Land.

Land is, of course, the main item in considering the probable profits arising from the construction of the line.

In 1868, Mr. Wrigg, C.E., estimated the good flat land to be rendered available by the railway at 150,000 acres.

In 1872, Mr. Dobson, F.G.S., the Nelson Provincial Surveyor, estimated the land available for settlement at 222,000 acres.

In 1873, the Inland Communication Committee did not over-estimate it in fixing the area of rich timbered flat land at 150,000 acres.

Mr. Calcutt, the man specially sent by the Government to report upon the land, estimated the comparatively level land at 200,000 acres, and valued it at £288,000.

By the Nelson and Cobden Railway Acts, the Nelson people agreed to devote 2,000,000 acres of land towards the railway, and probably the careful estimate of 900,000 acres by the Inland Communication Committee is an approximately correct estimate of the land that will ultimately be made available by the railway.

As to price, the flat unimproved bush land in the Buller, Inangahua, and Grey Valleys at present without a railway readily brings in private hands £1 10s. per acre, and the cleared laud £6, whilst I know of 100 acres in Inangahua, without buildings and miles from any township, that sold for £12 per acre.