8

0,-1.

stringency of the money-market, lack of competent bushmen, and the high prices demanded for felling are, however, factors which are operating against the speedy clearing of bush lands. In the back country settlers are dairying on their easier country in places where a few years ago dairying would have been looked upon as impossible. Distance from a factory is also not quite the drawback which it has hitherto been since the adoption of home separating. There is no doubt that the home separator has enabled dairying to expand. There has been a very keen ' demand for young stock during the year, and buyers from as far away as the Bay of Plenty have found great trouble in securing stock in anything like the fair herds which they have been accustomed to pick up quickly. This would be some indication that there is a large local demand. In some parts of the district there was not sufficient stock available to eat off the feed. The class of homestead erected by settlers is a sure indication of the progress accomplished, and it has been very noticeable during the year that a class of house is being erected and looked upon as a necessity which not so long ago would have been considered a luxury. Many settlers are adopting the use of telephones, and in consequence are feeling less isolated and more closely in touch with the state of the markets. Although the progress of settlement in the district has been exceedingly encouraging as a whole, it must not be overlooked that there is the ever-present drawback of want of good access. It is comparatively easy for those settlers blessed with good roads to make a success of their holdings, but people who have had no experience of the trials and tribulations of farming with at the best a 6 ft. track cannot realize what it really means to farm under such difficulties. There are settlers who for many years have been unable to get in provisions or transport their produce except per medium of pack-horses from and to the nearest dray-road. Quite apart from the ordinary votes for road-making, there is a very large sum paid yearly to the local bodies for expenditure on roads to the lands from which the moneys accrue, but as a rule this money is utilized for maintenance, and does not help to open up cart-roads at the rate to be desired. The settlers must have roads if they are to compete in the markets on anything like fair terms, and it is no exaggeration to say that the prosperity of the Dominion depends more on the adequate roading of the back country than on any other class of public work. Improved-farm Settlements. There are two recent settlements still in their infancy —viz., Mapara and Tangitu. The former has now reached the stage when it may be considered as successfully established. In both settlements the settlers were assisted by being granted, in addition to the usual financial aid, sufficient dairy-stock to give them a start. All the stock is apparently doing well with the exception of a few cases of tuberculosis, &c, here and there. The natural increase exceeds any loss there may have been. The Tangitu Settlement has not yet reached a thoroughly satisfactory condition. All the settlers have had good burns and the grass has taken well, so that there should be abundance of feed. But plenty of feed and thriving herds will not bring in a return unless the means of access is improved. A start has been made on metalling the main road of access. A tram is being used for conveying metal, and this should allow work to go on with less hindrance from bad weather; but not a great deal has been done to the internal roads for the last twelve months, and some of the settlers have not yet got a 6 ft. track to their holdings. Improved-farm settlers, who usually have little or no capital, cannot succeed under such circumstances. If good access were provided now there would be a dairy factory in the block, and settlers would not have to pack their cream, in some cases, sixteen miles to the railway and then rail it to Te Kuiti, as a result of which it often arrives at its destination unfit for making into butter. In addition to the permanent advantage accruing from the improved road-access, the expenditure in the district of ready cash will help many settlers to tide over times of financial pressure, and, maybe, result in making them independent in future of outside work. Taking into consideration the high cost of -living, scarcity of work, financial stringency, and the want of good access, these settlers have done fairly well in their struggle against odds of which the city man knows nothing. Revenue. The revenue for the year amounted to £48,252, being an increase of £2,021 over that of the previous year. Exclusive of the current half-year's rent, there were 119 settlers in arrear with rent, owing £1,086 12s. 9d. It has been found in dealing with arrears that there are grounds for thinking that some settlers could pay up to time without much effort, but delay doing so until they think the extreme latitude allowed is about exhausted. This class of settler would, if extreme care were not taken in discriminating, cause poorer neighbours considerable hardship; but by making exhaustive inquiries many of the defaulters who are really able to pay have been disclosed, and the arrears will correspondingly decrease. Postponement of Payment of Rent. The provisions for postponement of payment of rent have been largely availed of by the improved-farm settlers in the new settlements, very few ordinary settlers having made application under this heading. The amount postponed to date is £471 17s. 7d., owing by twenty-one selectors. Freeholds . The principal feature of interest under this heading is the alteration in the method of acquiring the freehold of lease-in-perpetuity ordinary lands and the extension of the right to