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over 1,000 sale plans and posters have been distributed. In the Accountant's office 253 vouchers, representing a sum of £10,326 Os. lid., have been passed through for pre-audit and payment, and 238 vouchers, of a value of £2,229 17s. 6d., have been drawn against the Imprest Account. In the office of the Receiver of Land Revenue 5,964 receipts were issued for the year's revenue of £141,347 Bs. 6d. ; a sum of £2,777 17s. Id. was paid into deposit account, against which 154 receipts and cheques were drawn. A sum of £1,405 4s. sd. was paid into the Local Bodies' Deposit Account, and £1,242 16s. 7d. was paid out to local bodies for expenditure upon approved works. Eric C. Gold Smith, Commissioner of Crown Lands. REPORT ON THE CHEVIOT ESTATE. No fresh lands have been offered for disposal during the year, and, with the exception of a slight alteration of the area held under temporary occupation license, the number of holdings and areas occupied under the several tenures remain unchanged. The total receipts from all sources during the year have amounted to £14,293 12s. lOd. ; rents are generally well paid, with the exception of those for the grazing-farms, the lessees of which arc excluded from the benefits of the 10-per-cent. rebate, and are somewhat dilatory in remitting their payments. • Seven leases in perpetuity, comprising a total area of 1,221 acres i.nd 25 perches, and one grazingfarm of 966 acres 2 roods have changed hands by transfer during the year. The following is the Crown Lands Ranger's report on the general condition of the estate :— " It was to be expected that the long spell of dry summer weather would affect the returns from this estate, yet some of the crops gave unexpectedly good results. The 700 acres of wheat that was grown turned out an average of forty-five bushels per acre of good quality, as the best land is almost always selected for wheat-growing. The oat-crop varied a good deal: the area on which this cereal was grown was 2,320 acres, about 500 acres of which had been threshed, yielding an average of fiftytwo bushels to the acre; the remainder will be cut for chaff. Only 170 acres of barley was grown, chiefly of the Cape variety. About 3,000 acres were cultivated for turnips, but the bulk turned out poor, owing to the dry weather, and the same may be said of the 1,900 acres of rape. The total area cultivated this year was (approximately) 8,200 acres for crops of all kinds, and 400 acres of grass-seed harvested. From inquiries made I ascertained that on'y half the number of fat stock left Cheviot for market that went away during the corresponding period last year. From November to March 40,000 sheep (approximately) were sold by the farmers, but half that number were stores; after the rain during the first week in March the pastures and rape-crops recovered rapidly, consequently there will be more fat stock to dispose of later. The storms in the early spring played havoc with "the young lambs ; still, the average lambing was over 85 per cent. Eighty-nine thousand sheep were wintered on the leaseholds, and in addition to this flock the farmers had 1,150 cattle and 1,000 horses. Pigs are not a favourite stock, numbering only 280. There are 26,000 acres growing exotic grasses, some only surface-sown ; and 40,000 acres remain in native grass and tussock. It need hardly be said that the general condition of the estate is very good, and the remarkably quick recovery of the pastures after the long dry summer shows what excellent stock-raising land Cheviot is. The numerous plantations are becoming each succeeding year a more prominent feature of the landscape ; there arc (excluding the 140 acres within the homestead block) 347 acres growing shelter and ornamental trees. The area in gardens and orchards is 128 acres. The existing unprovements £.re kept in good order, and are being slightly added to, but the addition in value about equals the usual depreciation ; the value can be set down at the same as last year—viz., £100,000." Eric C. Gold Smith, Commissioner of Crown Lands.