CROWN LANDS

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 222, 20 August 1931, Page 8

CROWN LANDS

LAST YEAR’S SELECTIONS. WELLINGTON, Aug. 20. Selections of Crown and settlement lands on all tenures during, the year ended March 31, 1931, totalled 368,000 acres, according to the annual report on Crown lands presented to Parliament. The tenants on the books or the department at March 31 numbered 37,178, occupying a total area of approximately 19,300,000 acres. PnstonM runs accounted for over 9,000,000 acres, while 1,872,000 acres of purchased estates were held under lease under the provisions of the Land for Settlements Act. . “Good progress has been made in the development of unoccupied Crown lands, and a considerable area of gum and pumice country is in hand in various localities,” the report says. “The various advisory committees have been busily engaged, with the result that a fairly complete investigation lias been made of idle lands remaining in the hands of the Crown. The position is changing from day to day as new areas are reported on, and more detailed reports come to hand on areas already investigated to some extent; but, from the information that has already been placed before the Lands Development Board, it appears that the areas under development, to be developed, or in respect of which special advances will be made to the selectors, will amount to about 130,000 acres, which should provide approximately 500 new farms. The greater part of this area is at present almost totally unproductive, and its development and settlement should materially assist in increasing the production of the Dominion.”

During the year 368,809 acres were taken upon various tenures, the number of selections being 1639 under all headings. These figures included some 605 sections, comprising altogether an area of 97,408 acres, taken up under miscellaneous leases and licenses, so that the selections on permanent tenures numbered 1034 sections, covering a total area of 271,401 acres. The receipts for the year from all sources (excluding Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Account receipts) totalled £1,005,700, a decrease of £269,406 on the previous year’s figures. The sunt of £265,625 was derived from ordinary Crown lands, £456,174 from lands held under the Land for Settlements Act (including Hutt Valley Settlement and Cheviot Estate), £112,608 from the national endowment and £109,775 from the education endowment. Cash received on the conversion of leaseholds to freehold tenures showed a decrease of approximately £48,000.