FUTURE OF THE PROVINCE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 133, 5 June 1919, Page 9

FUTURE OF THE PROVINCE.

LAND SETTLEMENT. A PROPOSED ADMINISTRATIVE CENTRE. The prowth of settlement in the South Auckland district, and the large areas of Crown and native lands which await the industry of man. and the increasing demand for soldier settlement, have directed during recent years much attention in the Waikato to the question of the creation of a special lnnd district with Hamilton as the prospective centre. At the opening of the Waikato Winter Show twelve months ago Mr J. A. Young, M.P. for the district, put in a strong plea for the subdivision of the Auckland Land District, and emphasised in no uncertain manner the claims of Hamilton as the administrative centre for the Auckland Land District should the northern peninsula of the province be sequestrated from the main district. Since then, the Auckland Land District, with its. total area of 21.133 square miles, with its population of over 283,000, has been ] subdivided into the Northland and Auck- i land Land Districts. While he approves of the subdivision of the district as essential to the more effective administration of land matters in the Auckland province, Mr. Young stoutly claims that in view of all the lands coming within the j scope of the operations of the Auckland Board, beintr situated to the south of the. | city, and mostly surrounding Hamilton to the north, cast, south, and -west, it j becomes increasingly obvious that the convenience and the requirements of the j Crown tenants make it inevitable that I Hamilton must sooner or later become the headquarters of the Auckland Land District. By comparison with the other land districts of the North Island prior to the subdivision. Auckland was nearly twice the area of the Wellington Land District, more than two and α-half times the 6ize of Hawke's Bay. and over six times larger than the Taranaki Land District. Notwithstanding the subdivision, the area of the Auckland Land District with the Northland cut out is still larper than the Wellington Land District by over two millions of acres. When it is considered that within the new Auckland Land District lives near:v one-quarter of j the population of the Dominion, and that ' it presents a larger field for prospective successful settlement than any other pro-1 vince. and in view of the jrreat work of ] land settlement ahoad of the country in ' connection with the repatriation of the i soldiers and the building up of the proS ductive power of the Dominion, it must Ibe easily seen that Hamilton is destined Jto become a preat metropolitan centre j for the vast hinterland of the centre of the North Island.