THE FIELDING SETTLEMENT (REPORT ON THE PROGRESS AND PRESENT CONDITION OF).

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1877 Session I, H-27

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1877. NEW ZEALAND.

THE FEILDING SETTLEMENT (REPORT ON THE PROGRESS AND PRESENT CONDITION OF).

Return to an Order of the Souse of Representatives, dated 9th August, 1877. Ordered, " That the Government be requested to procure and lay before this House a statement showing the progress from the commencement and present condition of the Feilding Settlement, in the Manawatu District, with tabular statements exhibiting the quantity of land taken up and paid for to the Government by the Corporation ; the quantity of land sold to the public, distinguishing rural, suburban, and town, with the average price of each class and the total amount received, or to be received if sold on credit; the length of roads constructed, defining the character of the same, and whether constructed through bush or open, hilly or level land ; the number of immigrants introduced into the block under the auspices of the Corporation ; the amount of rates paid to the Manawatu Road Board, and the amount expended by that Board in the Manchester Block ; the gross total expenditure of the Corporation in connection with the undertaking ; and any general information which may enable the House to understand the position and prospects of the undertaking." — (Hon. Mr. Fo.v.)

Mr. A. F. Halcombe to the Hon. the Minister for Immigration. Slß,— Feildiug, 15th August, 1877. In compliance with your request I have the honor to submit, for the information of the General Assembly, a report of the progress and present position of the Feilding Settlement, together with the following appendices : — A. Memorandum of lands sold. B. Eeturn of road-work. C. Eeturn of immigration. D. Eeturn of road rates paid to Manawatu Highway Board, &c. E. Eeturn of expenditure summarized and in detail. F. Eeturn of state of survey of block. Gr. Copy of letter to the Hon. the Native Minister re road through Native reserve. Before commencing my report, I will state briefly, for the information of those to whom the subject is new, the conditions under which the Corporation has been working hitherto. The Feilding contract was entered into in December, 1871. It has subsequently been slightly modified, and its terms are broadly as follows, namely, — The Corporation became the purchasers of 100,000 acres of land, chiefly bush, at 15s. per acre, payment being made b} r bills bearing interest at 5 per cent., and maturing at intervals up to Ist April, 1882. The Corporation undertook the internal survey of the block, and became bound under heavy money penalties to introduce 2,000 statute adult immigrants to the settlement by the Ist April, 1878, and to have 2,000 persons settled on the block by Ist April, 1879. The Government, on the other hand, agreed to give free passages to the Corporation's immigrants (no free passages being at that time granted to any other immigrants) ; to lind employment for a current 200 labourers in or within ten miles of the block, at a rate of wages of ss. a day for four days in the week; and it was further agreed that a subsidy at the rate of £2,000 per annum for five years should be granted on an equivalent expenditure being made by the Corporation for road-work within the block. iSome difficulty was experienced in England in starting the undertaking, chiefly in consequence of the heavy penalties attaching to the non-fulfilment of the immigration and settlement clauses of the contract, and it was not until August, 187-3, that the first immigrants were shipped for the settlement. It may, however, be remarked in reference to this delay that, owing to the non-completion of the tramway from Foxton to Palmerston, it would have been impossible to commence colonizing operations more than about three months earlier than they were begun. Preliminary work had in the meantime been going on: a survey party had been at work some eighteen months, a commodious immigration depot had been erected at Palmerston, and preparations made at Feilding for the shelter and supply of the settlers. The first immigrants arrived in the colony in January, 1874. They were sent up to the depot at Palmerston, and forwarded on to Feilding as soon as possible. I say as soon as possible, for at that I—H. 27.

