June 4.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 887

Houghey, and Lewis, and comprise generally rich agricultural land, in English grass, with a good deal of rushes in places, due to portions of the land being low-lying and subject to being covered with flood-water after heavy rains. Owing to the elevation of these sections being only about 200ft. above sea-level, the proved excellent productiveness and carrying-capacity of the land, the fact that their position is equal to any on Cheviot, that the Cheviot Cheese-factory is only distant from one to three miles, and that the shipping-place at Port Robinson—between which and Wellington and Lyttelton there is constant communication—is distant about seven miles, these sections are admirably adapted for occupation by gardeners, small farmers, and dairymen.

The sections will be disposed of subject to the right of the Crown to cut the new channels for facilitating the discharge of the Jed and branch streams. Full particulars relating to the character and extent of this work may be obtained on application to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, and leases for the occupation of the lands will issue subject to the condition that the licensees shall make no claim, and that the Land Board and Government will not allow any claim, in connection with the execution or effect of these works, and that licensees must provide crossings or bridges over the said channels if necessary or required by them for the better occupation or use of the lands.

The successful applicants shall be responsible for and shall refund to the adjacent owners half the cost of all boundary-fences not previously paid for.

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE OCCUPATION OF LANDS ON LEASE IN PERPETUITY IN THE CHEVIOT ESTATE.

1. The lease shall be for a term of 999 years, to be reckoned from the next 1st day of January or July following the date thereof, and shall in addition include the period between the date of lease and such day.

2. The yearly rental in respect of such lease shall be the amount equal to 5 per cent. on the capital value of such land, and shall be payable in equal parts, half-yearly, in advance, on the 1st day of January and 1st day of July in each year, to the Receiver of Land Revenue, Christchurch.

3. Every applicant shall make the declaration prescribed, and shall, immediately after the application has been approved, deposit a sum equal to one half-year’s rent of the land applied for. Such payment shall be in discharge of the half-year’s rent due on the 1st day of January or July following the date of application. He shall also pay the sum of £1 1s. for the preparation of the lease and the registration thereof.

4. A selector may apply for any number of sections, whether contiguous or not, up to the limit of 640 acres; but he can become the owner or occupier of 640 acres only in contiguous sections, including the land already owned by him. Sections on both sides of a road are considered contiguous or touching each other.

5. A married woman may become the owner of 320 acres of land in contiguous sections, notwithstanding any land that her husband may be entitled to acquire or may hold, and a married woman may also become a lessee under a will or by virtue of an intestacy.

6. When applications are made on the same day for the same land, or part of the same land, then the order of selection shall be decided by ballot.

7. The lessee must reside on the land selected within one year from the date of selection, and thereafter such residence shall be continuous for a period of ten years. The Land Board may dispense with residence if the lessee reside and continue to reside on lands contiguous to the lands held under lease.

8. The lessee shall put on the land comprised in his lease substantial improvements as under:—
   (a.) Within one year from the date of his lease to a value equal to 2½ per cent. of the price of the land;
   (b.) Within two years from the date of his lease to a value equal to another 2½ per cent. of the price of the land;
   (c.) And within six years from the date of his lease to a value equal to another 2½ per cent. of the price of the land;
   and in addition thereto shall, within six years from the date of his lease, put substantial improvements of a permanent character to the value of £1 for every acre of first-class land, and 10s. per acre on second-class land.

Improvements existing on the land at the time of lease shall be deemed to be improvements made under this clause. Substantial improvements of a permanent character mean and include reclamation from swamps, clearing of gorse, broom, sweetbriar, or scrub, cultivation, planting gardens, fencing, draining, making roads, sinking wells or water-tanks, constructing water-races, sheep-dips, making embankments or protective works of any kind, or in any way improving the character or fertility of the soil, and include the erection of any building.

9. The lessee must once a year properly cut and trim all live fences now on the land, or which may be planted upon the land during the term, and stub all gorse not growing as fences, and also stub all broom, sweetbriar, and other noxious plants.

10. The lessee must take alternately white crops and green or root crops; and on the removal of the third crop the land must be sown down with good permanent cultivated grasses and clovers, and be allowed to remain as pasture for at least two years from the harvesting of last crop before being again cropped.

11. The lessee must not cut the cultivated grass for hay or seed the first year of the course.

12. At all times during the lease the land must be so farmed that not less than one-third of the farm shall be maintained in permanent pasture.

13. The lessee must not burn any straw grown upon the land.

14. The lessee must once a year properly clean, clear from weeds, and keep open all creeks, drains, ditches, and watercourses which now are or may be upon the land, and the Land Board shall have the power at any time to enter upon and make any drain through the land that it may deem necessary.

15. In the event of the lessee failing to comply with any of the covenants hereinbefore mentioned relating to the trimming of live fences, and stubbing gorse, broom, and sweetbriar, and to the cleaning, clearing from weeds, and keeping open all creeks, drains, ditches, and watercourses, it shall be lawful for the Commissioner of Crown Lands to have such work done, and to recover the cost of the same from the lessee.

16. All buildings erected upon the land shall be kept in good order and repair.

17. The lessee shall be liable for all rates, taxes, and assessments during the term.

18. The Government reserves a right of ingress and egress to the telegraph-line which passes through some of the lands to be disposed of.

19. A right to search for and take gravel for making or maintaining roads from any of the lands disposed of is reserved. Payment to be made for surface damage only.

20. The lease shall contain a clause providing that the lessee shall hold the land comprised in his lease subject to the provisions of “The Land Act, 1892,” and “The Cheviot Estate Disposition Act, 1893,” unless otherwise provided by these regulations.

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DECLARATION ON APPLYING FOR A LEASE UNDER “THE LAND ACT, 1892,” AND “THE CHEVIOT ESTATE DISPOSITION ACT, 1893.”

I, A.B., do solemnly and sincerely declare,—

1. That I am of the age of seventeen years and upwards.
2. That I am the person who, subject to the provisions of “The Land Act, 1892,” am applying for a lease of land forming part of the Cheviot Estate.
3. That I am acquiring such lease solely for my own use and benefit, and not directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever.
4. That, including the lands now applied for, I am not the owner, tenant, or occupier, directly or indirectly, either by myself or jointly with any other person or persons, of any lands anywhere in the colony exceeding in the whole 640* acres of first-class land.

And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand intituled “The Justices of the Peace Act, 1882.”

A.B.

Declared at , this day of , 189 , before me—C.D., a Justice of the Peace in and for the Colony of New Zealand.

• 320 acres in the case of a married woman.

J. W. A. MARCHANT,
Commissioner of Crown Lands.

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Rural Land, Canterbury, open for Selection on Lease in Perpetuity.

District Lands and Survey Office,
Christchurch, 25th April, 1896.

THE under-mentioned land will be open for selection, in terms of sections 107 and 136 of “The Land Act, 1892,” upon lease in perpetuity, on and after Wednesday, 24th June, 1896.

If more than one application be received upon the same day, then the order of selection shall be decided by ballot on the following day, at 11 a.m., at the District Lands and Survey Office, Christchurch.