198

Auckland Provincial Government Gazette.

conditions of sales or leases shall from time to time be approved of by the Governor in Council.

First and Second Class Lands.

37. One half of the total quantity of first and second-class land within any proclaimed block (exclusive of reserves) shall be set apart for sale for cash at auction in the same manner as is hereinbefore provided in the case of town and suburban lands, and the minimum prices per acre for first and second-class lands shall be fifteen shillings and ten shillings respectively.

Selection under the Homestead and Deferred-payment System.

38. Such portions as the Superintendent shall think expedient of first and second-class lands, not set apart for sale by auction for cash as hereinbefore provided, may be declared open to be taken up in manner following :-

(1.) Without payment, but subject to the provisions for cultivation and residence hereinafter set forth; and this method of dealing with waste lands is hereinafter called "the Homestead System."

(2.) Upon payment of the price of the land selected according to class at the end of a certain term, and subject to the provisions as to cultivation and other matters hereinafter set forth; and this method of dealing with waste lands is hereinafter called "the Deferred-payment System."

39. The Superintendent shall notify in the Provincial Government Gazette such lands as shall from time to time be declared open for selection under either the homestead system or the deferred-payment system; and every such notification shall appoint a day, not less than one month from the date thereof, on and after which day the lands referred to in such notification shall be open to be taken up under either of such systems respectively.

40. The following conditions shall apply to all selections under the homestead system :-

(1.) The area allowed to be selected by each person of the age of eighteen years or upward, shall be of first-class lands fifty acres, or of second-class lands seventy-five acres; and for persons under eighteen years of age, of first-class lands twenty acres, or of second-class lands thirty acres: Provided that the total quantity to be selected by any one family or number of persons occupying the one household shall not exceed two hundred acres of first-class or three hundred acres of second-class lands.

(2.) Within three months after the selection has been approved by the Commissioner, the selector shall commence to reside on his selection, and shall continue to reside continuously thereon for five years from the date of such approval as aforesaid.

(3.) Within twelve months after such approval, the selector shall erect on his selection a permanent dwelling-house of wood or other materials, which shall be specified in regulations to be issued in reference to homestead-system selections.

(4.) In each year there shall be brought under cultivation one-fifteenth of the area of such selection if open land, and one-twenty-fifth if bush land, so that at the end of the term of five years, one-third of the selection if open land, or one-fifth if bush land, shall be under cultivation.

(5.) Non-performance of any of the foregoing stipulations shall render the selection void, and the right of the selector therein and to all improvements thereon shall be forfeited.

(6.) At the end of the said period of five years, a grant or grants shall issue for the land selected: Provided the selector shall not have forfeited his right thereto in manner aforesaid.

41. Selections under the deferred-payment system shall be subject to the following conditions :-

(1.) The area to be selected shall be double the area allowed under the homestead system.

(2.) The area to be brought under cultivation in each year shall bear the same proportion to the whole area of selection as in the case of a homestead selection.

(3.) The price to be paid for such lands shall be the same as that hereinbefore fixed for rural lands of the same quality put up to auction, and it shall be payable within five years from the date of approval of the selection by the Commissioner.

(4.) There shall be yearly paid by the selector one-fifth of the total amount of the purchase money of such land.

(5.) Non-performance of any of these conditions shall render the selection void, and the right of the selector thereunder, and to all moneys paid on account thereof, and to all improvements effected thereon, shall be forfeited.