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time the difficulties of carriage between Palinerston and Feilding, a distance of twelve miles, were very great, the way being through a bush road for eight miles, the metalling of which was not then complete, and the rest of the distance being through a Maori reserve, over hills and gullies, without any semblance of a road ; and Palmerston beiug a comparatively new settlement, the hire of teams was difficult and very expensive. The first few days' experience of these immigrants on the block sufficed to show two things very clearly —first, that it was necessary to house them, as the majority were utterly helpless to provide shelter for themselves, and, having large families to support, required to be put to profitable work at once ; and second, that they must be concentrated while educating themselves to the novelties of their position, and while the lands they were intended afterwards to occupy were being made accessible by roads. Arrangements were therefore immediately made by me for erecting small two-roomed cottages, to be let to the immigrants at a rental of 7s. per week, the payment of which for three years was to give them the freehold of the cottage and an aero of town land on which it was built. Every available pair of sawyers was thereupon put into requisition ; arrangements were made for the erection of a steam saw-mill at Feilding, and for the first twenty cottages the timber was carted from Palmerston and Bull's, at considerable expense, before the winter set in. Spite of every exertion, however, the house-building could not be made to keep pace with the influx of the immigrants, who, on their arrival, had for a time to be put under bell tents, and small huts of timber loosely tacked together. The difficulties of the winter of 1874 can only be appreciated by those who had the responsibility of overcoming them. Although every possible effort was made to hasten the house-building, its progress was unavoidably slow, and the season being an unusually wet one the discomfort to large families of living in tents and huts, without fireplaces, was very great, and many of them remained in Palmerston, or removed elsewhere. To add to all the natural difficulties at this time, the Natives resident at Awahuri stopped all traffic on the road from Palmerston to Feilding, and I suddenly found the new settlement cut off from its usual source of supply via Palmerston, where I had at that time over £1,000 worth of supplies collected. As the population of the settlement numbered fully GOO souls, this was a very serious difficulty; and I had immediately to organize, at very heavy additional expense, an entirely new commissariat supply from the opposite direction for the two months during which the blockade lasted. Notwithstanding these drawbacks the settlement of the block proceeded rapidly. What with housebuilding, road-making, and the railway formation undertaken by the Corporation, and the work supplied by private persons coming in to settle on the block, work was abundant and wages very high. Our immigrants were, as a rule, employed by contract at prices by which experienced hands could earn very high wages. The newly-arrived immigrants were, however, most of them, very dissatisfied, especially those on bush-work; and it was only by the introduction of a number of colonial workmen among them that they could be convinced that the prices given them were not only fair but liberal. During the year 1874 no less a number than 570 immigrants were sent out to the settlement, and it was not until the month of May, 1875, that I was able to place the newly-arrived immigrants at once in their cottages. At this time (May, 1875) the resident population of Feilding and its immediate neighbourhood numbered upwards of 800; and although, in all other respects a very marked improvement had taken place, the settlement was still completely isolated, there being no decent road into the block. With the heavy traffic upon it, the track across the Maori reserves had become almost impassable, the flats were axle-deep in mud, the hillsides sttep and slippery, and the creeks would have been completely impassable had I not put temporary bridges over them. The contract price of carriage over that four miles was 30s. per ton in summer and £2 10s. in winter, and in the winter it was difficult to get the carting done even at that price. The Native owners of the reserves through which this track passed constantly threatened to shut it up entirely. They imposed a heavy toll on horsemen and vehicles, which we had to pay. For two years I implored the Native Office, in vain, to secure us a right of road, and the track was only kept open and a permanent road line granted to me by the Natives on my engaging, on behalf of the Corporation, to make and metal the road line through their property. I had to agree to this as there was no hope of the railway line being completed before another winter, and accordingly I constructed the roid during the summer of 1875-70, at a cost to the Corporation of £1,759 ss. lid. "While referring to this Native difficulty, I may observe that a similar obstruction now presents itself at the other extremity of the block. The Makino Eoad (vide map), from Feilding to Marton, has been formed from Feilding for a distance of fourteen miles, till it meets a Native reserve lying along the Bangitikii River, which is about a mile and a half through. Of the fourteen miles of the Makino Eoad, eight miles are now metalled, and the remainder, as well as the four miles of the Stanway Eoad, which opens the Town of Halcombe, will be completed during the coming summer. Over the Eangitikei Eiver, on the other side of the Native reserve, a bridge is being erected by the Government, at the cost of £7,000, which.will also be completed during the approaching summer. From this bridge good metalled roads extend to Marton and to other parts of the Eangitikei District; thus, by the end of the coming summer there will be complete communication, by the most direct route, between Marton and all the Upper Eangitikei District on the one side, and Feilding and Halcombe on the other side, with the exception of this wretched mile and a half of Maori reserve, which is at present an absolutely impassable barrier to any traffic. On the 18th May, 1875, I wrote to the Native Minister on the subject (Appendix G-), and a surveyor was sent to lay off a road line, but the Natives dispute the right, and even when the Natives are dealt with, unless the Government will construct this piece of road, it will remain undone; the funds of the Eoad Boards are insufficient, as are those of the County also ; and the Corporation has already been so freely bled for Native roads and highways outside its boundaries, that it can hardly be expected to spend another £1,000 to open this Native reserve also. At my urgent request but very few immigrants were sent from England during the year 1875. I was anxious to get breathing time to consolidate the settlement at Feilding, and to avoid at the new

