The Crown Lands Office for Otago is in the Government Buildings, Princes Street, Dunedin. The Crown lands of the colony are administered under the Land Act of 1892 with its amendments, and the regulations made thereunder. The law involves the principle of State ownership of the soil, with a perpetual tenancy for the occupier. Crown lands are now generally disposed of for 999 years, and the rental is based on the assessed value of the land at the time of disposal. This system gives the tenant the power to sell his interest, sub-lease, mortgage and dispose by will, and, for all practical purposes, the tenure is equal to a freehold. Selections are made by ballot, and every applicant has an equal chance of obtaining an equal area of land. A selector is limited by statute to 640 acres of first-class land, and to 2000 acres of second class land. The general rule is, that land thrown open for selection is offered to the public under three different tenures. Under the freehold tenure, one-fifth of the purchase money is paid down at once, and the remainder within thirty days. The second tenure is a leasehold, with a purchasing clause, at a five per cent. rental on the value of the land, and the lease is for twenty-five years, with the right to purchase at the original upset price at any time after the first ten years and within twenty-five years, or to convert into a lease in perpetuity. A lease in perpetuity, at a rent of four per cent. on the capital value, is the third method. The village settlement system provides for village sections of one acre, and for small farms of one hundred acres; but of late there has not been much settlement under this system. The Act of 1892 authorises the Government to purchase from private owners properties that are suitable for subdivision into farms; and under this Act and the consolidating Act of 1900, lands have been bought, divided into small farms, and leased in perpetuity at a four per cent. rental. Properties may be taken compulsorily in cases where the Board of Land Purchase Commissioners cannot agree with the owners as to price, and where the Governor-in-Council decides to acquire the land for closer settlement. In such cases the amount payable to the owner is decided by a Compensation Court, composed of a Judge of the Supreme Court and two assessors, one appointed by the Government, the other by the owner of the property. The properties which have, so far, been acquired compulsorily have been disposed of on satisfactory terms. Generally, the acquisition of lands under the Land for Settlement Act has proved beneficial in providing homes for a large class of men with moderate capital. In the disposition of such land preference is given to landless people; and applicants for rural land have to satisfy the Land Board as to their means to stock and cultivate the property applied for, and to erect suitable buildings. Small grazing-runs are divided into two classes; first, into areas not exceeding 5000 acres, and second, not exceeding 20,000 acres. The rental in both cases is not less than 2 1/2 per cent. on the capital value, and the capital value cannot be loss than five shillings per acre. These small runs are leased for a term of twentyone years, with the right of renewal for another twenty-one years; and improvements equal to the value of four years' rental must be made within six years. Pastoral runs are let by auction for varying terms, not exceeding twenty-one years, and must, save in exceptional cases, not be of greater extent than will carry 20,000 sheep, or 4000 head of cattle. The runs are classified from time to time by special Commissioners into (1) Pastoral lands which are suitable only for depasturing more than 5000 sheep; and (2) pastoral-agricultural lands suitable for subdivisioh into areas of under 5000 acres, which may be let as pastoral runs or cut up for settlement in some other form. All leases entitle the holder to grazing rights, but not to the soil, timber, or minerals.

Mr. David Barron , Commissioner of Crown Lands and Chief Surveyor for Otago, was born in Morayshire, Scotland, where he was educated, and arrived in Otago in [gap — reason: illegible] He first joined the Government service as a cadet draughtsman in the Survey Department, and was for many years district surveyor in charge at Naseby. He was appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands and Chief Surveyor of Westland in 1893. Three years afterwards he took charge of the Southland district, and was transferred to Dunedin in 1900. Mr. Barron was one of the Representation Commissioners in forming the electoral boundaries in 1896, and again in [gap — reason: illegible] and has also served on various other public commissions.

Mr. Samuel Thompson , Chief Draughtsman, District Land and Survey Department, and Examiner of Land Transfer plans, was born in Kinross, Scotland, in 1842. He was educated in Cleish, and in Edinburgh, came to Port Chalmers by the ship “Sevilla” in 1859, and shortly afterwards joined the survey staff of the Otago provincial government. Becoming a qualified surveyor in 1868, Mr. Thompson was engaged for about a year as a contract surveyor for the department. Subsequently, he became assistant surveyor in charge of the Martin's Bay settlement surveys. Owing to changes in the system of surveys, Mr. Thompson left the service and went to the North Island in 1872. He was appointed assistant surveyor at Wellington, but had to resign owing to ill-health. Returning to Otago he was appointed office-surveyor under the Otago district land and survey department in 1873, and afterwards became land transfer draughtsman, and also chief draughtsman in 1897. Mr. Thompson was married in 1876 to a daughter of Mr. D. S. Mackenzie, of Dunedin, and has five sons and five daughters.

