C—l.

&c, 15,422; sale lithographs and pamphlets distributed, about 5,000; 959 vouchers, representing a sum of £128,764 13s. 10d., passed through the Accountant's office. In the Eeceiver of Land Eevenue's office, besides the collection of the revenue for the year, amounting to £109,271 7s. 7d., for which 4,783 receipts were issued, a sum of £24,375 os. 9d. was passed through the Deposit Account, against which 529 receipts and cheques were issued. A sum of £3,159 3s. 2d. was also passed through the Local Bodies' Deposit Account, against which a hundred cheques and vouchers were drawn. Consequent upon my recent appointment to the charge of this land district, on the Ist February last, as successor to Mr. Sidney Weetman, who, it is greatly to be regretted, felt compelled to retire through ill-health, my knowledge of the district is necessarily somewhat limited. However, thirteen out of the ninety-two settlements have been visited by me, and it is my intention during the coming year to make myself personally acquainted with the remainder and the district generally. * Cheviot Estate. Lands selected. —During the year three holdings, comprising an area of 1,422 acres 3 roods, were selected under the lease-in-perpetuity system. In two cases this represents the reissue of leases for sections the previous leases over which had been surrendered in order to permit of an adjustment of boundaries and the inclusion of adjoining land formerly held under temporary pastoral license. In the third case a lease in perpetuity has been granted over sections previously held under temporary occupation license. With these exceptions and the usual variation of licenses held under the temporary occupation tenure the holdings remain practically unchanged from the previous year. Revenue. —The revenue collected from the estate under all classes amounts to £14,061 ss. Bd. for the year. The annual rental of the 292 holdings, comprising 76,163 acres and 1 perch, which were held at the close of the period was £14,487 15s. The amount of arrears owing at the end of the year was £799 14s. 5d., due by thirty-three holders, occupying an area of 7,106 acres 2 roods 18 perches. Transfers, Forfeitures, and Surrenders. —Transfers took place during the year of fifteen leases, comprising an area of 3,561 acres 3 roods 33 perches, under the following tenures : Lease in perpetuity, eight leases, 1,886 acres 3 roods 28 perches; village homestead, six leases, 95 acres and 5 perches; grazing-farm, one lease, 1,580 acres. No holdings were forfeited, and the only surrenders that took place were the two already mentioned, in which the surrenders were arranged for the purpose of adjustment of boundaries. General Condition of Settlement. —The estate suffered to some extent by the very dry weather of the early part of the season, and a good many of the settlers also sustained considerable loss from the severe earthquakes experienced in November last. The earliest and severest of the shocks did much damage to buildings, especially in the Township of Mackenzie and thence northerly to the Waiau Eiver, while the protracted continuance of lesser shocks had a very unsettling effect upon the inhabitants. The Crown Lands Eanger reports, however, at the end of the year that the estate generally is recovering satisfactorily, and the injured buildings have in most cases been restored. The earthquakes have in many cases effected an alteration in sources of water-supply, valuable springs on some holdings having completely disappeared, while on others new springs have opened in places previously dry; numerous cracks and fissures also remain, which may possibly lead to landslips or scour should a wet season supervene. The main road from Mackenzie to Port Eobinson, which was blocked by an enormous fall of cliff at the Bluff, has now been reopened. The Banger mentions that some good protective works have been erected on the south bank of the Waiau Eiver to prevent further encroachment by the river upon the valuable Waiau Flat lands, and further expenditure upon the extension of this work is desirable. The area laid down in crop during the past season was small, comprising only 6,800 acres, of which less than one-third carried cereal crops. On the other hand, 21,400 acres is laid down in English grasses. The reason for this is that the settlers are devoting their attention more to the raising of stock and to dairying than to cropping, the former methods proving more remunerative. As regards the occupation of holdings, out of 203 leaseholds requiring residence, 163 are having personal and satisfactory residence fulfilled upon them; in twenty-nine other cases the lessees are residing upon other sections on the estate, these being in all eases held either by the lessee himself upon another tenure or by relatives; and in eleven cases the lessees are not resident either upon their own holdings or on any other portion of the estate. In several of the last-named instances the absence is of a temporary character and for valid reasons. The total value of improvements effected is £72,494, against £46,231 required. A few cases exist where less than the required value has been effected up to the present, but these deficiencies will be made good before long. Seven hundred and thirty-one souls are in residence upon the portions of the estate held under settlement tenures. The review of the year's work shows the estate to be in a prosperous and satisfactory state. Land for Settlements. Lands offered during the Year. —The new settlements offered for selection during the year were seven in number, as follows :— The Kohika Settlement, comprising 3,864 acres of agricultural downs land, formerly part of the Otaio Estate, near Otaio and Makikihi, was acquired from Thomas J. Teschemaker, Esq., and opened for application on the 13th May, 1901, in fifteen lease-in-perpetuity allotments, varying in size from 139 to 391 acres, at rentals from ss. 9d. to 9s. 4d. per acre per annum. 106 persons lodged applications, and all the sections were disposed of at the first ballot. The Raincliff Settlement, comprising 745 acres of good agricultural and pastoral land, part of the Eaincliff Estate, situated about ten miles from Fairlie, South Canterbury, was acquired from the

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