THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1907. A GOOD OPPORTUNITY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8867, 30 October 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1907. A GOOD OPPORTUNITY.

Hanging to; the very skirts of the Borough of Masterton is an area of 7,429 acres of native lands,alarg3 percentage of which surpasses in quality that of the bulk of the territory comprising the Wairarapa district. This land is held under a lease from the Maori owners, and has a tenure of 21 year u , some five or six years of which have still to run. There are, it is understood, not more than lessees, and the whole of the area is utilised mainly for grazing purposes. We are informed that the lessees have applied, or intend to apply, for a renewal or extension of their leases. If this be so, and the tenants are successful, this splendid block of land will be practically lost to the district for an indefinite period. Here, it appears to us, is a legitimate opportunity for the Government, to do something of a beneficial and substantial character for this district, by step ping in and acquiring the land for closer settlement. About 1,000 acres of the block—forming part of Te Ore Ore—are described as first-class. No better land; it is averred by competent judges, exists in the Wellington province; and if this portion alone were acquired and cut up into sections of 100 acres, ten families might be furnished with holdings, which would be made profitable to them, to the district, and, indirectlj, to the dominion. But the whole 7,000 odd acres could be advantageously utilised tor closer settlement, and would easily provide for a score of families. This is about the only land available for closer settlement in the vicinity of Masterton, and the Government should not lose the opportunity of securing it for the purpose. As illustrating how little the Liberal Government has done to aid settlement within the boundaries of the Masterton electorate it may be mentioned that in fifteen or sixteen years it has located only 13 settlers upon resumed land. Now that the chance offers of

placing nearly double that number of settlers upon an area admirably adapted for dairy-farming and cropping, it should not be lost by the Minister for Lands.