THE LAND FUND.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 577, 1 February 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE LAND FUND.

The land fund has been largely alluded to in the electioneering addresses, but littlo more than ihe mere gencra'ities has I . .^n gone into. From tho rctnrns to hand, which, however, only bring our information down to the ond of the year 1874, we have carefnlly compiled tor the readers of the Waikato Trains the following tacts and figures. Taking the returns for that year as affording 1 a fair test of what they were in 1875, we find that the land held in the neveral Provinces

nnder depastcHngand oiher leases (except for gold mining) in that year amounted to 14,279,419 acres 0 roods, 36 perches ; yielding yearly rentals aggregating .£126,973 17s 4d. Tbe land sold daring the same period amounted, with the pas- ' jr&l vents, to nenrly a million sterling. The relative proportions of sales and rents were : —

Besides the abore, there were lands disposed of for scrip to the value of £22,011 4s, and for the pub 1: r c.lcs executed, to the value of £6,458 8s Id ; making the total value of cash, scrip, anrf pnbHc works given for lands alienated during 1874, thelargesum 0f£1,016,514 18s 3d. But a Urge amount of land passed from the Government, besides what the above snm reprosf aid. There were '- "(Is granted to immigrants; to navy and military settlers ', reserves for public purposes granted, to Europeans or natives, under the Waste Ltuda Act, IHSB ; granted to natives, and in (satisfaction of scrip not otherwise specified. The total acreage of land (including town, suburbs, and country), absolutely disposed of in 1874, was no less than 895,128 acres, 2 roods, 19 perches ; which amount does not include the acreage awarded for the £22,611 4s worth of scrip tendeied for land during the year. Of the lands dispospd of for scrip during the year were £10,420 worth in the Province of Auckland granted to volunteers. The following tublo may also be of use to show how prodigal Auckland has been of her land fund as compared with othor Provinces — how it baa been wasted in the carrying out the hobbies of provincial statesmen : —

Auckland ifc will thus be peen baa possessed and alienated n larger aereago of waste land than pit he P'ugo or Canterbury but for about an eiguth of tin* valae in cash. Certainly the South im notio r>iame for tli^o, but our Piovincrtl laud Itwfj. We have recklessly given thn greater jwrtion of our land awiiy and now cora|ihin Ibut wo count the lemaiuuoi by bundiedsoi thousands of acres only instead of by rnllious as Canteibury and Otago and that we have nothing to show for the return-. — not even setllers —for we depreciated the value of the gift by our lorish distribution.

The same system of mismanagement is shown in l'cspcou to LLe 3mall area of land for which depflatnrina; licenses have been issued in thia province. Tlie following ar« the areas leased and rents received in ths several Provinces : —

Acres Leased. Bemt. £ i. d. Auckland ... 73,390 ... 60 0 0 Taranaki ... 68 ... 2 3 9 Hawke'sßay 181,754 ... 68t> 9 2 Wellington ... 5 800 ... 12 1 2 Nelson ... 667 516 ... 3,546 6 6 Marlborough 1,035,589 ... 4,236 19 1 Cnnteibury ... 4,839,463 ...45,020 12 2 Wetland ... 155.000 ... 418 11 8 Dtaeo 6.464,218 ... 63,692 11 8 southland ... 847,823 ... 6,843 3 5

-a 3 & S a I p^OCOONeoOON IQ O t« im » >lO'- < ' H r-<coNT}<oooeoco 0} O Ol H t^ l. !■* « W W «D N •-• »-• « .6 Li i • ion i>oowt»-^ieo(N 1 "' 1 ' «0 ifl * N x » q o ►4 co w ri co •-< N 0)1000 ' -O rH N i i &• i-a k I i i •q - H : § S •« : t

Depmturing, licenses, &c. Land sold for cash „, ... £126 973 17 4 51)0,47l S 10 Total £987,445 G •Z