Deposit N262 - New Zealand and Australian Land Company stations deposit

The New Zealand and Australian Land Company Ltd dated its origins to the 1860s when small associations were formed in Scotland and England to acquire pastoral and agricultural lands in New Zealand and Australia. A number of these associates combined and were registered in Scotland as the Cantebury and Otago Association Ltd in 1865, while others amalgamated to form the 'old' New Zealand and Australian Land Company in 1866. In 1877 the two companies were amalgamated and the New Zealand and Australian Land Company Ltd was formed and registered in Scotland on 26 October 1877. The registered office was originally in Glasgow, later Edinburgh, and administrative offices operated in Dunedin and Sydney. At the time of registration, the major portion of the company's interests were in New Zealand. By 1910 nearly all their freehold and leasehold lands were sold to settlers or acquired by the New Zealand Government under a Closer Settlement scheme. In 1939 the only two properties remaining in New Zealand were Hakataramea and Mount Possession. Australian acquisitions increased from 1900 to 1914, when the stations in New Zealand and Australia carried over 1.6 million sheep and 100,000 cattle. However, from 1946 to 1948 the Crown resumed 310, 000 acres of freehold land for Soldier Settlement, reducing the company operation to less than half those of 1914. In 1968, the company was taken over by Dalgety and New Zealand Loan Ltd. The company's tax domicile was removed from Scotland to Australia. From 1970 its properties in Australia were operated as a subsidiary of Dalgety Australia Ltd, and those in New Zealand by Dalgety New Zealand Ltd.