JULY 9.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 1083

Village-homestead Allotment, Cheviot County, open for Selection.

District Land Office,
Christchurch, 30th June, 1896.

THE under-mentioned village-homestead allotment will be open for selection on lease in perpetuity, at the District Lands and Survey Office, Christchurch, and the Land Office, Cheviot, on Wednesday, the 26th August, 1896. If more than one application be received on 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.

SCHEDULE.
CHEVIOT COUNTY.
Surveyed First-class Land.

This section is situated in the suburban village settlement on the west side of the Township of Mackenzie; it has frontage to Steward Road, and is bounded on the south by a plantation. It comprises flat agricultural land, with from 12in. to 18in. of black soil, at an elevation of about 200ft. above sea-level.

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

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF LEASE OF VILLAGE-HOMESTEAD LANDS.

1. The lands to be dealt with under these conditions are first-class lands, and are village-homestead allotments, open for selection on lease in perpetuity, under the provisions of "The Land Act, 1892" (hereinafter referred to as "the said Act"), and "The Cheviot Estate Disposition Act, 1893."

2. The day on which the lands shall be open for selection shall be Wednesday, the 26th day of August, 1896.

3. The rental stated opposite each allotment shall be the price at which it shall be open for selection.

4. Every applicant shall make the declaration prescribed, and shall, immediately after the application has been approved or declared successful at the ballot, pay 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 day of application. He shall also pay the sum of £1 1s. for the preparation of the lease and the registration thereof.

5. 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.

6. Each applicant shall state his or her residence, occupation, and condition in life (namely, whether married or single), and shall make the declaration prescribed.

7. Each applicant shall also undertake to pay the first half-year's rent, together with the lease and registration fee of £1 1s., immediately upon being declared the successful applicant.

8. All rents must be paid half-yearly, in advance, on the 1st days of January and July in each year.

9. 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 land held under lease.

10. 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 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.

11. The Government reserves a right of erecting telegraph or telephone lines over the lands during the term of lease, and a right of ingress and egress to such lines when erected.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. The lessee must take alternately white and root crops; and on the removal of the third crop the land must be sown down with good cultivated permanent 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.

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

16. At all times during the lease the land must be so farmed that not less than one-third of the farm be maintained in permanent pasture. But the conditions as to cropping shall not apply to sections of five acres or under.

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

18. 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 Commissioner of Crown Lands shall have the power at any time to enter upon and make any drain through the land that he may deem necessary.

19. 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.

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

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

22. No lessee shall subdivide, sublet, or transfer the land held by him under these regulations, except under and subject to the provisions of Part I. of the said Act.

23. No lessee shall hold more than one lot, except as otherwise provided.

24. All the provisions of the said Act, so far as applicable, shall extend and apply to the lands affected by these regulations, and to the applications and leases to be made and issued thereunder, and generally to the interests created, and the persons whose rights, liabilities, or interests are thereby affected; and the mention of any particular provision of the said Act shall not be deemed to exclude any other provision of the said Act applicable to the particular case.

DECLARATION ON APPLYING FOR A VILLAGE-HOMESTEAD 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 (in the case of a married woman, 320 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 , 18 , before me—C.D., a Justice of the Peace in and for the Colony of New Zealand.

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