19

D.—sa

the arrangement contained in the fourth paragraph of my letter, and you assure me that the Provincial Government will not act in advance of the prospective power proposed to be obtained from Parliament during its ensuing Session. 2. I append hereto, for your information, a copy of the report of Mr. T. Calcutt, respecting the proposed selection of laud. You will no doubt find it very interesting. 3. If you are willing to agree to Mr. Calcutt's recommendations, I will move the Colonial Secretary to appoint some one to direct and approve of tho surveys made by your own officers. 4. Of course such action must not bo construed into pledging the approbation of Parliament, as it would be merely in continuation of that already agreed upon in respect to the approval of tho Legislature. I have, &c, His Honor the Superintendent, Wellington. Julius Vogel,

Enclosure in No. 50. Mr. T. Calcutt to the Hon. the Mihtstee for Immigeation. Sib,— "Wellington, 28th May, 1874. Eeferring to the letter of His Honor the Superintendent of Wellington, of date 24th April last, to yourself, relative to setting apart land for immigrants, and to your answer thereto of 29th April, which letters you did me the honor to request me to peruse, and referring also to your verbal instructions to me to report on the general nature of the land to be shown to mo by some officer to be appointed by the Provincial Government of this province, I have the honor to state that, accompanied by J. Gr. Holdsworth, Esq., Crown Lands Commissioner for the Province, and Mr. A. W. Carkeek, of the Provincial Survey Staff, I travelled from "Wellington via Featherston, G-roytown, and Masterton, through the Wairarapa, to the commencement of the Seventy-Mile Forest; thence to the Scandinavian settlement at Mauriceville on to the Manawatu River; thence through a portion of the Napier Province to the Manawatu Gorge (crossing which river at this point this province is again entered), and on to the town of Palmerston, and to report as follows : — 1. That, with the exception of two open plains, of about 800 acres and 400 acres respectively, situate in the Manawatu-Wairarapa No. 3 Block, the whole of the country pointed out to me is dense forest. 2. That from the commencement of the Seventy-Mile Bush (nine miles from Masterton), forty miles of which are in this province, the whole of the land may be said generally to be very good soil, the greater portion excellent; while some of it, in my opinion, is as good as possibly can be found anywhere or can in any way be desired, consisting as it does in a material degree of deep loam resting on limestone. The general outline and contour of the country is excellent for the purposes of settlement, possessing every natural advantage of water supply and for the making of good roads ; and with the single exception of the land being at present heavily timbered, I can imagine no piece of country better fitted for the settlement of a large number of persons. That such will be the case, and that, too, within a comparatively short time if the lands are judiciously opened up, I have no doubt whatever. 3. The timber in the forests consists mainly of black, red, and white pines, totara, rata, tawa, and hinau. This timber, so soon as roads and railways permeate through the country, will of itself be of considerable value, and should if possible be saved from the universal destruction going on in the few settlements already existing. lam aware that the practical solution of a large question of this kind presents difficulties ; nevertheless, I think some plan might be devised to save so large and valuable a portion of the Crown property. The day is not far distant when the timber now growing on these lands would, properly utilized, realize millions of pounds sterling. I venture respectfully to outline my view on this matter for any consideration you may deem it entitled to, believing as I do that under proper regulations the expenditure to be incurred in making roads and railways through this fine portion of the country would be nearly if not wholly recouped by the sale of the timber growing thereon, and thereafter the land sold by the Crown for as high, or possibly, in some instances, a higher price than it would now realize. In the Province of Canterbury lately, bush land realized £40 sterling per acre. lam quite sure that no private person or corporation would part with the land at a nominal price, with the knowledge that hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling would be lost by the wholesale destruction of these splendid forests. Another question during my journey presented itself to my mind, namely, seeing that the railway to Masterton is now under authorization and parts thereof under contract, I venture to point out how desirable it would be to (if possible) make the present partially newly-formed main road (known as Munro's Track) a railway or tramway at once, instead of, as contemplated, a metalled road. The formation now making by the General Government would, I have little doubt, with some slight alteration, be available for rails, and the bridges also ; while the cost of metalling the road (not yet done), from the scarceness of stone along the road, would go far towards the cost of rails, and the extra value thus given to this naturally splendid piece of country would in my opinion (in which opinion I am heartily seconded by Mr. Holdsworth) be very considerable to both sellers and purchasers. No piece of country in New Zealand that I have seen deserved a railway better than this. 4. In the absence of a proper survey of the country, it is impossible for me to give in this report exact boundaries of the land proposed to be selected; indeed, to do this with minuteness and great care, through a virgin forest, would entail the employment of a somewhat large staff of surveyors, linemen, and others, and at least three to four months of time in a different season of the year to that of nearly midwinter ; but so satisfied am I from personal observation of the general character and formation of the country through which we passed, together with information given to me by Mr. Holdsworth, Crown Lands Commissioner; Mr. Baker and Mr. Morrow, General Government surveyors; Mr. Munro and Mr. Stewart, Engineers in the Public Works Department of the General Government;