OWNERLESS LAND

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6844, 25 February 1929, Page 10

OWNERLESS LAND

Unique Position Created STEPS TO OPEN THE AREA During the last two years the Com* missioner of Crown Lands and his staff have been actively engaged in dealing with the 'problem at Pirongia of throwing open ownerless land for settlement. The position confronting the commissioner w r as unique. At the close of tho Maori War, Pirongia, which was then a military settlement, known as Alexandria, was subdivided into town sections, which were distributed among the soldiers. Some of the men accepted, title, while others went, away without doing so. Alexandria, never became the town that was expected. Most of the sections became overgrown with gorse and for years the unoccupied land has been a* menace to neighbouring farmers. The authorities could do nothing. Rates wore unpaid and the County Council found the process of selling tho land in default of payment too costly. Tho Hon. A. D. McLeod and tho Hon. O. J. Hawken visited Pirongia two years ago and a deputation of settlers awaited on them and asked that steps be taken to allow ownership ,of the unoccupied, unclaimed sections to revert to the Crown so that they could be offered for sale to the settlers iu the locality.

Great interest is being laken in the efforts of the Auckland Crown Lands Office to comply with'the instructions if the former Ministor of Lands to transfer the ownerless land to the Crown, instructions which have been confirmed by tho new Minister. A thorough canvass of the resident settlers ha,s been made by a local committee to ascertain the requirements of each settler with the idea of preventing overlapping and to ensure that the Commissioner of Crown Lands may see at a. glance what prospects there are of making a, satisfactory clearance of the sections affected.

At present officers of the department are considering claims to titles. A number of lega.l officers in Auckland and the province are engaged in the search for titles and in presenting claims and this work is expected to take about another two months, so it will be some time before tho .department will be in a position to advertise its intention of issuing a proclamation declaring unclaimed sections to bo Crown property. In some cases, where there is no definite title, claims to ownership are being made on the ground that tho present occupiers have had continuous use of the sections for 20 years.