LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12929, 27 July 1905, Page 5

LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

SOME INTERESTING FIGURES. 716,224 ACRES PURCHASED FOR ' % £3,362,013., ' , I [fit TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] '..■■» Wellington, Wednesday." " : The land purchase inspector reports that there ' were 88 estates ' offered to ' the Government for, sale "last year, and 61 estates containing 723,984 acres were inspected. The Government approved of the recommendations regarding 114 estates containing • 219,695 acres. ■ The owners'' accepted the offers ; made for five. of these properties—-Long Bush, Greenfield, Hikawera (part of Tableland), Hawtrey (workmen's homes), and Selwyii. The purchase of Hikawera and Greenfield was completed during the year at a cqst of £87,976 for 24,648 acres, and Matamata, Edendale, and Mount Vernon, negotiated for last year and containing. 75,993 acres, were also purchased at a cost of £336,507. The total transactions finished in the year comprise five estates, ,containiug 100,641 acres, the prime cost of which was £424,483. The incidental • expenses,-''roads' administration,' and " charges' on debentures, amount to £64,733, making a total of £489,216. •: If to these transactions there, are added the purchases of past years, the total transactions become 136 estates, containing 716,224 acres, for which, the owners received £3,362,0i3, and £238,324 was spent on roads and other services. TJie purchase .of three other agricultural* and pastoral estates containing 180,087 acres, and which will cost about £209,000, has also been arranged for, and two small properties near- Wellington, containing 327 acres, have been secured for workmen's homes, at a cost of £26,920.; Values,. adds the inspector, have advanced, especially in the neighbourhood of Wellington, and the high prices given for good land in Canterbury and the west coast of the North Island render negotiations for suitable land difficult and hazardous. The rents collected- during the year amount to £149,606. ■ ' "'.'■■'