THE PLAINS LEASES.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1028, 30 April 1883, Page 3

THE PLAINS LEASES.

( N.Z. Times.) Tenders for lease of Native reserve on the Waimate Plains—leases under the new system of perpetual renewal at in-

creasing rentals—have reached the high price of 21s an acre per annum for some 20 favoured sections. The fact is remarkable that this bush land behind the coast plain fetches a rental nearly equal to the price of freehold open land of fair quality in many other places. Freehold sections on the Waimale Plains averaged at sales a year ago £5 to £6 an acre. Yet persons have now tendered for leases at prices equal to live or six years’ purchase of a freehold of better working quality, because the freehold was cleared before purchase, and this leased land is bush with some clearings. How the new lessees are to make these bush sections pay a working profit, over and above say £1 per acre per annum, is a mystery. It is a fact that the highest selling value of the improved farms in the same district—farms fenced into good paddocks and replete with buildings—is £1 an acre per annum on ease—even this rental is exceptional, and hard to get. Contrast this state of things with the bargains of these new lessees, who engage to pay their pound a year for land that is mostly bush, is not fenced, and has not a shanty on it I How are they to do it and live ? Cattle or sheep grazing will not do it. Cropping will have to be combined with grazing to make the rich, light land of that district pay at all. Yet it is well known that new land like that is not hardened down enough for grain growing, and will have to be worked with cattle some years before it is fit for the plough. These practical considerations only increase one’s surprise at the phenomenal prices offered for some leased sections.