LAND SETTLEMENT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1194, 18 January 1895, Page 8

LAND SETTLEMENT.

For more than a year past hundreds of anxious eyes have, figuratively speaking, been turned to tho celebrated Awarua Block in the expectation that it would bo thrown opon for settlement. It will, therefore, interest tho public to know that tho time is at hand. On tho 13th of March next two township blocks in tho Awarua, the first of that land to ho brought into tho opon market, will ho submitted to public competition at Ohingaiti. Ono of thoso is tho township of Mangawoka, hitherto known as Threo-Log Whare, which there was a proposal some timo sinco to N call Stovonsvillo. It has boon cut up into quartor-acro township and suburban lots, which will bo sold for cash, while the village sottlomont sections will bo oilorod for loaso in perpetuity. On tho same date similar sections in tho township of Taihapo (hitherto known as Hautapu and also in tho Awarua Block) will likowiso bo olTorod. At Ekotaliuna on Tuesday, tho 6th March, township soctions (for cash) and village settlement sections (for loaso in perpetuity), situated township of Pongaroa, on tho Alfi od-ton-Weber road, and adjoining tho Pahiatua Nos. 1 and 2 farm homestead settlements, will bo submitted to public competition. Tlio Land Purchase Commissioners, who are now in tho South, havo been making selections of land in the vicinity of Christchurch, with a view to tho Government acquiring a sufficient area under tho Land for Settlements Act for tho purposos of close settlement. Certain lands in the Wairarapa and Marlborough districts aro under offer to the Government. Tho next meeting of tho Board of Land Purchase Commissioners will not tako place until next month. Tho Survey Department are now engaged in preparing plans for tho land sales on the Awarua Block and in tho Forty-mile Bush which wo have already announced. In Mangawoka township (Awarua Block) 58 township sections, avoraging a quarter of an aero, aro to be offered, find 29 suburban sections, ranging from ono to four acres in area. In addition 29 village homestead sections, containing 109 acros in all, are to bo disposed of on lease in porpotuity. Tho saio is to take place on the 13 th March at Ohingaiti, where also applications will be received for the village homesteads,the balloting for them to take place tho following day. Mangaweka (hitherto known as Three-Log Whare) is situated on tho North Island trunk railway lino and is 12 miles distant from Mangaonolco, the present terminus. It is also at the junction of tho road now being constructed to Pemberton. At OhiDgaiti on the same date HQ Taihape township sections (Awarua Block), averaging a quarter of an acre, will be offered for sal© ; also a number of suburban sections. This township is situated near the Hautapu river crossing, and tho proposed route for the railway passes it. At Ekotahuna on the 6th March tho following sections, all situated in thriving settled districts, will bo offered for sale:—Throe soctions containing 46 acres at Kopuaranga, at tho junction of tho Dreyer’s Rock and Barton roads; also ono section of 168 acros to tho eastward of tho Mauricevillo railway station. Four soctions, about three roods each, at Hasbwell, on tho main coaeli road from Mastorton to Ekotahuna, find 21 miles distant from Masterton. Three of ono aero each at Manganmhoe Village Settlement, near tho Kopuaranga railway station, Forty-milo Bush. Oamaru, January 11. A public meeting was held to-night, at which it was decided to wait on tho Minister for Lands as ho passes through Oamaru, and urge upon him tho desirableness of opening up land for settlement near Oamaru. Tho Ardgowan Estate was mentioned as the most desirable. This estate contains between 4000 and 5000 acres, and lies close to the town. Christchurch, January 12.

At the quarterly meeting of the Progressive Liberal Association to-night, a motion was carried, “That this meeting calls upon the Government, if unable to obtain land otherwise, to at once bring tho compulsory clauses of the Lands for Settlement Act into oporation, so that a large number of settlors may bo located before the ensuing winter.”