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Ist November last year preference seems to have been given to cash-purchasers, and applications under the perpetual-lease tenure began to come in freely. Owing to the mountainous character of the present available lands left in the Nelson District, the Land Board will require to exercise very great care in dispensing with personal residence under the tenure of the present Act. Village Homestead Special Settlements. —Nine selections of 5 acres each, being portions of an endowment, have been taken up in the Mokihinui Settlement. Advances of £10 each have been made to two occupiers who have erected houses, and bush-clearing is generally proceeded with. Some of the settlers obtained work, found by the Government, in clearing bush for the formation of roads to the settlement. Pastoral Occupation Licenses. — Sixteen of these were granted for areas over 500 acres, amounting to 186,821 acres of mountainous back country. A large area of this was let at a peppercorn rent for the destruction of rabbits. Sixteen licenses for small areas under 500 acres were granted, amounting to 2,013 acres. A number of pastoral licenses expired on the 28th February last, having been let for a term of ten years. Before dealing with these, having in view the large increase of rabbits in the district, the position of the lines of rabbit-proof fences erected by the Hurunui Babbit Board, and other matters, the Land Board resolved to request the Government to appoint a Commission for the classification of these lands under clause 189 of the Land Act. The Commission was duly appointed on the 14th March, and consisted of the Chief Surveyor, also Commissioner of Crown Lands, and Messrs. W. Scaife and B. Kerr, who personally examined the country. They had not returned on the 31st March, consequently their report is not yet available. Midland Railway Company's Lands. —During the year the company selected, under clause 16 of their contract, an area of 1,914 acres 2 roods 13 perches, contained in coal leases on Blackball and Ford's Creek, Grey District, subject to all existing rights affecting the same; also Block 127 of schedule, containing 44,002 acres. Miscellaneous Leases and Licenses. —One flax and four prospecting licenses on lands outside mining districts have been granted during the year, under the regulations of "The Mining Act, 1891." The output of coal and royalties received from mines held under Acts previous to " The Coalmines Act, 1891," is as follows, viz.:—

Revenue. —The revenue from Crown lands during the year amounts to £19,522 14s. Id., and that from endowments to Harbour Boards and other bodies to £11,613 lis. Id., making a total of £31,136 ss. 2d. John S. Browning, Commissioner of Crown Lands.

CANTEBBUBY. Having in my last annual report submitted for your consideration full particulars of the then existing condition not only of the Crown lands but of all areas held under the various systems of the Land and cognate Acts, it may suffice if this year's report touches upon such matters only as call for special notice. Lands opened for Selection. —Owing to the limited area of lands suitable for settlement, the utmost efforts of the Land Board and this office only resulted in the following lands being opened for sale or selection. To supplement as far as possible the foregoing area, the Crown gave notice to the pastoral tenants that Bans Nos. 20, 22, 24, 26, and 37, known as Three Springs, Bollesby, Albury, Opawa, and Cannington, would be reserved for settlement purposes on the 31st March, 1893. In pursuance of this notification the whole area of 16,820 acres has been subdivided into thirteen blocks, and will be submitted for selection on the 17th May, 1893, under the optional clauses of "The Land Act, 1892." Taking advantage of the provisions of section 107 of the same Act, Mr. David McMillan and I inspected the Lake Ellesmere lands, and, with the concurrence of the Land Board, proposals dated the 7th February last were submitted to you for dealing with 24,890 acres of the Lake Ellesmere Eeserve lands under the lease-in-perpetuity system. The adoption of these proposals will meet what I believe to be a pressing demand for settlement-lands in that part of the district. Lands disposed of. —Of the area of Crown lands disposed of during the year, 12,777 acres were taken up under the cash and settlement conditions, and 76,277 acres as pastoral runs. The former comprised, under heading " Cash," 790 acres, in four perpetual-lease areas, made freehold; 293 acres of excess areas on fifteen prior applications; the balance of 500 acres being made up of small sections sold as lands of special value or selected in ordinary course. As a matter of fact, the cash-sales proper amount only to the latter area of 500 acres. The deferred-payment selections were in Eeserve No. 288, Bakaia. The lease in perpetuity, which is evidently appreciated, includes selections in various districts. The perpetual-lease selections are also scattered. The village - settlement

Mines. Output. Royalty, 6d. Less Dead-rent n ,. • -, ■ -,.-, i Koyalty received, paid in advance. J J I Grey Coal Eeserve — Brunner Mine Coal-pit Heath Buller Coal Eeserve— Westport Coal Company Collingwood Coal Company ... Tons cwt. 81,419 4 96,825 0 £ s. d. 2,035 9 6 2,420 12 6 £ 480 250 s. d. 0 0 0 0 £ s. d. 1,555 9 6 2,170 12 6 198,377 0 1,961 10 4,959 8 6 620 112 0 0 0 0 4,339 8 6