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settlement at Halcombe the difficulties which had to be encountered at Feilding from the want of cottages. I therefore took advantage of the lull in immigration to establish a saw-mill at Halcombe, and to build a number of cottages there of a superior class to those at Feilding, sufficient to keep ahead of the expected immigrants; and for the convenience of their supply I encouraged the settlement of a few tradespeople, storekeepers, and others, as soon as the building of the town was started. The first immigrants arrived in Halcombe in April, 1876, and they were immediately housed and put to work on road-formation and house-building in the town and iis immediate vicinity. The railway to Feilding was finished in September, 1876, and, with a view to the employment of the immigrants to be sent to Halcombe, I endeavoured to make a similar arrangement for the continuation of the railway line through Halcombe as bad been made at Feilding. In this, however, I was not successful, as I could not agree with the Minister for Public Works as to the price, and, in consequence, the contract for the main portion of the work fell into the hands of a contractor, who has never employed any of the resident settlers A small portion of the railway formation was reserved for the employment of the Corporation immigrants under the terms of the Feilding contract, but as the wage offered —viz., ss. a day—was at least 2s. under the current rate, and as they were only permitted to earn £1 a week, all that could possibly do so refused the work; and although they were offered contracts on the Corporation roads for the rest of their time, they—not, I think, without reason— objected to the constant change which such an arrangement implied. Many of the Halcombe immigrants were moreover of a superior class, and, having sufficient means to seek more suitable employment elsewhere, removed a short time after their arrival. At the new settlement at Halcombe, also, there have been, and will continue to be, even greater difficulties in the way of locomotion than had to be contended with at Feilding, which will only be removed by the opening of the railway line, which will not be for another ten or twelve month;?. I must confess to being very much disappointed with the comparatively little progress at present made in the settlement of Halcombe, both because the place is far more picturesque and attractive and less rough than Feilding, and because the immigrants located there have had none of the discomforts which those at Feilding had to put up with. Every family, without any exception, which has been taken to Halcombe has been carried comfortably, and with every article of baggage with them, right up to their cottage doors. The cottages are far superior to those at Feilding, and every reasonable provision for the immigrants' comfort has been made, even to providing each cottage with some days' firewood supply. Those immigrants who were without money had orders for necessary stores placed in their hands, and arrangements were made by which the men could, if they were so disposed, go to their work the morning after their arrival. With regard to the settlement of this part of the block, however, the causes which at present operate to prevent its progress will all be removed so soon as the railway to Wanganui and Feilding is finished. It will then be on a main highway, instead of being, as at present, completely isolated from the rest of the world. And whereas the only work now is that which the Corporation road-making supplies, which is, of course, more inconvenient to the workmen, as it extends farther into the country, there will be ample employment then for a very much larger population than is there at present in the timber and firewood trade, which, under the reduced railway tariff, can be carried on from Haleombe to the different stations in Rangitikei and to Wanganui at a profit to the exporters ; and the roads leading from Halcombe into the Corporation lands being already well advanced, the land will be speedily taken up and occupied as soon as an easy access is provided to the town itself. The present resident settled population on the block is, as nearly as I can ascertain, 1,600. Of these, 1,200 are settled in Feilding, and 400 in Halcombe, and about 70 per cent, are Corporation immigrants. The Corporation has erected 121 immigrants' cottages at Feilding, and seventy-one at Halcombe, at a cost of £7,690. It has also erected other houses and buildings, and effected improvements in the way of fencing, &c, at a cost of £5,537. The whole of the cottages erected at Feilding are occupied, and forty-one of those at Halcombe. A large number of other buildings have been erected by other settlers, as also three places of public worship, two large hotels at Feilding and one at Halcombo, and both at Feilding and Halcombe schoolhouses have been erected to which the Corporation has very liberally contributed. A reference to the map and Appendix B will show 52 miles 32 chains of road lines dealt with by the Corporation, and in various states of progress Of these, 47 miles 68 chains lie within the Corporation boundaries, and 4 miles 44 chains entirely outside of it. The roads inside the block have cost the Corporation £9,976; the lines outside have cost £2,124; both amounts being exclusive of subsidies from the Government or Highway Board. The survey of not quite half the block has been executed at a cost of £12,080, and a reference to Appendix F will show the exact position of the survey work and the proportionate areas of subdivision. At this work five survey parties are constantly kept in the field, of which one party always, and often two, are solely engaged in exploring and laying off the road lines, which are determined and carefully levelled for their formation before any subdivisional survey work is undertaken. As a consequence, all our road lines are practicable and the best obtainable, and even where opening up rather hilly country there are no bad grades. As to the permanent settlement of the immigrants, those who have had any experience with "new chums " have no need to be reminded of the difficulty of dealing with them even under the most favourable circumstances. That difficulty is greatly increased in the case of the immigrants with whom I have had to do, not only because the very best of English immigrants are at first entirely unfit to deal with a bush country, but because they all form a most exaggerated idea of the duty of the Corporation towards them, which it would be absolutely impossible to realize ; and when to these disadvantages are added the unusual difficulties with which the settlement has had to contend for the want of any passable road up to the base of its operations up to April, 1876, I declare that it is a source of wonder to myself that so successful a result as the bond fide settlement of some 70 per cent, of the immigrants sent out has been obtained.

