Nov. 20.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 1953

SCHEDULE.

ASHBURTON COUNTY.—HIGHBANK ESTATE.—CORWAR SURVEY
DISTRICT.

This section is a portion of the Highbank Estate, situated
on the southern side of the Rakaia River, about sixteen
miles inland from Rakaia Township and Railway Town-
ship; altitude, about 900ft.; all flat; soil good, but lighter
than other portions of the estate. More than one-half of
the section is in grass. The fences comprise 46 chains of
inferior gorse hedge on the south-east boundary, 146 chains
of post, standard, and wire fencing on the north-east and
south-west boundaries, and 71 chains of subdivisional fences.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

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 half-yearly rental stated above shall be the price at
   which the land shall be open for selection, and shall be pay-
   able in advance, on the 1st day of January and 1st day of
   July in each year, to the Receiver of Land Revenue, Christ-
   church.

3. Applications for the lease shall be made in manner as
   provided in Part I. of "The Land Act, 1892"; and all such
   applications shall be addressed to the Commissioner of Crown
   Lands, Christchurch; and a lease will be issued in accord-
   ance with the provisions of Part I. aforesaid.

4. The day on which the land shall be first open for selec-
   tion shall be Wednesday, the 9th day of December, 1896.

5. Every applicant shall make the declaration prescribed,
   and shall, immediately after the application has been ap-
   proved, 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 follow-
   ing the date of application. He shall also pay the sum of
   £1 1s. for the preparation of the lease and the registration
   thereof.

6. No person shall be allowed to acquire or to hold more
   than one section, and no person who is the owner of any land,
   or the occupier of any land the tenancy of which is for more
   than one year from the date of application, any or all of
   which land together with the land applied for would exceed
   in area 640 acres, shall be capable of applying for or holding
   any section.

7. When more applications than one are made on the
   same day the right to occupy the land shall be decided by
   ballot.

8. The lessee must reside on the land selected within one
   year from the date of selection, and thereafter such resi-
   dence 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.

9. 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.
Improvements existing on the land at the date 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 em-
bankments or protective works of any kind, or in any way
improving the character or fertility of the soil, and include
the erection of any non-movable building.

10. The lessee must fence the land with a ring-fence within
    the second year of the term, and such fence must be suffi-
    cient to comply in all respects with "The Fencing Act, 1895,"
    or any other law to regulate the fencing of land which shall
    for the time being be in force; and shall at least every second
    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. Existing boundary-
    fences shall be considered as sufficient.

11. The lessee must not take more than three crops, one
    of which must be a root-crop, from the same land in suc-
    cession; and either with or immediately after a third crop
    of any kind the land must be sown down with good per-
    manent cultivated grasses and clovers, and be allowed to
    remain as pasture for at least three years from the harvest-
    ing of last crop before being again cropped.

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

13. 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.

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

15. The lessee must once a year properly clean, clear from
    weeds, and keep open all creeks, drains, ditches, and water-
    courses 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, or authorise the construction of, any drain through
    the land that it may deem necessary.

16. The plantations of shrubs or timber-trees now growing
    on the land, or which may hereafter be planted by any
    lessee, shall be protected by fences until they can be no
    longer injured by cattle or other animals. The lessee shall
    have no right to cut down any tree or shrub, unless for the
    purpose of thinning, without the consent of the Commis-
    sioner of Crown Lands; but he shall have a right to trim,
    lop, and dress according to the best methods of sylviculture.
    For every tree cut down the lessee shall, in the proper season,
    plant another in or near the plantation so cut down, or in
    some other new plantation, as may be agreed on.

17. In the event of the lessee failing to comply with any of
    the covenants hereinbefore mentioned relating to the planta-
    tions, 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.

18. All buildings, fences, and other improvements erected
    upon the land shall be kept in good order and repair.

19. The lessee shall be liable for all rates, taxes, and as-
    sessments during the term.

20. A right to search for and take gravel or stone for
    making or maintaining roads from the land disposed of is
    reserved. Payment to be made for surface-damage only.

21. Subject as aforesaid, the provisions of "The Land Act,
    1892," and regulations made thereunder with respect to ap-
    plications for and the grant of leases in perpetuity, shall
    apply, so far as applicable, to all applications for leases
    under "The Land for Settlements Act, 1894."

Declaration on applying for a Lease.

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," "The Land for Settlements Act,
   1894," and the regulations made thereunder, am applying
   for a lease of Section , Block ,
   District.
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 other than a tenancy expiring within
   one year from this date.
   And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously be-
   lieving 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.