Mr. S. Thompson.

Mr. Charles Fynmore , Draughtsman, Land and Survey Department, was born in page 139 1850, in Adelaide, South Australia, and was educated in Victoria and in Otago, where he arrived in 1863. He is a grandson of the late Colonel James Fynmore of the Royal Marines, who was a midshipman at the battle of Trafalgar. In 1867 he entered the land and survey office in Dunedin as a cadet, and has been draughtsman since 1869. Mr. Fynmore was initiated in the Hand and Heart Lodge of Oddfellows. He is an ex-volunteer and is also Interested in bowling and a member of the Civil Service club. Mr. Fynmore is married to a daughter of the late Mr. John Lovell, after whom Lovell's Flat is named, and has one son and two daughters.

Mr. C. Fynmore.

Mr. George Allan Reade , Receiver of Land Revenue for the Otago district of the Lands and Survey Department, was born at Congleton, Cheshire, in 1842, and was educated in England and Germany. Arriving in Auckland in 1860 in the ship “Cadueeus,” he settled in Christchurch, and, after six months on a sheep station, became one of the first two telegraph operators in the Colony, under Mr. Sheath, the line between Lyttleton and Christchurch having just been completed. In 1862 Mr. Reade entered the Canterbury Provincial Survey Department at Christchurch, and remained there till 1865, when he was appointed to the position of chief clerk to the Land Board in the same city; in this position he remained until, in 1876, when he was appointed Receiver of Land Revenue for Canterbury, and became a member of the Land Board. Transferred in 1882 to Dunedin, he has since filled the office he now holds. Mr. Reade has long taken an active part in horticulture; he was a member and treasurer of the Christchurch Horticultural Society for many years, and during his residence in Dunedin has taken an active interest in the local society. Mr. Reade was married in 1877, and has two sons and one daughter.

Mr. William Edward Sessions , Chief Clerk, Crown Lands Department, Otago district, has for many years been a prominent Government official in Dunedin. He was born in Essex, England, in 1842, and accompanied his parents to Victoria in 1854, his education being completed at the Scotch College, Melbourne. After having engaged in mining he settled in Dunedin, in 1863, as assistant clerk to the provincial council of Otago, in which capacity he rendered such services that he was several times specially thanked for his faithful work. In 1871, on the retirement of the late Mr. Charles Smith, Mr. Sessions was appointed clerk of the council and librarian, and held these offices till the end of 1876, when the abolition of the provinces was finally consummated. During the session of 1875, a memorandum was read by the Speaker complimenting Mr. Sessions on the ability displayed in classifying the papers relating to the proceedings of the Southland provincial council during 1861–9, and in printing and publishing the same, and a bonus of £100 was voted as a mark of appreciation of his services. On the completion of his duties to the provincial council, Mr. Sessions was transferred to the Crown Lands Department, as clerk of goldfields' work; he was also appointed clerk in the warden's court, receiver of gold revenue and mining registrar at Dunedin, but afterwards relinquished the latter offices through pressure of work. He gradually advanced in the service till, in 1886, he was promoted to the office he now holds.

Mr. W. E. Sessions.

Mr. Henry Skey , formerly Draughtsman in the District Land and Survey Department, and Meteorologist at the Dunedin Observatory, was born in London in 1836, and was educated and brought up to farming in England. Mr. Skey came to Port Chalmers in 1860 by the ship “Evening Star,” and after a short experience of bush life and on the goldfields, joined the survey department under the late Mr. J. T. Thomoson, as a draughtsman. In 1882 Mr. Skey was promoted chief draughtsman, and held the position for ten years. Subsequent to 1865 he acted as meteorologist at the astronomleal observatory formerly located on Roslyn Hill, but now in Leith Valley. He retired from the public service on the 1st of August, 1903. Mr. Skey was married in 1866 to a daughter of Mr. A. H. Ross of Dunedin, and has three sons and three daughtets.

Mr. H. Skey.