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In dealing with the immigrants I have always endeavoured to advise them in their own interests. I have never attempted to coerce them by endeavouring to enforce the obligation they undertake in England to settle on the block ; on the contrary, in many instances where I saw that tradesmen sent to me would be out of place on the block, I have sought and obtained for them good employment elsewhere; and during the winter of 1874, when the discomforts were so great to the new arrivals, I encouraged rather than otherwise their not coming to the block when profitable employment presented itself elsewhere. The only fault I have had to find with my later immigrants has been that they have been too respectable a class to be fitted for the rough work of the first years of a bush settlement. Those that have left the Manchester Block arc, most of them, filling useful positions in the neighbourhood ; and as I ean always obtain experienced colonists in their places, the exchange is to the advantage of all parties concerned. I have before explained the arrangements under which the immigrants have been placed in possession of their cottages in the towns. They have all, besides, the right to take up 40 acres of rural land at a rental of £5 per annum or 2s. 6d. per acre, with a right to purchase, at £3 per acre at the end of seven years: these 40-acre sections being all made accessible by metalled roads. Those who have availed themselves of this right are rapidly improving the land ; but with the majority ofthe immigrants the acquisition of their cottage and acre in town has been as much as they could manage to do during the first three years of their settlement, besides supporting their families ; but during that three years they are undergoing an education in bush-work, and gaining experience without which they could not possibly have succeeded as bush farmers. I find, as I expected, that many of the first immigrants, having thus fitted themselves for the occupation of their country sections, are now taking them up and preparing them for occupation, with the intention of selling their town sections and cottages and expending the proceeds in the improvement of their larger holdings. No difficulty has hitherto been experienced by any of the immigrants desiring to sell in obtaining a considerable premium, prices varying from £60 to £100 having been realized from colonists for the property for which the immigrants had to pay £42 to the Corporation. Appendix A will show the extent to which the lands of the Corporation have as yet been dealt with. The principle adopted has been that, before being put into the market, the land must be made accessible by roads, and the cost of the roads must be put upon the purchasing price of the land. The adoption of this principle is absolutely necessary to the successful settlement of bush country, although to carry it out the realization on the land is necessarily slow, and the capital outlying on surveys and road formation is necessarily large. It will be seen that my operations have hitherto been chiefly confined to the western half of the block, but the exploration of road lines is now going on in the eastern division with a view to the commencement next summer of road formation and subdivisional surveys. As to the general results of the Corporation's operations, there can, I think, be but one opinion in the mind of any impartial and practical man. They have opened up a block of very difficult and expensive country in a shorter space of time than such a work has beeu done in this colony, except perhaps at some of the gold fields. They have settled a population of 1,600 people where little more than three years ago there was not a soul to be seen, and by their operations they have largely benefited the neighbouring country. Such of their emigrants as are not settled on the block are, in most cases, doing more useful work elsewhere, and their places are more than filled up by men more fitted for the special work to be done; and tho Corporation has now reached a standpoint from which its future operations can be carried on with greater rapidity and with a better opportunity of obtaining the bond fide settlement of a self-supporting population on its lands. The Corporation, too, has been terribly overweighted from the first. Having had nothing to do with the Feilding contract except the difficulty of carrying it out, I may be allowed to point out in what respects it has been unduly burdensome on the Corporation. In the first place, the price paid for the land —namely, 15s. per acre—which prima facie appears low, was in reality a far higher price than was at that time paid by the purchasers of small surveyed sections of open land on deferred payments. When the cost of survey —namely, ss. an acre according to the estimate of the Chief Surveyor in Wellington—and the accumulated interest on so large a block of land before it can possibly be put into thc market, is taken into account, tho cost price of the land is nearer 255. than 15s. To this has to be added the cost of road-making before tho land can be brought to market, which, exclusive of any Government subsidies we are fortunate enough to obtain, cannot be estimated at less than from 10s. to 15s. an acre. Then, when to such sums as are shown in the accounts in Appendix E—of £12,080 for survey,'£lo,B9o interest paid to Government, and £9,976 expended on roads—are added such indirect burdens as £2,124 paid to make roads through other people's lands, and £1,394 paid for road rates, of which £25 4s. only is returned to the property, no one can, I think, say that the Corporation has obtained its laud too cheaply. In the second place, the two great inducements held out in the contract to balance the immigration and settlement obligations have proved utterly fallacious. The first of these inducements was the offer of free passages to the Corporation immigrants, which was a very valuable concession, when, as was the case at that time, no other fre6 passages were given. But before the Corporation immigration commenced free passages were the rule ; and instead of having a monopoly of free immigration, as the contract had seemed to provide, the Corporation found itself engaged in a competition with the Government Emigration Agents, and at a disadvantage, because the free passages the Corporation had to offer were burdened with tbe condition of settlement on tho block, while the Government immigrant could land perfectly unfettered in any part of the colony. The other inducement was the provision to find work for the Corporation immigrants for four days in the week only, at ss. a day, in the block or within ten miles of it. As to this, it must be apparent to any practical man of colonial experience that, with the current rate of wages, much higher than ss. and with the cost of provisions as high as they must be in a new outlying settlement, no working-man who is worth his salt will accept such terms; and the Government is freed from the obligation implied in the contract, simply because the immigrants prefer leaving the settlement to accepting those terms.

