SELECTION OF GROWN LANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9378, 30 May 1889, Page 5

SELECTION OF GROWN LANDS.

[BY telegraph.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Wednesday. The Minister of Lands has received from the Tauranga County Council a circular, in which they ask to have all the Crown lands of the colony, wherever situated, thrown open for selection at any time without the present cumbrous system of public notification by the Governor, and a long delay between that public notification and the time at which selection may be made, to remove every unnecessary restriction from the selection of lands, and to give every intending settler the privilege of at any time securing for himself by application to the Land Office of the district any piece of land he may be desirous of selecting, whether already surveyed or nob. The circular encloses the draft of a petition which is to be presented to Parliament next session, purporting to emanate from the County Councils throughout the colony, settling forth that the petitioners verily believe and are truly informed that it has happened on many occasions that gentlemen travelling through the various districts of the colony, and on the look-out for land suitable for settlement, have been desirous of obtaining portions of Crown lands which appeared suitable for their purposes, but on making inquiry as to whether such land was obtainable or not, have been met with the response that in the case of lands declared open for selection, the land might be obtained at the end of the currency of the public notification, and that in the case of lands not so declared open for selection a considerable delay mußt necessarily ensue before such land could possibly be acquired, and that thereupon jsucn intending settlers, being unable to waib the length of time prescribed by law, and recognising the precariousness of their chance of ultimately obtaining the land wished for, have been obliged either to purchase at an exorbitant rate land already alienated from the Crown or to remove to another country, to the great loss and detriment of this colony. The Minister of Lands informs me that ho has no occasion to determine a matter which is to be referred to Parliament, but it would appear that the notification is necessary to give every colonist the oppor- . tunity of selection. As to gentlemen travelling through the various districts on the lookout for land, complaint had often been made that such travellers would have an advantage over the ordinary selector unless the notification were sufficient.