2

C.—l.

With a view of bringing into one common focus the whole of the transactions of the past year, the following table has been compiled from the more detailed ones given in the Appendix hereto:—

Table V., at the end of this report, shows the systems of tenure which have been in force for the previous ten years, a glance at which will demonstrate those which have been most popular with the public. It is noticeable how much the cash and deferred-payment systems have gradually decreased in popularity, and, on the other hand, how the perpetual or other leasing systems have gained thereby. The cash sales are now about one-sixth of what they were ten years ago, whilst the perpetual-lease and lease-in-perpetuity taken together have increased thirty-nine fold in the nine years since the first of these systems was introduced. This is no doubt due in a great measure to the easy terms on which leases are obtained, and the great advantages they offer to the selector by enabling him to devote his capital to the improvement of his property, rather than to investing it in the freehold, which had frequently to be done by means of capital borrowed at a high rate of interest. Classifying the selectors under the principal headings in the tables, the results for the past three years will come out as follows : —

The cash purchasers have varied but little during the three past years, but out of those shown in this year's returns 227 have been buyers of small sections, averaging a little over 2 acres each. The deferred-payment selectors still show the same decline in number which has marked that system of selection for some years past; but this is partly due to the fact that the system itself has disappeared from the statute-book, excepting in the case of lands selected under the 114 th section of the Act of 1892, which provides that settlers already holding lands under any tenure may select adjacent lands on the same tenure up to 640 acres, inclusive of the lands they hold at the time. This clause has been taken advantage of to a certain extent, more especially in Otago, both in the case of deferred-payment and perpetual-lease selections. The total amount received for perpetual leases made freehold under the Act of 1887 was £28,992 Bs., and for deferred payments, £14,679. The new system of lease-in-perpetuity shows the greatest increase of any system, which is greatly due to the fact that in the special-settlement associations the selectors have chosen this tenure. The totals are also increased by including in them transactions which were initiated during the previous year, but which, for want of the necessary surveys, could not be entered in the previous returns, the lands not having been at that time selected in individual sections, though many of the blocks had been chosen. This same cause will operate again this year. Of the lands thrown open for optional selection, 126 selectors took up an area of 55,320 acres on the lease-in-perpetuity system. As tested by the number of selectors, Southland appears to be the district in which this system of tenure is at present most popular, whilst Auckland is close behind it. The occupation-with-right-of-purchase system was made use of by 161 selectors, who took up 54,271 acres, being thirty-five more in number than the selectors of lease-in-perpetuity, whilst the area selected is nearly the same. This appears to be the popular tenure in Auckland, for more than half the total number of selections in the colony under this system were made in that district. The comparison thus made between the two systems seems to show that the possibility of obtaining

No. of Purchasers. Area. Cash received on Past and Current Transactions. A. B. P. ■ 71 2 11 469 3 6 35,785 1 2 21,084 0 7 122,557 3 7 55,320 2 1 54,271 1 30 193 3 32 528 1 13 390 3 7 2,635 2 4 4 0 10 493 3 0 157,381 0 33 £ s. d. Town lands Suburban lands Rural lands Deferred payment Perpetual lease and small areas Lease in perpetuity Occupation with right of purchase Agricultural lease Village settlement, cash deferred payment „ perpetual lease „ lease in perpetuity Village homestead special settlement Special-settlement associations, lease in perpetuity (balloted for) Homestead Small grazing-runs Pastoral runs 136 91 325 169 385 126 161 4 75 29 164 2 33 838 24,537 11 7 50,000 6 5 41,353 17 9 519 19 1 567 4 0 202 15 1 1,322 16 0 1,963 15 4 1,281 11 5 0 16 2 2,196 7 0 1 39 80 38 0 0 92,926 2 36 1,011,297 0 36 17,761 8 5 112,613 13 4

1891. 1802. 1893. No. Area. No. Area. No. Area. Cash Deferred payments Perpetual lease Occupation lease with right of purchase Lease in perpetuity.. Pastoral 661 315 852 Acres. 100,222 35,081 238,904 581 246 854 Acres. 40,930 40,649 290,248 627 198 549 161 Acres. 36,852 21,474 125,192 54,271 195 1,682,761 206 1,004,410 964 119 212,701 1,104,226