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at an annual rental of £377 18s. Bd. The receipts for the year were £248 10s. 5d., those from the commencement amounting to £873 Os. lOd. Value of improvements, £1,494 lis. 9d. ; cultivation, 548 acres ; number of houses, 15; persons resident, 55. The area in occupation, including reserves under miscellaneous license, is 2,291 acres 3 roods. (8.) Makareao Extension. —The Ranger's remarks on former estate apply to this also. The whole of the selection area of 2,570 acres 2 roods 9 perches is occupied by four tenants, at an annual rental of £296 15s. 4d., the rent paid during the year being £148 3s. lid. ; total to date, £296 15s. 4d. Value of improvements, £596 10s. ; cultivation, 196 acres; number of houses, 3 ; persons resident, 6. (9.) Momenta Estate. —This small estate, with a present selection area of 219 acres and 15 perches, is all let to fourteen tenants, at an annual rental of £210 35., including £25 ss. for Buildings Account. Ranger Hughan reports with regard to it as follows : " This is one of the best settlements for its size in Otago. Each settler has a dwellinghouse and all necessary improvements, which are far in excess of the requirements of the Act. There is a dairy factory and school adjoining the estate, and. the selectors milk about eighty cows for the factory. The tenants are well satisfied with their position." The rent paid during the year amounted to £186 12s. 10d., including £25 ss. on account of buildings, the total to date being £398 lis. 6d. Value of improvements, £1,808 12s. 6d.; cultivation, 122 acres, 64 acres being in oats, 23 acres in wheat, and 35 acres in root-crops ; number of houses, 14; persons resident, 49. (10.) Tokarahi Estate. —Ranger Atkinson reports, " On this estate the settlers generally have had a fairly successful year. The wheat-crop will yield comparatively well, although in some instances on exposed places it is very poor, having been checked by a high north-west wind at the latter end of November. The oat-crop is very good, and will yield well. The turnip-crop is exceptionally good, and will provide abundance of food for stock during the winter." Only three sections, with an area of 4 acres and 27 perches, are unoccupied on this estate, there being an area of 10,781 acres 2 roods 36 perches held by fifty-one tenants, at an annual rental of £4,101 145., including £96 Is. lOd. for buildings. There is also an aggregate area of 186 acres 3 roods 22 perches of reserves held under twenty-seven temporary licenses, at an annual rental of £16 9s. 10d., twentyfive of which licenses are held by lease-in-perpetuity tenants on the estate. The total annual rental is thus £4,118 3s. lOd. The receipts for the year amounted to £2,880 18s. 7d., the total from inception being £5,637 Is. lid. Value of improvements on the land, £6,665 14s. 6d.; cultivation, 4,119 acres, 983 acres being in oats, 2,695 acres in wheat, and 441 acres in root-crops; number of houses, 39 ; persons resident, 116. The selectors on this estate had a very unfavourable year at the commencement, and hence are somewhat behind in their payments; but given another favourable season, there is every reason for believing that they will be put in a satisfactory position. Summary. —The following summary of totals in respect of the several estates may be of interest: Number of estates, 10; number of selectors, 298; area in occupation (in addition to reserves, 390 acres 2 roods 11 perches) 38,548 acres and 10 perches; average to each selector, 129 acres 1 rood 16 perches. Annual rental, including temporary reserves and Building Account, £12,064 3s. 6d. Area unlet at 31st March last, 380 acres and 33 perches; annual rental of unlet area, £90 Is. Bd. Receipts during"the year, £9,249 17s. 3d.; receipts from inception to 31st March last, £28,608 7s. 7d. Value of improvements on 31st March last, £34,639 os. 2d. Area in cultivation —oats, 5,495 acres; wheat, 6,698 acres; root-crops, 2,451 acres: total, 14,644 acres. Number of dwellinghouses, 234 ; number of persons resident, 827. Martin's Bay Settlement. Ranger Mackenzie reports on this settlement on 17th April, 1899, as follows : I have the honour to forward report upon my recent visit to Martin's Bay Settlement. I left the Greenstone on the morning of the 20th March, and at 6 o'clock in the evening reached the Greenstone Hut, which stands about a mile after leaving the Greenstone Gorge. It is a slab hut with iron roof, erected last winter. This is always the first stage going this route, making an early start. The road is very good up the open valley ; there is not the slightest difficulty for any one going for the first time to find the best road, as there are fifty poles, put up at every point where there would be any difficulty in river-crossings or swamps, also at the entrance of the bushes. Great improvements have been made on this portion of the track—l mean from the entrance of the bush to the saddle. It used to be dangerous crossing the deep bogs, but now there is a good firm track ; indeed, the track all the way down to the head of the lake is in very good order. I then rode down the lake track to the settlement. This is the worst part of the journey, but I found little or no difficulty in getting through. One tree had fallen over it, but this was easily got round without using an axe. At the same time the track is a very rough one—so many high, steep bluffs rising up from the lakeside necessitate an abrupt ascent, rising sometimes 300 ft. or 400 ft. up a very steep grade. The track has been badly laid off, as many of these places could have been avoided altogether, or a better grade found. There is often, however, a boat at the head of the lake, and when there is none I would suggest that if a party have a guide with them he should be sent round by the lake track and bring up a boat. The party meanwhile could stay at Pyke's Creek hut, and be exploring Lake Alabaster, which is close to the Chair, the scenery around being very fine. I had a very wet day going down the lake-side, but on getting out on the white shingle-beach near the township one forgets all the hardships of the rough mountain-track. I had a very kind reception by the three settlers —Mackenzie, George, and Campbell. They are all moving along quietly. George has about 100 acres cleared and in grass. Their sheep are increasing, but they trust chiefly to their cattle, which feed in the bush, where there is plenty of feed all the year round. Their great difficulty is an outlet for their produce. Their wool has at times been left six, and sometimes eight, months on the beach. They made great complaints of the irregularity of the steamer, which is generally a month or six weeks behind the time it is supposed to be there; so that, instead of having it calling four times a year, it only makes three trips, and they are often out of provisions. One house had no sugar, and flour was getting scarce. The steamer, they said, should have been there three weeks before, but they did not know when it would come. They said a steamer calls