LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1215, 14 June 1895, Page 19

LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

PURCHASE OF THE OPOURIAO ESTATE.

We mentioned some time ago that the Government, acting upon the recommendation of the Land Purchase Board, had made an offer for the acquisition of the Opouriao Estate, situated about 10 miles distant from the mouth of the Whalcatano Rive? on the East Coast. The offer has just been accepted by the owners —the Opouriao Estate Company—and possession is to be given to the Government on the 31st January next. In the meantime the surveys necessary for the subdivision of the property will be undertaken. The estate has an area of 6704 acres, and the land consists for the most part of rich alluvial" flats, _ with a proportion of hill land. The alluvial deposit lies to a considerable depth upon clay and gravel. At present the whole of the flats are ill' pasture, so that it has not been depreciated in the slightest degree by cropping. The soil on the hills is light and will take grass fairly well. It is proposed to subdivide the estate into farms of from 100 to 105 acres each, containing, as far as possible, a proportion of both hill and low land. The tenure, of course, will be lease in perpetuity. Cabinet has also just resolved—upon the recommendation of the Land Purchase Board—to make offers for the acquisition of three estates in the Canterbury district.