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Sess. 11.—1891. NEW ZEALAND.

CROWN LANDS DEPARTMENT (ANNUAL REPORT ON).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Secretary for Ghown Lands to the Hon. the Minister- of Lands. Sic, — Department of Lands and Surveys, Wellington, 30th June, 1891. I have the honour to forward herewith the annual report and returns of the Crown Lands Department for the twelve months ending the 31st March, 1891. I have, <fee, The Hon. J. McKenzie, Minister of Lands. S. Percy Smith, Secretary for Crown Lands.

REPORT. Duking the period ending the 31st March last the lands have been administered under "The Land Act, 1885," and the amending Acts of 1887 and 1888, and regulations made thereunder. There are no very prominent features in the transactions of the last year which distinguish it from other years since these Acts came into force, if we except the larger amount of cash sales which have taken place in the Canterbury District, as will be seen by the returns. The following summary will show at a glance the year's transactions, whilst full details will be found in the appended tables : — Number of xsh . al ' a So «P Purchasers or Area. Received on Gurbeleotors Transactions. a. b. p. £ s. a. Town lands ... ... ... ... ... 145 102 3 37) Surburban lands ... ... ... ... 50 365 136 102,499 9 5 Rural " 378 99,545 1 36J Deferred payment ... ... ... ... 258 34,091 025 45,374 7 1 village settlement .. ... 51 369 2 0 3,290 5 0 Special-settlement associations, deferred payment ... 2 71 0 0 11,148 0 2 Village settlement, cash ... ... ... 87 210 0 14 968 2 0 Perpetual lease ... ... ... ... 788 288,916 234 32,683 16 8 Village settlement, perpetual lease ... ... 56 954 0 6 246 2 7 Village homestead special settlement ... ... < 10 349 337 1,949 13 1 Agricultural lease ... ... ... ... 4 550 3 6 463 15 5 Small grazing-runs ... ... ... ... 43 86,161 1 20 11,831 9 7 Homesteads ... ... ... ... ... 9 945 0 0 Pastoral runs ... ... 195 1,596,600 315 125,473 3 9 Table T, attached hereto, will show the tenure under which lands have been taken up since 1881; but, in order to compare last year's transactions with those of the previous period, the summary given above may be stated as follows : Classifying all dealings under the headings of cash, deferred-payments, perpetual-lease, and pastoral leases, we have, — 1890. 1891. No. Area. No. Area. Cash ... ... ... ... 702 47,478 acres ... 661 100,222 acres Deferred payments ... ... ... 426 47,181 315 35,081 „ Perpetual lease 852 238,904 „ ... 854 290,248 „ Pastoral 308 3,794,636 „ ... 195 1,682,761 „ It will be seen from the above that, whilst the total number of cash purchasers for both periods does not differ very greatly, that the area selected during 1890-91 is more than doubled, or, in other words, that the holdings have increased in size ; and, taking the rural selections for the two periods as criteria, it will be found that the average size of the selections has risen from 128 acres in 1889-90 to 263 acres in 1890-91. This change in the total amount taken up is due in great I—C. 1.