C.—l.

The Unemployment Board's Schemes 4a and 4b have been taken advantage of and have been the means of turning hitherto useless portions of farms into revenue-producing areas. Good work has been done on the Mataikona Settlement in clearing off second growth, and it is hoped that camps may be established on other settlements in the near future. The Featherston County Council is still carrying out drainage works under the No. 5 Scheme and it is anticipated that a number of Crown sections will benefit greatly thereby. Several settlements are in the area visited by the snowstorms and floods last winter and early spring, and settlers suffered losses of stock and improvements. The silt left by the flood will in many instances be of ultimate benefit as a top-dressing for the farms affected. No new estates were acquired in this district during the year. NELSON. (A. F. Waters, Commissioner of Crown Lands.) No additional properties have been purchased during the past year. MARLBOROUGH. (P. R. Wilkinson, Commissioner of Crown Lands.) No new settlements have been acquired under the Land for Settlements Act in this district during the past year. The report on Crown lands applies with equal force to the settlement areas, with the additional fact that four of the main settlement areas in this district have suffered as much over the past few seasons from the prevailing dry conditions as they have from the fall in prices. This is well demonstrated by the increase in the number of original settlers who are finding it increasingly difficult to meet their obligations to the Department. WESTLAND. (T. Cagney, Commissioner of Crown Lands.) No areas were acquired under the Land for Settlements Act during the period. The settlers on the Raupo Settlement, acquired a few years ago, continue to make good progress, and all rents, notwithstanding low prices for farm produce, have been met to date. All other settlements in Westland are old-established, and were originally selected at low rentals on lease-in-perpetuity tenure. A number of the holdings have been converted to freehold, and the administration of the remainder is now purely a niatter of routine. CANTERBURY. (W. Stewart, Commissioner of Crown Lands.) No new land-for-settlements estates were purchased during the year. The Crown is still farming the Brinklands Estate at Fairlie, and considerable improvements are being effected, mainly by unemployed. OTAGO. (N. C. Kensington, Commissioner of Crown Lands.) No new areas were purchased for subdivision under the Land for Settlements Act. SOUTHLAND. (B. C. McCabe, Commissioner of Crown Lands.) No purchases under the Land for Settlements Act were made in this district during the past year. Settlers have had a difficult year, and many tenants, even on the older-established settlements, are having difficulty in meeting their obligations.

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