OTAGO CENTRAL LAND SETTLEMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3003, 4 October 1911, Page 12

OTAGO CENTRAL LAND SETTLEMENT.

AN IMMINENT PROBLEM. (From Our Own Correspondent.) ALEXANDRA. September 29. The land hunger in this district has reached quite an acute stage, and is engaging the serious attention of the whole community. Areas for occupation. leases have been pegged off on Galloway Flat, ranging from 35 acres to 100 acres. As the proposed Manuherikia River irrigation scheme commands the whole land on this fertile flat, the matter has been taken up by the local Settlement League. As the result of a meeting of the league, a strong protest has been made to the Land Board and the Minister of Lands against the granting of these areas. It is contended by the league that the eyes will be picked out of the best of the land, leaving the more inferior land unapplied for, and the whole affair may endanger the proposed scheme of irrigation. The opinion of the league is that as the land is all Crown lands, and the water is owned by the State, every person should have an equal chance of balloting for the sections, and it is further advocated that where the first-class land is applied for, areas of from 15 to 20 acres only should be granted, instead of larger areas, as are applied for. The whole land is highly adapted for fruit culture, and it was said at the last meeting of the league that the land, even in its present state, was worth • fully £2O an acre for fruit cultivation. As the Land Board intends visiting, this district, the league has asked that the board shall visit Alexandra, and confer with the league. The land is all included in - the Galloway run, and cannot be" resumed until 1916, as it is pastoral country, but it is said that the land can be taken up under the occupation lease; hence .the applications. The league holds that the land should be, sub-

divided and laid off in suitable areas, instead of allowing applicants to peg off any portions, and thus interfering with the closer settlement problem in this district.