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I think, Sir, the statements I have laid before you will show that the Corporation, on its part, has faithfully and liberally carried out its obligations. They will also show that at present the undertaking has been anything but profitable to the Corporation, nor do I think it can be while the present conditions remain unaltered. I believe, however, that the proposals made to the Government lately by me, on behalf of the Corporation, will, if acceded to by the Assembly, place the undertaking on such a footing as will both guarantee to the Government the more speedy occupation of the block by improving settlers, and also give the Corporation a fair expectation of recouping the heavy expenditure which it has been, and will for many years be, obliged to incur. I have, &c, A. FOLLETT HALCOMBE, Agent and Attorney. E. and C. Aid Corporation, (Limited). The Hon the Minister for Immigration, "Wellington.

APPENDIX A. MEMORANDUM of LANDS SOLD to 31st July, 1877.

APPENDIX B. RETURN of ROAD-WORK to 31st July, 1877. Roads Inside Block.

APPENDIX C. NUMBER of IMMIGRANTS SELECTED and SENT OUT up to 31st July 1877.

* TheßO immigrants were, by arrangement with the Government, selected by Mr. Halcombe for settlement on the Manchester Block.

Description of Land. Area Sold. Price. Amount Received. Amount Outstanding. Average Price per Acre. tural iub urban A. 18,620 2,354 525 B. P. 3 25 2 30 3 4 £ s. 46,619 14 8,202 3 12,742 1 d. 2 0 0 £ s. 29,010 15 7,419 16 11,240 6 d. 5 0 0 £ s. 17,608 18 752 7 1,501 15 d. 9 0 0 £ s. d. 2 10 0 3 9 8 24 4 6 'own 21,501 1 19 67,563 18 2 47,700 17 5 19,863 0 9 8 2 10

