THE LINDSAY ESTATE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5563, 14 April 1905, Page 5

THE LINDSAY ESTATE.

NUMEROUS APPLICATIONS. EXAMINATION OF INTENDING SETTLERS. (By Our Special Reporter.) NAPIER, April 13. Tho members of 'tho H'awko’s Buy Laud Board, with tiro Crown Lands Commissioner as chairman, were kept busy all to-day at Wtupawa examining intending settlers who hare put In applications for the Lindsay (Mount Vernon) estate. This was with a view to ascertaining that they have sufficient capital to work tho laud. Tuo ballot takes place to-morrow. The examination was conducted in camera. Tho applicants come mostly from various parts of the Hawke’s Bay province, though the list also includes people from Canterbury, Wairarapa, Munawatu, Taranaki, and elsewhere. There are altogether 222 applicants for tho 12,431 acres thrown open lor occupation in 50 sections. They are a very desirable class of settlors, whoso cash jiossessions vary from £3OO to £2OOO. The demand for the Lindsay settlement is just as keen as that for the Hatuma sections, the applicants for both being about equal. Lindsay is perhaps more valuable all round than Hatuma, tmd more suitable for close settlement, though only portions of tho settlement are lit for firstclass dairying, viz., that part lying out towards Ouga Onga. The remainder is well adapted for general agricultural and pastoral purposes. The estate is close to tho Napier-Welhngton railway line, and adjoins tire townships of Waipawa, Waipukurati,, and Onga Onga. It is divided into twenty-eight ordinary farms of alluvial land of excellent quality, varying in area from sixteen to 335 acres; fifteen farms of mixed agricultural and pastoral land, of alluvial flats and roiling downs, nearly, all ploughable, varying from 233 to 595 acres; and thirteen suburban sections, varying from one and three-quarter to twelve acres. Two main metalled roads run through portion of the settlement, thus giving access to many of the sections.

Some years ago the owners of Mount Vernon cut up about 870 acres of their estate, which wore taken up on lease, and these holdings have been offered to the present tenants under the Land for Settlements Consolidation Act on loasc-in-perpetuity.. Most of these tenants will remain in occupation of their holdings. The late owners of Mount Vernon, Messrs Harding Bros., who retain the homestead block of about 2000 acres, have recently acquired the llaukawa station, near T© Ante. Considerable dissatisfaction is expressed by intending settlers in regard to the grouping system—a system, hy the way, which has not been viewed with favour by the various Crown Lands Commissioners throughout the colony. Under this system a selector applies for a certain section, and another section in that group may fall to his lot, as a result of the ballot. “Can’t I go in for another section in the group ?” is a question often put to the Commissioner. “No,” says the Commissioner; “the act forbids it.” Sometimes, of course, the difficulty is got over by mutual exchange on the part of successful applicants. In favour of the grouping system at is claimed tliat.it prevents a rush for any particular section, and thus the chance of success is spread over a largo number of applicants. Numerous applicants went away disappointed to-day, though only a very limited number were rejected on the grounds of insufficient capital. The total sum received by way “of deposits from intending settlers at Lindsay was £12,9.58 Jls Id, of which £9IOO 6s 5d was lodged with the receiver at Waipawa, and £3850 4s 8d at Napier. It is noteworthy, as indicating the general prosperity of Crown tenants in Hawke’s Bay, that very few of them are in arrears with their rents, and in this respect the Land - Board has had very little trouble. Surrenders and forfeitures have been few. The receipts from Crown tenants for the year ending March 31st last amounted to the satisfactory total of £53,000. The Minister of Lands passed through Waipawa by the express train this morning, returning from the Hawke’s Bay autumn show, en route for Wellington. Mr Duncan, however, found it impossible to break his journey here to he present at the ballot.