Crown Lands.

The land held by tenants of the Crown under the various systems of tenure amounts to about 450,000 acres, and there remains about 414,000 acres not yet dealt with in any manner.

The latter is, for the most part, suitable for pastoral purposes only, any fit for agriculture lying in small, isolated spots, widely scattered, and such as could not be selected independently of the surrounding inferior land. Nearly the whole is broken forest country, fitted more for sheep than cattle, and having an average carrying-capacity, when cleared, of about one sheep to the acre, though the best of it might possibly graze from two to three. The land is chiefly in the Hangaroa, Koranga, Mangatoro, Norsewood, and Motu Districts, and the" back-country of the Waiapu County.

About 45,000 acres are now open for selection. Of these, 5,000 are in the Nuhaka North Survey District, not many miles from the Mahia Peninsula. This is hilly forest country, with light soil, but well suited for grazing purposes. In the Waiau Survey District, near Waikaremoana, there are over 8,000 acres, also hilly country, of limestone formation. In the Motu District, between Gisborne and Opotiki, there are about 16,000 acres open, and in the Mata and Hikurangi Survey Districts, situated from fifteen to twenty miles inland from Waipiro, there are 13,700 acres of rough forest limestone country, at the present time not easy to get at; but a road to the block will shortly be put in hand. There are also 1,000 acres open in the Pohui District, about twenty-eight miles north of Napier.