CROWN LANDS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1192, 29 July 1911, Page 14

CROWN LANDS.

TEE BOARD AND AGGREGATION.

A very closo scrutiny is usually given by tho Wellington Land Board to any applications for tho transfer of Crown lands that may lead to aggregation of holdings. At Thursday's meeting (and us continuation yesterday), a number of transfers wero rejected on this account, jiio .Land Board, in certain districts, lays down a maximum area, governed by tho value of the land and its surroundings and beyond this limit, unless for some very special reason, no' transfer is allowed; and a considerable portion of tho sitting was devoted to this class of business.

In an appeal case from the previous mceting- a case of property near Ponga-roa-a transfer of'MO acres to a settler already holding 200 acres was sought for; and although the holder of the 200 acres said he would have to leave tho district it he could not get the transfer, tho Commissioner (Mr. Jas. Mackenzie) and tho board were very firm, and kept to their former decision. It was pointed ?" 1 ' -to**™., that no objection * woul be offered to ha f of tho -100 acres beiu" transferred, or if an entirely new settlor came forward, no obstacle would bo placed in the way of the transfer of the whole 400 acres to him.

A similar caso was that in which a young lady whose family held a lartro area sought to obtain another 325 acres iho Crown Lands Hanger said she had admitted to him .that tho property was for a brother already holding a substan-

An applicant in. the Ohau district, who I.J • iho P revlo,l s twelve months had obtained a transfer of a Crown section and had turned it over at a good profit now sought, to secure another larger area. Iho Commissioner, who knew the land pointed out that while this SO rt of trTvl action might be quite legitimate i n prfl vate dealings the board did not own and for settlement in this way, parK larlv when so many would-be genuine settlers could not secure an acre 5 Tho transfer in this case was also refused