LAND COMMISSIONERS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1624, 29 April 1919, Page 2

LAND COMMISSIONERS.

A DOMINION CONFERENCE. Prexß Association. WELLINGTON, April 28. The Commissioners of Crown Lands met in Wellington at the request of the Minister of Lands for the purpose of considering matters of vital importance in regard to the administration of the lands of the Dominion. All the commissioners were present. The Minister, in opening the conference, set out the importance of the questions that Land Boards were dealing with at the present time and would have to deal with in future. He emphasised the fact that the effect of the war upon the Dominion in placing heavy financial burdens upon tie country would necessitate the most active administration of the lands of the Dominion to bring them into production as early as possible. Closer' settlement would have to be carried out with the utmost activity. It would "be their duty to deal with the dry lands of the country so as to bring them into productivity, and swamp lands which up to the present had shown such prospects of successful development must not be neglected. Unproductive pumice lands and gum lands would require the strictest attention of the Land Boards in whose districts tney were located, with a view to bringing forward recommendations for dealing with them in a practical manner. Another burning question concerned the high lands, especially those of the South Island. This question required most serious attention in the future, so that not only might present productivity be maintained, but increased wherever possible.