, 1876, show a total for Taranaki ox 9 acres 2 roods 5 perches of Town Lands, and 5,453 acres 39 perches of country lands. Total cash, £5,C0l Os 3d ; scrip, £56. The total area sot! or otherwise disposed of from the foundation of the co'ony is given as 70 935 acres ; cash received £24.284. The Total area open for selection on Ist January, 187 7, was 14,592 ac.es. lac Total area remaining for future disposal, exclusive of area then open for selection, and of confiscated and Native Lands, is relumed as 690,342 acres. la Papers on Immigration to New Zealand, presented to the Assembly, returns relative to work done in England, in 1876, by Mr Burton, who was sent fro.n Taranaki, as special Emigration Agent, mentions that the number of emigrants obtained by Mr and Mrs Burton, aided by Mr White, of Grimsby, was 247. Expenses are set down as—Mr Burton, sa'ary, lecturing and other expenses, £719 14s 10d ; Mrs Burton, £l4: Mr White, £l3O. Sir Julius Vogel, on taking charge as Agent-General in England, reorganized the Emigration Department, and effected a saving of £1,601 per annum, without in anyway impairing the efficiency ol die service. The total cost oil London and Edinburgh agencies, was reduced to £4,000 per annum. _ . The Post Office Savings Bank reairns for the year 18 1 6. show lor the Provincial District of Taranaki 3 receiving offices ; 1,049 deposits received, amounting to £13,030 0s 7d ; 845 withdrawals, including interest on closed accounts, amounting to £14,227 5s 6d. The balance at credit _of depositors on the 31st December, _ 1876, including interest, was £14,240 os 6d. The interest for the year amounted to £576 12s. For the colony, the total balance at credit of depositors on 31st December, 1876, including interest was

£723,910 17s sd. Interest is paid at the rate of 5 per cent. In Despatches sent to Earl Carnarvon by the Governor (the Marquis of Normanby) after his otlicial visit to the West Coast on the occasion of the colonial Prize Firing, a very good summary of places ann prospects on the West Coast is given. He mentions the Kumara Gold Field as u a most remarkable instance oI! what can be produced in a few months by a gold rush.” He found over 4,000 persons permanent'}' established on the ground, houses larger and more regu’ariy built than any he had before seen on a new gold field, three or four good sized hotels, shops and stores. After riding over a portion of the field he was “entertained at a luncheon to which about 120 sat down. The whole of this has been the creation of less than ten months, as in June last the whole place was a dense bush.” The Despatch was dated 7th March. He referred to the coal mines at Westport and Grey month as likely to prove of inestimable value to New Zealand.