CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIV, Issue 10705, 15 July 1895, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

If laud is not available for close settlement in Can- , terbury, it can only be because the present owners

LAND FOB : SETTLEMENTS,

refuse to part with it, or seek a higher price than the Government is prepared to give for it. The report under the Land for Settlements Act, just laid on the table of the House of Representatives, contains some instructive figures bearing on this aspect of the problem. It shows that during the past year, of 208 properties offered to the Government no fewer than 112 were situated in the Canterbury land district. The total value of these, as represented by the prices asked by the owners, was =£1,184,645. The area was 357,570 acres, being about one-third of the total area offered throughout the colony. A large proportion of the land thus offered to Ministers for purchase was totally unsuited for the purposes aimed at by the Act. Of the 112 offers, twentynine were declined by the Minister without reference to the Land Purchase Board, the ground in nearly every ewe being that the.land was.unsuitable. In.

one case, wherein lour acres of land wert( offered for .£1360, the Minister declined to purchase, on the ground that the pries asked was too high. With regard to twelve of the properties offered, the Board recommended their purchase or part purchase, but the negotiations fell through because the owners would not accept the price tendered. In a large number of cases the negotiations are still in progress. Twenty-two properties, valued at £99,873, were offered at quite a recent date, and no decisive action had been taken with regard to them at the close of the colony's financial year. There is, therefore, hope that a number of these may be found ouitable, and will be acquired by the Government under the Laud for Settlements Act, If the owners decline a reasonable price, it will then be for the Government to consider whether the compulsory sections of the Act should not be brought into opesfr> tion with regard to these properties.

PARTIAL FAILURES.

While all the lands offered in the Canterbury district have been greedily snapped up by selectors, it is notice-

able that two estates acquired in the Otago and Marlborough districts respectively have not been so eagerly sought after* On this subject the following remarks occur in the report:— • - " With reference to the balance not yet selected, after deducting the area absorbed by roads and reserves, it leaved 1920 acres and 31 perches nob yet selected in Pomahaka, and 2826 acres not yet selected in the Blind Eiver Estate (six sections, containing 750 acres, have been selected in addition since March 31). The . annual rentals placed upon these nnselected lands arePomahaka £3OO 4s 2d, Blind Eiver £447 11s 5d (reduced since March 31 by the additional selection above, to £277 6s 7d). There are 487 acres of ordinary Crown land not purchased with the Blind Eiver Estate, bat which is included in the subdivision as naturally belonging to it; but it has been excluded in the above figures. The reasons why portions of these two estates hays not been selected up to this time are principally due to the fact that there has been a continual fall in prices since they were first purchased, la the case of Pomahaka the estate has suffered from attempts made to publicly depreciate its character. With, respect to the Blind Eiver Estate, the Commissioner of Crown Lands says:—‘Owing to the small area of Crown lands which was open and suitable for settlement in this district, it was confidently expected that this block would have gone off much more readily than it has. I think the reasons why it has not done so are the extremely low prices ruling for stock and’agricultural produce, and the Awatere Eiver being still uubridged.’” The lesson deduoible from these facts is that the ‘'earth-hunger'' being most pronounced in Canterbury, the Government policy of re-purchase should be most actively pursued in this district. It is to be hoped that we shall soon hjrfar of farther purchases of land in the'neighbourhood of Christchurch. Ministers ate understood to be only awaiting the result of the proceedings, connected with the compulsory acquisition of the Ardgowan. Estate before they take further steps in the same direction. If these steps bear any relation to the actual and pressing necessities of the case, the properties tp be acquired will be mostly in Canterbury. .

THE DAIET INDUSTRY,

Ope of the subjects dlf* cussed at the Dairy Conference, at Dunedin, lasfc

month, was (he insurance of dairy factories against fire and dairy produce against loss in transit. The executive of that very useful organisation, the National Dairy Association of New Zealand, has shqwu what may be accomplished by unity and energy by obtaining such insurance rates as could never otherwise, have been hoped for. The fire insurance rate has been reduced from 19f to 10s and 7s 6d for wood and brick factories respectively, and the marine rate from 12s to 7s 6d. The saying by this arrangement will be fully J 31500 per annum to the members of the Association, if they, avail themselves of the terms made for them by their executive; and thin is one more proof of the benefits which may be secured by joining the National Dairy Association. Thus far, the larger Canterbury dairy factories have held aloof, but this achievement of the Association should ensure their adherence. It is not prpbable' that the; good work of the Association will end hqrq j the freight question is one of greater importance than insurance, and as the beads of the Shipping Companies acknowledge that the Association is of benefit to them —in providing regular shipments and in other ways—they express their willingness to grant all possible concessions to the members of the Association as a body. Mr J. E. Scott, the energetic and enthusiastic secretary of the Dairy Association, having scored a point in regard to insurance, will be the more keen to obtain concessions in the rates of freight, and ho should most certainly have the support of everybody interested in the dairy industry.