C.-i.

and Marlborough, as was foreshadowed in last year's report. Canterbury, with the exception of 75,500 acres, has absorbed the whole, it being the country from the Hurunui River northwards to Tarndale in the Amuri, including Culverden and the Hanmer Plains. The effect of the alteration in the boundaries of the district has been to very materially alter some of the items in the returns, for the severed area includes considerably more than half a million of freehold lands that have been in past years purchased from the Crown ; a few deferred-payment and perpetual-lease holdings ; some thirty-six leases of reserves, principally at Hanmer Springs; and 660,000 acres held under pastoral license, all of which were credited to the Nelson District in last year's returns. The number of applications for land under ordinary settlement conditions granted during the year was considerably less than in the preceding one—viz., forty-nine with 12,789 acres 3 roods 31 perches, as against seventy-four representing 19,309 acres. This decrease is no more than might have been expected, for, though the extent of land now open for selection as " unsurveyed " is no less than 257,639 acres, with little exception it is rough, mountainous, wooded, and useless country so far as settlement is concerned, and, as the best parts have been picked out from time to time during a long series of years, it necessarily follows that each succeeding year selection becomes more difficult, and thus a yearly decrease in applications must be looked for, until such time as the wide stretch of country, comprising 2,800,000 acres of the middle and southern parts of the district, that has been so long locked up against settlement by the Midland Eailway difficulty is made available. The total number of granted applications of all classes, including pastoral licenses, has been 101 with 55,707 acres 2 roods 39 perches, as against 150 with 54,419 acres in the preceding year. In addition, twenty-two applications have been made for 5,230 acres of unsurveyed land, but, as the surveys have not been made, they do not appear in this year's returns. The number of tenants on the books at the present time is 1,357, who hold 480,147 acres 1 rood 8 perches, of which 338,215 acres 3 roods 32 perches represents pastoral runs. Deferred Payment.—Sixty-two licensees have acquired the freehold during the year, leaving (inclusive of endowment lands) 436, holding 45,950 acres 2 roods 2 perches, still on the books. Perpetual Lease.—Thirty-one lessees, with 7,610 acres 3 roods 3 perches, are now left, five having acquired their freeholds during the year. Optional System.—During the year forty-three selections were made, distributed amongst the several tenures as follows: Cash, eight, 1,117 acres 3 roods 30 perches; occupation with right of. purchase, ten, 720 acres 2 roods 7 perches; and lease in perpetuity, eighteen, 4,283 acres; and the holdings at the present time under the two last-mentioned tenures number 123, with 21,150 acres 1 rood 13 perches, and 115, with 30,141 acres 1 rood 11 perches, respectively. Mining Districts Land Occupation.—Six selections have been made, of an average of 12£ acres each, which brings up the number of holdings at the present time to fifty-one, comprising 1,030 acres 2 roods 1 perch. These are all restricted to the Buller Coalfields Beserve, and, as mentioned in my last report, there is no doubt that the special advantages afforded by this Act to persons in the vicinity of mining industries would have been availed of to a far greater extent had it not been for the Midland Eailway contract prohibiting the dealing with the land within the prescribed area. Village Settlement.—The only village settlement in the district is that at Mokihinui, portion of an endowment in the Buller district, which was formed in 1892. Of the original twenty-one settlers, only nine are now in occupation, the remainder having transferred their interests. The holders of sections still number twenty-one, five of whom are non-resident, and it is more than probable that for a little time to come the number of non-residents will be increased, as through the closing-down of the mines in the vicinity the men will have to go elsewhere to obtain work. The value of the improvements on the land is £1,154, or nearly £ll an acre; only £6O has been advanced to the settlers for houses, £2O of which has been repaid. Pastoral Licenses.—Fifteen, embracing 39,030 acres of rough mountain-tops, were taken up during the year. On the other hand, there were two expiries, and eleven expiries of yearly occupation licenses, amounting in all to 29,098 acres 2 roods: thus the area now held under license within the new boundaries of the district is very little altered from what it was last year. The present holdings number ninety-five, covering 338,216 acres. Endoivment Lands.—There are 280 tenants, all of whom hold lands within the Buller Coalfields and Westport Colliery Reserves, the rent and royalties therefrom becoming Westport Harbour Board revenue. They are divided up as follows: Twenty-one village-settlement holdings at Mokihinui, yearly rental, £l9 35.; fifty-one mining district land occupation leases, rental, £66 lis. ; leases of 202 sections in the business part of Westport, with a yearly rental of £790 ss. 4d. ; and six mineral leases, the royalties on coal raised therefrom yielding from £6,000 to £7,000 a year. Improvements and Residence.—Having had the temporary services of a Eanger and occasional assistance from the District Surveyors in their respective districts, we have succeeded in getting inspected the whole of the lands held under ordinary settlement conditions with the exception of a few isolated sections. The number of inspections made was 263 of very widely scattered selections, and the value of improvements made in excess of the legal requirement was found to be very considerable—viz., £18,894 9s. 6d. —an all-round improvement of Bs. 6d. on the total area of the holdings, against £3,553 14s. 6d., the statutory amount required. The defaulters in regard to improvements numbered sixteen, who have all been called upon to comply in this respect with the conditions of their leases within a limited time. In several cases it was made clear to the Board that default was due to misapprehension on the part of the lessees as to the requirements. It might be mentioned here that no improvement conditions were attached to the 436 deferred-payment leases now held which were granted under the Nelson Leasing Acts, so no inspection was required to be made of these properties.

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