OPENING OF AUCKLAND LANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11432, 24 July 1900, Page 4

OPENING OF AUCKLAND LANDS.

OuR news, columns Bhow that the Government has • had another most successful sale of land in tho King Country; \', Thirty-seven thousand five hundred acres were surveyed into 1 41

sections, and 641 applications were received, covering 31 sections. -The land is therefore nearly all taken up, and mostly on the occupation with -right: of purchase tenure. There mil therefore be no ■ delay in bringing • it' into cultivation. v The success Vof - these , two • last; sales ; of land in the King Country " must prove to the Government that, the whole the land they own in that district could be disposed of as soon as opened. The Premier stated some time - since . that the : Government had determined to cease land purchase "operations. in : the King Country. Surely the results of these sales will lead Ministers. to reconsider this resolution. It is surely most unfair to this part of the colony that land purchase operations for. settling waste lands should bo stopped while the purchase of improved, lands is being continued in' the South.' It is far more profitable for the, colony that waste lauds should be brought into cultivation than that improved lands should be more closely settled than they have been. A large proportion" of the applicants for the lands just disposed of are from the South, showing that the King Country is becoming known as a favourable location. This land, it must be remembered, is taken up with considerable initial disadvantages. It is in a locality that is at present difficult of access, and there is little facility in the way of roads. This is a matter which ought to be seen to by the Government. Considering that the bulk of the waste lands which will be opened for some years to come are in the North, we regret that the successor to Mr. John McKenzie as Minister of that Department, was not a Northern member, with a local knowledge and a local interest. It is to be hoped that Mr. Duncan will, for the sake of the, colony, push forward the work connected with the putting of blocks on the market till all the land which the Government owns in the King Country is in profitable occupation.