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LOCALITY AND DESCRIPTION OF RUNS INSPECTED, AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMISSIONERS. I. MACKENZIE COUNTRY. Glenlton: Run No. 93a. A block of "out-back country, practically isolated, difficult of access, and dangerous. The area of this run is 124,000 acres, 76,500 acres of which may be classed as barren and useless, being mountain-tops reaching an elevation of 8,500 ft., and deep gorges. The run includes the whole of the eastern watershed of the Dobson River, covering twenty-eight miles in length, and also the Neumann Range, lying between the Dobson and the Hopkins Rivers. The only countrysuitable and comparatively safe for wintering sheep is a small tract at the southern end of the run. We estimate the carrying-capacity of the run at about 8,000 sheep during the summer, and about 6,000 during the winter months; and about GOO head of cattle. The average percentage of lambing for a period covering the past five years is about 45 per cent., the death-rate about 17 per cent. The cattle-grazing area consists principally of swamps on the Hats along the Dobson River. These swamps are capable of great development. There are already evidences of the success which has attended surface sowing (500 acres have been sown) on the drier portions of this run. This is not a run suitable for subdivision: its distance from the rail-head at Fairlie (105 miles), the expense of cartage, the delay in transport due to crossing dangerous rivers, and the small area of winter country are supreme obstacles. We recommend that Glenlyon be offered as one pastoral run, at a rental of £250 per annum. Glentanner: Run No. 89. This run is situated immediately to the north of Lake Pukaki, on the eastern slopes of the Ben Ohau Range, which divides the Hopkins River from the Tasman River. It has a frontage of seventeen miles to the Tasman River. The total area comprised in the run is 50,000 acres, of which about 23,000 acres consists of grass, prineipally r on steep, narrow faces, and on a few flats; about 3,000 acres of rather deep swamp; and about 24,000 acres of barren, broken country, rough, mountainous, and inaccessible. This country has a northerly aspect, and is probably the safest wintering run in the Mackenzie country. The carrying-capacity is estimated at between 8,000 and 9,000 sheep, including breeding-ewes. The average lambing percentage for a period of the past five years is 65 per cent., and the death-rate about 8 per cent. Half-breds can be grown on this run. This run is capable of successful subdivision. We recommend that it be subdivided into two pastoral runs, one run with a carrying-capacity of 7,000 sheep, and the other run with a carrying-capacity of 2,000 sheep, at upset rentals of £200 and £50 respectively per annum. We propose further that the smaller run be offered for a term of seven years, so that the lease will expire on the same date as that of Pastoral Run No. 215, containing 14,000 acres, now under lease for twenty-one years; so that the smaller of the Glentanner subdivisions and Run No. 215 may be grouped and reoffered as one pastoral run. As a matter of fact, the Run No. 215 referred to was not originally designed for a pastoral run; it is too small. If our recommendation be approved, the combination of the two areas will make a good payable pastoral run, profitable alike to the Crown and the lessee. Glentanner is distant eighty-four miles from Fairlie. Simon's Pass : Run No. 86. Simon's Pass Run is situated in the Forks of the Tekapo and Pukaki Rivers, fifty miles from Fairlie by'main road. It comprises 31,500 acres. Of this area about 23,500 acres consists of excellent grazing-country, the remainder —about 8,000 acres —being poor, almost barren, stonyplain extending back from the forks of the Tekapq and Pukaki Rivers, from which the native tussock has almost disappeared. There is no high country on this run, and it enjoys almost an immunity from snow losses. The carrying-capacity is estimated at 10,500 sheep, including between 4,000 and 5,000 breeding-ewes. As a breeding-run for half-bredte, Simon's Pass Run has a good reputation; in fact, good merino and surplus stock to the number of 3,000 have been sold off the run in one year. The percentage of lambing is 70 per cent., and the average deathrate for a period of the past five years is 6 per cent. We believe Simon's Pass Run is capable of subdivision. The winter country, which we estimate at 19,000 acres, is suitably distributed, situated as it is at Simon's Hill and vicinity, near the eastern boundary of the run, and also on the slopes and downs lying into Lake Pukaki at the western boundary of the run. We recommend that Simon's Pass Run be divided into two runs, one run having a carryingcapacity of 5,300 sheep, and the other run a carrying-capacity of 5,200 sheep, the upset rentals of each run to be fixed at £325 per annum. Wolds : Run No. 85. This run is situated between Lake Pukaki and the Tekapo River, about forty-odd miles from Fairlie by the main road from Fairlie to Mount Cook Hermitage. It contains 42,300 acres of country classified as follows : 32,300 acres of good, sound, pastoral country, some of it ploughable • and about 10,000 acres of poor flats (stony land, part of Mackenzie Plain), extending back from the Tekapo River towards Irishman Creek. Ihe winter country on this run may be regarded