The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1885.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5882, 7 October 1885, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1885.

The hnd available for settlement in New Zealand is' not quite two millions and a quarter acres. . This land is suitable for putting people on, or could be easily made so, by making roads through the various blocks. The land is divided as to locality as follows :—ln: — In Auckland distrio't, 450,000 acres; Taranaki, 120,000; Hawko's Bay, 100,000 ; Wellington, 300,000 ; Nelson and Marlborough, 51^760 ; Canterbury, 180,000 ; Otago, 860,000 ; and Southland, 140,000. The total ' quantity being 2,201,760. Westland and tho West Coast of the Norlh .Island have not been included in tho return we aro quoting from, as there " aro no' blocks of land in either district expressly, suitable." Of the area available ia the Auckland district, most of that to the north of the Waikato is described as being well adapted for fruit growing, dairy farming, arid forsnnjll settclrs. Most ~of tho country is well wooded and undulating. There are, however, large areas of open country, some of it being covered with fern. The land in Taranaki i"b mainly level bush, but roads are much required. Near Opunake, Eltham Road,-, there are 20,000 acres of level bush land. This land is from six to fifteen miles from Opunake by a level line of road, which requires more formation for winter, traffic. , The land is at, present withheld for .speciul settlement. To .the east, of the mountain and the railway lint, also in the Waitara valley, there are some hundred thousand acres of bush land which would' be well Adapted for small settler's, but to be made available it 1 requires roads to be made to open it out. In Hawko's 'Bay, owing to its irregular Surface, the land is better suited for grazing purposes, while that in Wellington consists chiefly of bush, welt suited for small farmers and graziers. Ten thousand acres of the land in the Marlborough district are described as bush, but good soil, suitable for email farms. 'Jn-danterbury-there aro^ in one block, " JOO,OOO acreg'of open grass land, fit for cropping." In Otago IOO',QOO acres are ia a single block on the \yaikawa river with a frontage ofjforty wiles to the coast line. This block possesses two fajr harbours for coastal steamers and several boat harbors, and the surface is alternate ridge, and valley. There is another block of 80,000 acres that the Otago Central Bail-way-wll'tap. This, liowev'er, . like |hat last referred to, is" very rough country, probably, however, Buitable ,for pasture. Tho bulk of the land in Southland is forest — being good soil, but requires opening up. by ptyds. ;