THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7971, 24 February 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1906.

At the present time New Zealand is in a prosperous condition, and has been for a number of years past, and there appears to be little poasibiliy of the prosperity of tbe country seriously decreasing. In. the past this state of things depended largely on the exertions of the farmers, and the produce they secured-from the soil. Even now coal-mining, timbermilling gold mining, flax-milling, and all forms of manufacture and trade, important as they are, contribute only a fraction of the national wealth, and would produce still less were it not for the prosperous condition of agriculture. In this oniony agriculture is responsible for the output of over £21,000,000 worth of produce annually, of whioh

nearly £12,000,000 worth is exported for overseas markets. The production of saleable farm produce, however, does not represent all the weakh raised by the farmer. The increase of pasture land and stock, the extension of and everything which tends to increase farm produce, may well be added to the total of land wealth 7 . ***** When one considers that out of the total of 68,680 land-owners in New Zealand, about 50,000 have holdings over live acres in extent, and the bulk of the area is not half cultivated—it will be seen what immense possibilities still lie before agriculture in the colony. During the last ten years agriculture has made wonderful strides in New Zealand, but, if the Government had given proper attention to land settlement and land cultivation, the advance would have been very much greater. The production of agricultural wealth may be largely increased by two ways. In the first instance, by more extensive cultivation, whereby the land already iu occupation may be made to produce more largely; and, secondly, by the occupation and cultivation of the large areas of Crown and Native lands now lying idle. Without close settlement intense cultivation is practically impossible. At 'the presnt time barely l-16fch of the land iu occupation is really closely settled; out of the 36,511,154 acres in uccupation only about 2,500,000 acres are held in farms under 320 aores. The total area of places of over 1,000 acres in extent is 27,013,680 acres. * *• * * * The effect of closer settlement has been undoubtedly beneficial, and' more attention is being paid to the matter now than formerly. In this colony closer settlement has been effected iu two ways, viz., by the sub-division and sale of large estates by private owners, and by the acquisition and sub-division of large estates by the Government. 'Where the closer settlement policy has been pursued, the advantages offered by sub-division are very noticeable. Where there were originally large estates of huge paddocks of rough country there are now numerous farms. Townships have been founded, where originally there was a shepherd's hue or a manager's house only. The number of estates acquired, up to Maroh 31st, 1905, for aloser settlement, was 136, totalling 716,224 icres, and costing for purchase £3,364,155, or with roads and other expenses £3,602,479. ' Up to March 31st, 1905, the number of houses erected on the new settlements was 2,47J, and the number of people on the settlements was 10,283. The value of the improvements 1 made by the settlers was j £803,382. In Hawke's Bay fifteen | estates were acquired; in Auokland the same number; in Otago, 19; Canterbury, 55; Wellington, 13; Marlborough, 8; Southland, 6; Taranaki, 3; and in Westland, 2.