Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, MAR. 16, 1910. LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12698, 16 March 1910, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, MAR. 16, 1910. LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

The settlement of the Ngatapa estate; which is made ail accomplished fact by tho ballot held at the Crown Lands office this afternoon is a matter for. .general congratulation. A property of 10,500 acres that was formerly part of a large sheep station- . ! and patrolled by v few shepherds. will presently bo occupied by twenty-live industrious settlers and their families, ahd if experience m connection with other' settlements of a similar nature m this; district is repeated, its produc-} tivity will bo 'highly ' increased. The fact that there were no less than 127 applicants for the land, 107 of whom are residents of this district, and all able to satisfy tho Land Board as to their bona fides and ability to carry .out tlie work Of 'developing tho properties, should be sufficient evidence that there is a genuine, demand for hind for settlement m tluS district, as well as m tho South Island whero repeated : applications are being mado to tho Government to extend their operations under the Act. Last week thero wcro 354 applicants, for tho 24 section of the Tripp settlement m Orari Gorge, Canterbury, and a short time previously 167 seekers of land "put m for a. small grazing run thrown open m, the iKaikoura district. There can be no comparison' between the fertility of such [land as that at Ngatapa and tho sections 'm the Orari Culverden and other settlements m ' Canterbury that have heen i opened by the Government, and though (toe price "paid and the rents- fixed may be higher m the case of- North --Island"' lands wo have no doubt that the Government policy, so for as this district is concerned, will be well justified by results. .A point inj. which the Land for

Settlement Act is defective was, however, brought out m connection with the ballot for the Tripp settlement. The Commissioner, of Crown Lands for Canterbury, when explaining on Saturday why some, of tbe applicants had been excluded from thoballot, mentioned one or two little natters which should receive the early attention, of the Legislature. Mr Flanagan, of course (says the Lyttelton Times), could speak only m general terms m pointing out that the tenant of a small holding under the Land for Settlements Act could not ballot for a larger section under, the same measure unless he divested himself of his first, lease. The effect of this is that a man occupying only a few acres, quite insufficient for the maintenance of himself and his family, is debarred/ from competing for a larger holding by the .verylaw that was intended to help him m getting a footing on the land. The Land Board, as the Commissioner remarked, cannot alter the law, but Parliament, should see the justice of doing so at the earliest possible moment. Tlie restriction is made .all 'the .more irksome by the fact that wealthy people, who do not happen to suffer from this particular disqualification, may enter the 'ballot -and hold any section they may be lucky enough to draw. One' of "the applicants for a small grazing run on the Tripp' : settlement was able to show himself possessed, of £10,000 or £12;000 m -hard 'cash,' and no objection could be raised to his competing with people who had no chance of acquiring a -freehold. If this is' a fact,,, it seems rather, hard, as, our Christchurch contemporary remarks, that men who held leases not worth more than £200 or £300 \ should haye 7 been .'excluded from the ballot.