The Pobrty Bay Herald \ AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30 1880

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1208, 30 December 1880, Page 2

The Pobrty Bay Herald \ AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30 1880

Collecting; some of the interesting returns furnished by the RegistrarGeneral; we find the total area of Crown lands sold : during the year amounted to .7-9,575 acres 1 rood 18£ perches. The cash received amounted t0' £146, "733 9s 2d. In addition, scrip representing the amount of £13,845 10s 6d was received in payment for lands purchased. The alienations without Sale amounted to 37,952 acres, of which 34,554 acres were for public reserves^ atld 2,561 acres to Natives of th\eir ovvn. land on evidence of ownership, in terras of the Native Lands Acts, or to Europeans by grants iin'der. the Acts. The total amount of land taken up on the deferred-payment system, from the beginning of the system to the 31st December, .1879, was 351,173 acres 2< roods 33 perches, for . which the receipts in cash amounted- to £174,127 18Md. The amount taken up^ during the year amounted to 36,471 acres 16 perches, the payments on account thereof having been £4,885 I4s -1 Od. The total amount forfeited *to the 31st December, 1879/' ;: was '32,880 - acres 1 rood 15 perches, and the amount taken up Wnich i[ hadbeen : finally alienated, the payments having-- been completed, amounted - on- the ; 31st _ December, 1879, to 79,324 acres 1 rood 19 perches.

Of the unsold Crown lands, 12,025,013 acres are held for depasturing purposes, 125,813 acres on agricultural leases, and 111,287 acres for mineral and other purposes.

Of Agricultural Statistics the information is only given in respect of holdings of cultivated land of upwards of one acre in extent, exclusive of holdings of aboriginal natives and of gardens attached to residences. The returns of the collections made in February and March, 1880, give a total of 23,129 of such holdings, against 21,048 in the previous year. Of the holdings in 1880, 15,326 were entirely freehold, 5,363 entirely rented, and 2,440 partly freehold and partly rented. The extent of land under grain crop amounted to 657,890 acres, against 571,558 acres in 1879, an increase of 86,332 acres, or at the rate of 15 per cent. The number of acres under green crops, potatoes, and other crops in February, 1880, amounted to 255,874 acres, against 247,887 acres in 1879. There were 3,341,299 acres in artificial grasses. Of these, 1,405,018 acres had been broken up previously to having been sown, and 1,936,281 acres had been surface-sown without having been broken up. The total extent of land under all kinds of crop, including sown grasses, and of land broken up but not under crop, in 1880, amounted to 4,506,889 acres. These numbers do not include any Maori cultivations. The extent of land under wheat in February, 1880, was 270,198 acres, against 264,861 in 1879. The estimated aggregate produce of the wheat crop in 1880 was 7,610,012 bushels, or an average of 28 bushels to the acre, against an average of 23 in 1879 Tn Otago the average reached as high as 31f bushels to the acre; In Canterbury it was 28 bushels ; In Auckland bushels ; and in Wellington 19f bushels. In Nelson the average fell to 1 3|- bushels. The extent of land under oats amounted to 330,208 acres, against 278.031 acres in 1879.

The produce in 1880 was estimated at 12,062,607 bushels, or an average of 36£ bushels to the aci-e, against an average of 33 bushels in 1879. The land in barley amounted in February, 1880, to 57,484 acres, with an estimated productionof 1,751, 432bu5he15, or at the rate of 30-| bushels to the acre. The area under potatoes in 1880 amounted to 21,260 acres, producing an average of 5£ tons to the acre.