Metalled, formed, and felled in bush „ „ in open Miles, chs. 6 23 4 9 Miles. chs. 10 32 Felled and formed in bush ,, in open Stumped, cleared, and felled, only in bush Underscrubbed only Kimbolton Road Tramway 13 15 5 11 18 2G 4 79 11 1 3 10 Totals roads dealt with inside Manchester Block 47 68 Hoads Outside Slock. Awahuri Eoad, formed and metalled Halcombe Eoad, heavy cuttings 4 14 0 30 4 44 „ Total roads dealt with 52 32

.873. Duke of Edinburgh Salisbury ... Ocean Mail Woodlark ... Mongol .874. Golden Sea La Hogue ... "VVaikato ... Euterpe Douglas Star of India Howrah Carnatic Berar 1... 254 st ... 624 ... 89 ... 59 ... 10 ... 544 ... 594 ... 224 ... 102 ... 1074 ... 55 ... 404 ... 73 ... 554 tat tut te ad ilu «. 1875. Hindostan... Collingwood Himalaya ... Waipa 1876. "Waimea ... Howrah *Fritz Eeuter Hunmui ... Leicester ... Kakaia Loch Dee ... Northampton 1877. Wennington City of Madras ... 9 st ... 8i ... 4 ... 52 ... 564 ... 94 ... 654 ... 224 ... 174 ... 10 ... 8 ... 464 ... 214 ... 23 tat tut te ;k idull [ts. Total 1,170

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APPENDIX D. Memorandum re Manawatu Highway Board. £ ». A. lload rates paid Manawatu Highway Board ... ...■ ~. ... ... 1,394 11 8 Amount expended by Manawatu Highway Board on roads within the Manchester Block ... ... ... ... ... ... „, ... 25 4 0

APPENDIX E. Summary of Expenditure to 31st July, 1877. £ s. d. Payments to Government of promissory notes and interest ... ... ... 29,689 0 7 Laud development—survey roads, &e. ... ... ... ... ... 27,075 3 7 Immigration advances, supplies, &c., to immigrants, outstanding ... ... ... 5,867 13 9 Buildings and immigrants'cottages ... ... ... ... ... ... 13,227 8 1 Machinery, implements, live stock, &e. ... ... ... ... ... 4,653 17 5 Expenses of management ... ... ... ... / ... ... ... 14,527 14 4 Charitable, &c, contributions ... ... ... ... ... ... '552 4 6 £95,593 2 3

N.B. —The above only includes expenditure in the colony. I have no knowledge of the expenditure in England.—A. Follett Halcombe.

Expenditure to 31st July, 1877. £ s. d. New Zealand G-overntnent, paid for land taken up ... ... ... ... 18,799 0 2 ~ „ interest on promissory notes ... ... ... 10,890 0 5 Land development — Survey ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 12,080 17 4 Eoads, &c, within block (exclusive of amount repaid by Government) — Roads, bridges, &c, Feilding .. ... ... ... £2,553 6 1 „ Halcombe ... ... ... 381 6 5 Feilding-Halcombe Road ... ... ... ... 365 12 7 Kimbolton Road ... ... ... ... ... 335 15 8 Junction Road ... ... ... ... ... 59 6 0 Makino Road ... ... ... ... ... 3,436 18 11 Stanway Road ... ... ... ... ... 1,086 0 0 Tauranga Road ... ... ... ... ... 103 1 11 Tramway, Feilding ... ... ... ... ... 1,469 8 2 Stream diversions ... ... ... ... ... 185 11 6 9,976 7 3 Roads outside block— Awahuri Road ... ... ... ... ... 1,759 5 11 Feilding-Halcombe Road ... ... ... ... 365 12 6 2,124 18 5 Rates and taxes — Mauawatu Highway Board ... ... ... ... 1,394 11 8 Manchester Highway Board ... ... ... ... 272 12 7 Education rates ... ... ... ... ... 697 5 10 Palmerston Local Board ... ... ... ... 7 10 0 2,372 0 1 Miscellaneous labour ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 521 0 6 Immigration outstanding debts for supplies, &c, to immigrants ... ... ... 5,867 13 9 Buildings and improvements on reserves ... ... ... ... ... 5,537 4 9 Cottages for immigrants ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7,690 3 4 Machinery, implements, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3,526 15 5 Livestock —horses, bullocks, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,127 2 0 Expenses of management — Salaries ... ... ... ... ... ... 5,896 13 5 Miscellaneous ... ... ... ... ... ... 3,038 16 1 Travelling expenses ... ... ... ... ... 568 7 3 Interest, commission, bank charges, &c. ... ... ... 3,458 3 0 Forage ... ... ... ... ... 1,255 9 1 Law charges ... ... ... ... ... ... 179 12 2 Telegrams to London ... ... ... ... ... 130 13 4 ■ 14,527 14 4 Charitable, &c, contributions— Medical, school buildings, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ... 552 4 6 Total expenditure in New Zealand ... ... ... £95,593 2 3 J. A. Beattie, Feilding, 18th August, 1877 Accountant.

