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and leaves also a balance for future selection. The endowments for various purposes which have been administered by the department during the year were dealt with as follows : — No of Purchasers. Area. Consideration. a. c. p. £ s. d. Cash lands ... ... 32 ... 3,160 1 0 ... 3,487 3 3 Deferred-payment ... 15 ... 4,996 1 4 ... 1,813 10 7 Perpetual-lease ... 34 ... 5,165 3 6 ... 2,415 13 4 Small grazing-runs ... 1 ... 86136 ... 508 12 10 Pastoral runs ... 2 ... 24,999 0 0 ... 1,311 4 7 The following are the areas of reserves made during the year:— Recreation ... ... ... ... ... ... 11,090 acres. Primary education ... ... ... ... ... 5,372 „ Miscellaneous ... ... ... ... ... ... 66,844 „ Total ... ... ... ... ... 83,306 „ Included in these reserves is Resolution Island, lying between Dusky and Breaksea Sounds, and containing 47,000 acres, which has been set aside permanently for the protection of the native fauna and flora, on the recommendation of the Australasian Association for the Advancement ot Science. This will be followed shortly by the reservation of all the islands in the West Coast Sounds for the same purpose. The revenue collected during the year is as follows, full particulars of which will be found in Table P :— & s. d. Land revenue ... ... ... ... 124,086 16 8 Territorial revenue ... ... ... ... 200,383 4 5 324,470 1 1 To which should be added the revenue derived from endowments collected by the department, £25,666 os. 6d. Settlement Conditions, Forfeitures, etc. There are at the present time about 10,122 selectors, holding 2,312,888 acres, on the books of the department, whose conditions of tenure demand more or less compulsory improvement of their lands. This number is 533 greater than for the previous year. Bach year as it passes sees many of the conditions of occupation fulfilled, entitling the holders to acquire the freehold; but, as the popularity of the deferred-payment system seems obviously to be on the wane, the annual increase in the Crown's tenants promises to become greater each year as the perpetual-lease or small-grazing-run systems take the place of the first-named system. The subdivision of considerable areas into small grazing-runs during the ensuing season will increase this class of holders, who are responsible to the Crown for the improvement of their properties. Concurrent with this increase is the growth of the number of annual inspections to be made by the Crown Lands Rangers to insure that the conditions are fulfilled. It has already been amply demonstrated that this branch of the service was until lately undermanned, but the recent appointment of three extra officers will enable the Commissioners to cause more frequent inspections, and also obviate, in some measure, the delays attendant on the completion of transfers, which in all cases require inspection prior to sanction by the Land Boards. As in the previous period, the services of the officers of the Survey Department have occasionally been put in requisition to undertake Rangers''duties ; but for many reasons it is unadvisable that this course should be continued, for it involves taking the surveyors from their own duties, which are always pressing, and, moreover, causes delays in mush-needed surveys. Although " The Selectors Lands Revaluation Act, 1889," ceased its operations on the Ist January, 1891, the complete revaluations could not, from various causes, be made by the Rangers nor finally concluded in the Commissioner's offices, until the past year. This work added enormously to the work of the Rangers and to the office staff, and brought the regular inspections much into arrear; this, however, has been fairly well worked off now. Generally speaking, the Commissioners report that the conditions of improvement are fairly carried out, and in some cases a very much greater amount of work than is required by law has been done; indeed, it scarcely pays the selector who intends to make his selection his home to confine himself to the statutory improvements, which are in no sense burdensome. But, small as the requirements are, it is found in some few parts of the colony that it is difficult to comply with the law as to the amount of land which should be cultivated or money expended, because no amount so expended would increase the carrying capacity of the country. The forfeitures for breach of conditions, together with the surrenders under the perpetual-lease system, amount to 232 cases, covering an area of 42,382 acres, to which must be added 8 small grazing-runs of an area of 20,170 acres. The latter show a decreased number as compared with the previous year, but the former a material increase both in number and area. It is a natural consequence of people taking up land who either from mental, physical, or monetary incapacity are unable to comply with the regulations that a certain percentage of the lands selected should revert to the Crown, and out of 10,000 selectors on the books the number of 240 failures is perhaps not more than might be expected. A few cases of forfeiture have also occurred where, so far as could be ascertained, the breach of conditions was the result of deliberate intention, and done with the hope that Boards would not look on such in a serious light—in which, however, they were mistaken : such cases are happily few. These forfeited selections are almost invariably taken up again so soon as declared open for selection,