2012
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 93

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 Township; 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 payable in advance, on the 1st day of January and 1st day of July in each year, to the Receiver of Land Revenue, Christchurch.

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 accordance with the provisions of Part I. aforesaid.

4. The day on which the land shall be first open for selection 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 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.

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 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.

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 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 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 sufficient 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 succession; and either with or immediately after a third crop of any kind the land must be sown down with good permanent cultivated grasses and clovers, and be allowed to remain as pasture for at least three years from the harvesting 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 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, 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 Commissioner 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 plantations, 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 assessments 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 applications 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 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.