75

tionde, within one year from its date, but not
otherwise, will be a sufficient warrant for
allowing the bearer the same advantages
as Officers who are still in Her Majesty's Service.

6. An actual residence of two years in the
   colony must be proved before the Titles can
   be granted, except in cases in which death may
   have occurred before the expiration of that
   period.

7. For the convenience of Officers, the
   following heads are subjoined of the Rules
   for the sale of land in the Australian settle-
   ments :

All Lands are disposed of by sale alone, and
must have been once at least exposed to
public auction.

The lowest upset price is not less than £1
per acre; but the Government has power
to raise the same by Proclamation, though
not again to reduce it.

The lands are distinguished into three dif-
ferent classes; viz., Town Lots, Suburban
Lots, and Country Lots.

Upon Town and Suburban Lots, as well as
upon a proportion not exceeding one-tenth
of the whole of the Country Lots offered
for sale at any auction, the Governor has
the power of naming a higher than the
general or lowest upset price : these last to
be designated "Special Country Lots."

Town and Suburban Lots are in no case dis-
posed of except by public auction; but
country lots, which have already been
put up to public auction, and not sold, may
be disposed of afterwards by private con-
tract at the upset price.

No Lands are sold by private contract, ex-
cept for ready money. When sold by
public auction, one-tenth at least of the
whole purchase-money must be put down,
and the remainder within one calendar
month, or the deposit is forfeited.

Lands are put up for sale in Lots not ex-
ceeding one square mile in extent.

8. In Ceylon, land is sold by auction at an
   upset price, which is to be fixed by the Go-
   vernor, but which is not to be less than £1 per
   acre. Before the lands are exposed for sale,
   they will be surveyed by the Government, and
   duly advertised.

9. At the Cape of Good Hope the upset
   price is 2s. per acre in the old colony, and 4s.
   per acre in the District at Natal.

10. The several prices above mentioned are
    of course subject to a revision at any time by
    the proper authorities, and the pecuniary
    amount of the Remission made to Officers can-
    not be increased on account of an increased
    value set upon the lands.

May, 1851.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington,
29th January, 1852.

HIS Excellency the GOVERNOR-IN-CHIEF
directs the publication of the following
Despatch and its enclosures for general infor-
mation.

By His Excellency's command,
ALFRED DOMETT, Colonial Secretary.

Downing Street,
30th May, 1851.

SIR—I herewith transmit, for your infor-
mation and guidance, the Copy of a Letter
from the Board of Trade respecting the pay-
ment to that Department of certain of the
Penalties levied under the Mercantile Marine
Act, 13 and 14 Victoria, cap. 93. I also en-
close the Copy of a Letter on this subject,
which I caused to be addressed to the Board
of Treasury, with an extract from a letter received
from the Lords Commissioners in reply.

I have to instruct you to take the necessary
steps for causing the penalties in question to be
paid into the Commissariat Chest, as suggested
by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury,
and the Certificates of such payments to be
from time to time forwarded to this Department,
for transmission to the Lords of the Committee
of Privy Council for Trade.

I have, &c.,
GREY.
Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B., &c.

Copy.
Office of Committee of Privy
Council for Trade,
Whitehall, 3rd April, 1851.

SIR—I am directed by the Lords of the
Committee of Privy Council for Trade to call
the attention of Earl Grey to the following
statement :—

By 7 & 8 Victoria, c. 112, s. 62, certain
penalties, recoverable under that Act, were
made payable to the Seamen's Hospital Society,
and by the Mercantile Marine Act, 13 & 14
Victoria, c. 23, sec. 111, such penalties, if
inflicted after the 1st of January last, are made
payable to the Board of Trade, or as it may
direct. As the former Act extends to ships
registered in the United Kingdom, in whatever
part of the empire they may be, and also in
certain cases to other British ships, many
penalties are inflicted under it in Colonial
Ports which ought, in future, to be paid to
the Board of Trade. My Lords are, therefore,
desirous that such instructions should be given
to the Clerks of the Justices, or other officers
receiving such penalties in the Seaports in the
Colonies, as may insure their due payment to
the Board of Trade; and I am to request you
to move Earl Grey to take such steps as he
may consider expedient for that purpose.

I am, &c.,
JAMES BOOTH.
Herman Merivale, Esq.,
&c., &c., &c.

Downing Street,
23rd April, 1851.

SIR—I am directed by Earl Grey to trans-
mit to you the enclosed Letter, addressed to me
by the Secretary to the Board of Trade and
Plantations, and to request that you will lay
the same before the Lords Commissioners of
the Treasury, and move them to inform his
Lordship whether the most convenient course
will be to instruct the Governors of the Colonies.