CANBERRA

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 54, 5 March 1927, Page 9

CANBERRA

LEASEHOLD AT THE CAPITAL (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, 24th February. A tour of the Federal capital and the surrounding country will be an eyeopener for the Eoyal visitors. One of tho most active bodies at the capital to-day is the Federal Territory Lessees' Association. The fact that a city population at Canberra will alter the whole aspect of the surrounding land settlement in the near future, that woolgrowers will benefit only to a limited extent by that development and change, and that farmers, fortunate enough to hold picked areas, will be provided with a handy market for their produce, led to the formation of tho association. Canberra used to be known as a dis-' trict of land monopolists. Only a few years back the bleating of a few sheep alone broke tho silence of the great empty plains. . Things are different today. The territory has now earned recognition as a successful experiment in closer settlement on the leasehold form of tenure, tho only tenure wiuch is recognised by the Federal Government. Graziers recognise that tlu.-y are not assessed, in their rentals, viglit up to the capital value of the lands immediately outside the new city, and are becoming perturbed at tho prospect of a move in that direction.