C—l

SERVICEMEN'S SETTLEMENT AND LAND SALES ACT, 1943 Applications to Transfer The number of applications for the consent of the Court to transfers of urban and farm lands has shown a tendency to fall since the year ended 31st March, 1947, when the toal number of applications was 46,995. The trend has been continued this year, and a further decrease on last year's figures is evident with the total number of applications for the year ended 31st March, 1950, being 36,021. This represents a decrease of 5,740 on last year's figures and 10,974 on the peak year of 1947. The sharp decrease this year is accounted for in part by the exemption in February, 1950, of transfers of other than farm land from the operation of this Act, but the figures for farm land show the same steady decrease evident in recent years. This is to be expected, as the return of servicemen to civil life created an abnormal demand for both urban and farm properties which reached its peak in 1947, since then tapering off as it is satisfied. The high number of withdrawals in the case of other than farm land, 2,925, as compared with 1,664 last year, was brought about by the exemption of these transactions from the operation of the Act in February, 1950, and where contracts permitted or purchasers were agreeable, many vendors withdrew their applications and fresh contracts were made. The following table shows the figures for the year :

Return of Applications for the Year Ended 31st March, 1950

4

Registry. Brought Forward From Previous Year. Received. Granted Without Hearing. Granted After Hearing. Granted Subject to Conditions Refused or Withdrawn. Total Finalized. Action Incomplete. Farm lands— Auckland 145 851 407 85 383 44 919 77 Hamilton 135 689 470 17 140 82 709 115 Gisborne 20 205 157 2 25 16 200 25 Napier 21 199 116 4 38 22 180 40 New Plymouth 40 249 190 1 44 19 254 35 Wellington 46 393 223 4 117 38 382 57 Blenheim 7 49 30 4 10 6 50 6 Nelson 33 239 147 5 78 15 245 27 Hokitika 7 60 36 11 11 58 9 Christchureh 102 690 472 8 217 43 740 52 Dunedin 90 358 174 1 138 69 382 66 Invercargill 68 352 206 1 121 43 371 49 Totals 714 4,334 2,628 132 1,322 408 4,490 558 Other lands— Auckland 1,096 8,142 4,355 664 3,622 537 9,178 60 Hamilton 433 3,415 2,321 103 925 353 3,702 146 Gisborne 31 649 460 8 149 48 665 15 Napier 220 1,739 1,242 14 522 115 1,893 66 New Plymouth 163 1,249 768 8 492 124 1,392 20 Wellington 841 6,365 3,227 50 3,002 731 7,010 196 Blenheim 45 435 251 12 172 36 471 9 Nelson 126 1,088 692 6 357 112 1,167 47 Hokitika 22 383 252 2 126 22 402 3 Christchureh 498 4,337 2,283 45 2,086 317 4,731 104 Dunedin 356 2,653 1,132 6 1,377 345 2,860 149 Invercargill 162 1,232 581 9 575 185 1,350 44 Totals Grand totals .. 3,993 31,687 17,564 927 13,405 2,925 34,821 859 4,707 36,021 20,192 1,059 14,727 3,333 39,311 1,417