LEADING FEATURES OF THE WHEAT INDUSTRY 191 



large estates for closer settlement. Consequently there 

 are two types of occupation of land in New Zealand 

 freehold and leasehold. According to the last census 

 (1911) there were about 19,500,000 acres freehold out of 

 a total of some 66,000,000 acres in the whole country. 

 The remaining portion is in the hands of urban owners, 

 the Crown, Native owners, local bodies, churches, edu- 

 cational bodies, friendly and other societies. Of the 

 occupied lands of New Zealand a little less than one-half 

 is held freehold. 



Although on account of the enterprise, perseverance 

 and foresight of the intelligent freeholder, the freehold 

 system is regarded as more advantageous to a community 

 than the leasehold, a great deal can be said for the latter 

 in New Zealand, and there is little doubt that the 

 inauguration of such a system has played a great part 

 in the development of the country. The conditions of 

 tenure differ somewhat for different kinds of land, e.g., 

 agricultural or pastoral, but here attention will be 

 confined to the tenure of agricultural land. 



(ii) Effects of 999 Years' Land Tenure. Primarily, 

 the main feature of the land tenure system was the pro- 

 vision for the 999 years* lease. The tenant, fortunate 

 enough to be the successful applicant for a section of 

 land, could assume the role of owner, for all practical 

 purposes. Provided he farmed the land along sufficiently 

 scientific lines, and paid his rent regularly, he retained 

 the lease of the land, and at death it went to the heir. 

 Under this Act many estates were purchased, and with 

 what beneficial results anyone with a limited knowledge 

 of country life in New Zealand can testify. 



A single example will demonstrate this. An estate 

 situated in the Pareora River Valley about 10 miles 

 south of Timaru was acquired by the Crown in 1901, 

 and opened up for settlement in the same year. At the 

 time of purchase much of the land was still in its native 



