Land for Settlement at Earnscleugh.

Otago Witness, Issue 2446, 30 January 1901, Page 54

Land for Settlement at Earnscleugh.

TO THE EDITOR,

Sir. — The following letter has been sent to the Minister of Lands re land for settlement on Earnscleugh. — I am, etc.,

A. C. Iversen.

To the Hon. the Minister of Lands.

Sir, — As we have never had a, definite answer as to whether your Government will open land for settlement on the Earnscleugb. block, we beg to request an answer at earliest convenience. There are a number of working men here who would settle if they could get a. piece of land, otherwise they will have to make homes elsewhere. As the dredging industry is going ahead in Australia, a number of men from here talk of going over there; but they would not do so if they could get land to make homes here. We received a letter from the Lands office, Wellington, stating that the Government intended to open land here for settlement, but the difficulty was that Earnscleugh was very high country with little low land for winter feed. That is not quite correct. There must be at least 30,000 or 40,000 acres below the winter snow level. The trouble is, nothing will grow on it without water. Two members of the Waste Lands Board, with. Mr Hay, surveyor, came up here and visited this ground asked for, along with Mr Iversen and another o[ our Land Committee. We feel sure that they could only repcrt that the land was most suitable for tSe purpose for which it was asked. When the surveyor (Mr Wilmot) was on the giound, Mr Iversen interviewed him as regards surveying the block, but the surveyor left without anything definite being done, which we cannot understand.

There cannot be any place in New Zealand more in need of land for settlement than the district at the present time, and therefore we hope that your Government will grant it. — Signed on behalf of the Land Committee, A. C. Iversen, Chairman.

During last month over 1015oz of gold were exported Jjrggj, the Westland digtj;i«W.