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WESTLAND. (Tiros. Bbook. Commissioner of Crown Lands.) Weather conditions during the past year have been exceptionally favourable to farming operations, and excellent results have been obtained in all parts of the district. Dairy-farming is making steady progress, the output increasing year by year as the holdings are being developed. The number of fat cattle disposed of in the Christchurch market far exceeds that of any previous year, and the prices realized—up to £26 10s. per head—prove that under present conditions they can be delivered in Christchurch in prime condition. Two education reserves in South Westland, containing 843 acres, were leased by public auction, and another of 851 acres in the vicinity of the Wataroa Dairy Factory was subdivided into four sections and disposed of on renewable lease. As showing the keen demand that exists for land of good quality, it is worth noting that 204 persons applied for these four sections. The Department of Agriculture has under consideration the establishment of an experimental farm in Westland, and farmers are taking a keen interest in the matter. Owners of suitable properties have been invited to place them under offer to the Government, but up to the present the selection of a site has not been made. Another project that is receiving considerable attention is the establishment of a plant for the production of agricultural lime in quantities sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the whole of Westland. A. representative committee has the matter in hand, and the relative values of several deposits of limestone arc now being investigated. . The sawmilling industry has been greatly hampered by a shortage of suitable labour and shipping. The output of sawn timber for the year is slightly over fifty million superficial feet, a very satisfactory result in the circumstances. Sawmillers have in obtaining whitepine in sufficient quantities to meet the keen demand that exists for it within the Dominion and for export to Australia. One hundred and seven Crown tenants are known to be serving with the Expeditionary Force and there are doubtless many others of whom we have no knowledge.

CANTERBURY. (W. H. Skinneb, Commissioner of Crown Lands.) Semi-pastoral and agricultural farms situate along the foothills and adjacent thereto had a good season. The rain did not fail them in the spring, as they benefited both from the northwest as well as from the south-west showers. The wheat, oats, and other crops were normal, and the turnips and rape were satisfactory. The rainfall was 39 in. along the belt from Oxford to Peel Forest, whilst on the lower plains only 24 in. fell during the year, mostly during the months of April, May, and July. During October, November, and December, when the crops required rain, there were only rare and light showers of little value; consequently all cereal crops were light. To make matters worse, an unexpected frost early in January caught the wheat on the lowlands between Ashburton and Ashley Rivers, reducing the value of this cereal to quite one-half of what otherwise it would have been. Large fields in the Ellesmere district, which previous to the frost had promised a return of 40 bushels and more to the acre, were so seriously affected that the owners of threshing-mills would not work on the usual basis of a sum per bushel, but insisted that if they threshed at all they should be paid by the hour; and the results did not exceed 12 bushels an acre. South of the Rangitata River the wheat was not frosted, and the yields of grain were good. The dry weather in the spring months was also responsible for a large area all over Canterbury of the light arable lands being devastated by the grass-grub Mamestra compositer, those pastures consisting of rye-grass "being the worse affected. Turnips were a failure except along the foothills, the diamond-back moth destroying where the turnips had grown, but in most places in the South the turnip-seed did not strike at all. Pastoral Country. —The licenses of sixteen pastoral runs expired on the 28th February, 1917, comprising ever half a million acres, which were dealt with as follows : Eleven were renewed at enhanced rentals to the old licensees, under the provisions of section 56 of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1913, and two were subdivided into nine parts, seven of these being offered as small grazing-runs and renewable leases under the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act, 1915. Of the remaining runs one was a temporary license, and two have been subdivided into four holdings. The Land Board is now dealing with twelve pastoral runs, comprising 325,722 acres, the licenses expiring on the 28th February, 1918. These have been referred to the Classification Commissioners. There has been ample feed during the season for all the flocks depastured on this back country. The losses during the winter were a little above the normal average. Lambing was satisfactory. The shortage of experienced musterers (nearly all the old hands have gone to the front) was sharply felt, and the mustering left a lot of sheep on the land and consequently unshorn. Tho shortage in quantity was more than compensated for by the exceptional high prices received for the wool, and the extra market prices secured for the culls of sheep flocks. Forward store cattle further increased the pastoral licensees' profits. Education Endowments. —Forty-one leases, comprising 9,344 acres, which expired during the year were dealt with. Further leases, numbering forty-one, with an aggregate area of 13,360 acres, will expire in March, 1918. These will be dealt with during the coming year. Some trouble