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with English grasses. The value of improvements required is £8,217 4s. 2d., and the total value effected is £23,692 10s. Id. Two township allotments have only recently been selected, and all the other holders, with one minor exception, are residing and complying satisfactorily. This settlement has not suffered from the dry season so much as other portions of the district, and the tenants, with the help of a good lambing, appear to be prospering. Rosewill Settlement (between Timaru and Albury ; Levels and Mackenzie Counties). —Established March, 1904. Area purchased, 38,683 acres 2 roods 15 perches. The number of holders is 154, including two small grazing-runs, the balance being rural and village leases in perpetuity. The number of dwellinghouses erected is 145, and the resident population numbers 569 souls. The stock carried on the estate includes 34,827 sheep, 878 head of cattle, 730 horses, and 300 pigs. The area cropped last season comprised 7,138 acres in white crops, and 3,450 acres in green and root crops ; 21,406 acres was laid down in cultivated grasses; and the balance —6,310 acres —was in native pasture, plantations, &c. The total value of improvements required is £13,957 75., and the value of those effected £52,391 16s. lid. Excellent progress has been made during the year on this settlement, the increase in value of permanent improvements totalling nearly £7,000, in addition to the improvement effected by working and cleaning the land The holdings are all in good order, and the conditions of the leases well fulfilled. The tenants are a hardworking, practical body of men, and appear to be doing well. Morice Settlement (near Little River, Akaroa County).—Established December, 1905. Area purchased, 2,253 acres 2 roods 26 perches. The number of sections occupied is twenty-nine, on twentyfive of which houses are erected, nineteen of these having been newly built since the settlement was established. The population numbers eighty-three, and the stock consists of 580 sheep, 656 cattle (nearly half of which are dairy-cows), and 34 horses. There is practically no cropping done, the sections being used principally for dairying ; cocksfoot-grass seed was cut off about 777 acres, and yielded an average of about 1\ sacks per acre, the seed being of excellent quality. The value of improvements required is £1,050 ss. 9d., and value effected £5,367 Is. 3d., including fourteen miles and threequarters of new substantial fences. All but four of the tenants (who have not yet erected permanent dwellinghouses) have fulfilled the requirements of their leases satisfactorily. Kinloch Settlement (near Little River, Akaroa County). —Established March, 1906. Area purchased, 13,033 acres 1 rood 5 perches. The number of selectors is thirty, and the total population seventy-one. The stock carried includes 17,130 sheep, 916 head of cattle, and 70 horses, and in most cases a very good percentage of lambs was obtained. No cropping has been done, but cocksfootgrass seed was harvested off about 150 acres. There are eighteen dwellinghouses on the settlement, nine of these having been erected since selection. Most of the other tenants are camped on the ground, and some are waiting for the completion of the roads to enable them to get building-material on to the sites selected for their homesteads. About thirty-five miles and a half of substantial fencing has been erected at considerable cost, a seven-wire fence w'.th hardwood posts and iron standards costing from 18s. to £1 per chain. In six cases the lessees have not yet been in possession for twelve months, and, taking into consideration the difficulties of access, excellent progress has been made in improvements. The total value of improvements required is £2,547 ss. 10d., and the value effected £6,535 lis. 2d. Mills Settlement (near Waimate, Waimate County). —Established March, 1906. Area purchased 882 acres 2 roods 30 perches. The number of selectors is twenty-one, the population is seventy, and the stock consist of 190 sheep, 235 cattle, and 51 horses. Fifteen dwellinghouses are erected, and one tenant is residing in a tent t pending the erection of his house. In the other five cases the residence conditions are not being fulfilled, and four of these are also in default as to value of improvements. The necessary action is being taken in all these cases. The total value of improvements required is £414 3s. 9d., and the value of these effected is £2,713 Is. 6d. The area cropped last season included 224 acres in grain and 77 acres in root or green crops, the harvest from all being light; 36 acres is in plantations, gardens, &c, and the balance in pasture. Thirteen tenants are using their sections for dairying purposes, and supplying milk to the local creameries. On the whole, good progress has been made, and the settlement will prove a useful one, supplying a necessary class of small holding for the district. Homestead-sites and Low-lying Lands for Adjacent Pastoral Lands, &c. — There are ten of these blocks, with a total area of 1,224 acres and 21 perches. Four of them are residentially occupied, and carry a population of nine souls. The value of improvements required is £368 Bs. 3d., and the value effected is £1,801 lis. 1 Eric C. Gold Smith, Commissioner of Crown Lands. OTAGO. The main feature of land-for-settlement transactions during the year has been the disposal of the allotments in the new Settlements of Steward, Plunket (Corriedale), and Totara, which were opened on the 9th April 1906, sth February 1907, and 25th March 1907, respectively. The details in respect of these will appear in their chronological order. There was one forfeiture in the Greenfield Settlement, for non-residence, &c, the allotment being at once taken up again when reopened for selection. The lease of the lime-works at Makareao has been forfeited for non-compliance with conditions, and tenders for a fresh lease are about to be called for. The receipts for the year exceeded the estimate by £565

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