THE SETTLER’S HANDBOOK.

Southern Cross, Volume 10, Issue 17, 26 July 1902, Page 6

THE SETTLER’S HANDBOOK.

If the people of New Zealand are not well-informed as to the characteristics and resources of the. colony, it is certainly not the fault of the Grovernment. Experts and inspectors abound, all eager to act as guides, philosophers, and friends to the farmer, dairyman, or grazier. Not content with the appointment of experts, the powers that be from time to time publish handbooks containing useful information regarding the colony. One of the most serviceable of these has just been issued in the shape of ‘ The Settler’s Handbook of New Zealand,’ for a copy of which we have to thank the Lands Department. The book, which can now be bought at the shops of any of the local booksellers, has been compiled by direction of the Minister of Lands, and edited by Mr R. A. Loughnan, It contains 320 pages, and is divided into eight parts. In the first section the lands available for settlement are enumerated, and the second supplies particulars of the routes, by land and sea, to every part of the colony. Part third is a summary of the land laws, and the fourth is replete with points as to cultivation, stock-raising, etc. Part five is devoted to forests and forestry. Part six, in many respects the most useful

section of all, sets forth the obligations imposed upon settlers by the laws of the statute book, the substance of 28 enactments being given. Part seven is occupied with a detailed account of the different counties into which the colony is divided. In the last part will be found details as to the cost of fencing and other subjects, almost every branch of farm operations being covered. The volume, which contains two good maps of the North and South Islands, can be confidently recommended to all interested in agricultural pursuits.