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APPENDIX F. TABLE showing STATE of SURVEYS on the MANCHESTER BLOCK.

TABLE showing PROPORTION of AREAS.

Area occupied by railway line and reserves, 310 acres, included above. Area of Manchester Block, 106,000 acres. Area remaining undealt witb, 48,725 acres. J. llowaed Jackson, Licensed Surveyor in Charge of Surveys.

APPENDIX ». Mr. A. P. Halcombe to the Hon. the Native Ministeb. Sib,— Feilding 18th May, 1876. I have the honor to request your attention and assistance in a matter of considerable importance to the settlement and development of the Manchester Block. I am forming a road from Feilding through the heart of the Manchester Block, to connect Feilding to Marton ; and, as I learn from the Provincial Government, a bridge is very shortly to be commenced over the Rangitikei Eiver, at the point where this road will connect with the roads now formed and in use in the Rangitikei District. So far as the road runs through the Manchester Block, as approximately represented by the red lines in the plan attached, the whole of the formation (of which eleven miles is already done) will be completed during this winter to the point A, the boundary of the Native reserve. From the point Ato the point B, where or whereabouts the bridge will be erected, is a distance of a mile, and part of the road will descend a steep cliff, all of which is within the boundary of the Native reserve. To make my road of any use there must be a continuation through the Native reserve to the river. This connecting link I am anxious should be laid off, and I have the honor to request you to take necessary steps to that end. I make the application to you because, the matter being connected with the Native Department, neither the Provincial Government nor the Road Board of the district have any power to deal with it; and if I attempt to obtain the right of road from the Natives it only opens the door to exorbitant demands, and creates difficulties, whereas by the employment of one of the engineers of the Public Works Department for a few days, under the authority of the Native Department, there should be no trouble in fixing the proper road line, and there would be a hope of getting it made passable during the winter. I trust I may be pardoned for pressing your attention to this matter before the meeting of the Assembly, as I know that the claims upon your time during the session will be too great to allow of its consideration ; but, with the remembrance of the trouble and expense, with hindrance to settlement, which the Awahuri Road has cost, and that now nearly two years have passed without any decided Governmental action having been taken in a matter so obviously necessary to the settlement of this part of the country, I am naturally fearful lest a similar blockade at this point should render all this work on this new road line useless for an indefinite period. I have, &c, A. Follett Halcombe, Agent, Emigrant and Colonists' Aid Corporation (Limited). The Hon. the Native Minister, "Wellington.

By Authority: Geoege Didsbttey, Government Printer, Wellington.—lB77.

Price 6d.]

Subdipision Subdivision 1/ Subdivision Subdivision D. Subdivision ■ Subdivision P. Tol ilrt. I i Description of Land. CO 1^ C Eh I I go S Si" 02 3 m p| Acres. If i oa a >j g r 3 02 a u Acres. 1,476 2,439 4,419 Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. 200 Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres. 1,476 2,439 30,178 34,093 ?own Lands iuburban lural ... 1,438 569 Acres. 200 1,438 21,544 5,826 5,826 448 5,061 5,061 11,165 1,566 16,644 2,141 2,141 3,883 3,883 Totals 8,334 2,007 448 11,165 200 16,644 1,566 23,18;

umber oi Sections exclusin of Town A] llotments. Subdivisions. 1 acre and under 5 acres and under 10 acres and under 20 acres and under 40 acres and under 50 acres and under 100 acres and under 200 acres and under 500 acres and under 1,000 acres and under L. I 52 100 62 41 12 24 6 4 Id 5 26 19 2 4 1 9 1 2 i. 44 I I 21 29 6 4 18 ia 3 2 "i ). I 1 1 Totals 52 100 62 ■II 92 68 88 66 31