Feb. 24.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 369

of the lease, and shall in addition include the broken period between the date of the lease and such day.

3. The half-yearly rentals shall be payable in advance to the Receiver of Land Revenue, Wellington, on the 1st day of January and the 1st day of July in each year, the first half-year's rent being due on the 1st day of January or July next following the date of the lease, and being payable out of the hereinafter-mentioned deposit.

4. The lease shall be dated as on the day whereon the Land Board declares that the applicant has succeeded in obtaining the section.

5. Applications for leases shall be in the form or to the effect set forth in the First Schedule hereto, and every applicant shall make the declaration therein set forth, or to that effect.

6. Applications shall be addressed to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Wellington (hereinafter called “the Commissioner”).

7. The day on which the lands shall be first opened for selection shall be Monday, the 28th February, 1898.

8. Every applicant shall, to the best of his ability, answer the questions set forth in his application, and such other questions relating to his means and ability to work the land and fulfil the conditions of the lease as the Land Board may see fit to ask. Failure to answer any such question to the satisfaction of the Land Board will entail the rejection of the application.

9. No application will be considered unless it is accompanied by a deposit consisting of an amount equal to the rent for the first half-year of the term, together with the sum of one guinea to defray the cost of the lease.

10. An application may be for more sections than one, but no person shall be allowed to acquire or to hold more than one section.

11. If any application comprises more sections than one, it shall be sufficient if the prescribed deposit is duly made in respect of the section on which the largest deposit is required.

12. If the applicant is successful in obtaining a section, his deposit, or a sufficient part thereof, shall be retained and applied in payment of the items hereinbefore referred to in respect of such section, and the residue, if any, shall be returned to him.

13. No person shall be capable of applying for or holding any section in any of the following cases, that is to say:—

(1.) If at the date of his application he is directly or indirectly, either by himself or jointly with any other person or persons, the tenant or occupier of any land whatsoever under the principal Act, the amending Act, or “The Land Act, 1892,” or the owner in fee-simple, or the tenant or occupier under a lease for a term whereof not less than two years are unexpired, of any other land in the colony which, with the section applied for, would exceed an area of 1,000 acres; or

(2.) If at such date he is the owner of freehold or leasehold property the total value whereof, after deducting the encumbrances thereon, exceeds three times the capital value of the section applied for.

14. When more applications than one are made on the same day for the same section, the right to occupy the land shall, if such applications are accepted by the Land Board, be decided by ballot in accordance with the regulations under “The Land Act, 1892.”

15. Subject to the provisions of “The Land Act, 1892,” as to relaxing or dispensing with the conditions relating to residence, the lessee shall reside on the land within one year from the date of the lease, and thereafter such residence shall be continuous for the period of ten years.

16. The lessee shall put on the land comprised in his lease substantial improvements, to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, as under, that is to say:—

(1.) Within one year from the date of his lease, a substantial dwellinghouse to the value of at least £30;

(2.) Within two years from the date of his lease, a sufficient fence, within the meaning of “The Fencing Act, 1895,” round the land;

(3.) Within three years from the date of his lease, at least one-fourth of the area of the land shall be fenced off, and be under proper cultivation.

17. The lessee shall once a year throughout the term of his lease, and at the proper season of the year, properly cut and trim all live fences on the land at the date of the lease, or subsequently planted thereon, and stub all gorse not growing as fences, and also stub all broom and sweetbriar and other noxious plants.

18. The lessee shall once a year during the term of his lease properly clean and clear from weeds, and shall at all times during the said term keep open, all creeks, drains, ditches, and watercourses upon the land.

19. In the event of the lessee at any time failing to comply with any of the conditions of the two last-preceding clauses hereof, it shall be lawful for the Commissioner to have such work done, and to recover the cost of the same from the lessee in the same manner as rent.

20. The Commissioner or any Crown Lands Ranger of the land district shall have the power at any time to enter upon and make through the land any drain that he deems necessary, without payment of any compensation to the lessee.

21. The lessee shall not cut down or remove any ornamental clumps of trees growing on the land, without the consent of the Commissioner in writing first obtained, and such consent shall be conditional on the lessee giving a written undertaking to plant other trees of an equal number and approved kind within one year thereafter.

22. The lessee shall not, either directly or indirectly, carry on upon the land any offensive trade, within the meaning given in “The Land Transfer Act, 1885.”

23. The lessee shall not at any time during the term, by assignment, under-lease, mortgage, or other disposition, in any way transfer the possession or occupation of less than the whole of the land comprised in the lease.

24. The lessee shall not open up any mine on the land comprised in his lease without the previous permission of the Commissioner in writing.

25. The full and free right to enter on the land comprised in the lease and search for and take and remove gravel or stone for making or maintaining roads is reserved to Her Majesty: Provided that the lessee shall be entitled to compensation for any surface damage caused thereby, but to no other compensation or remedy whatsoever.

26. The lessee shall pay all rates, taxes, and assessments levied on or payable in respect of the land during the term of his lease.

27. The lessee shall at all times during the term of his lease keep in good repair and condition, to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, all fences, buildings, and other erections for the time being on the land, and shall not destroy, pull down, or remove them, or any of them, without the previous permission of the Commissioner in writing.

28. Section 12 of the amending Act shall apply, and advances under that section may be made subject to the following conditions:—

(1.) If the lessee is married, an advance of not more than £20, and if he is single an advance of not more than £10, may be made to him towards the cost of fencing and planting the land comprised in his lease, or of building a dwellinghouse thereon if no dwellinghouse already exists.

(2.) Such advance shall not exceed one-half the value of the fencing, planting, and building actually done or erected by the lessee on the land.

(3.) No advance shall be made save on the written certificate of an Inspector appointed in that behalf by the Land Board, specifying the total value of the work done by the lessee, and the amount of the advance to which he is entitled, and certifying that such work has been well and faithfully done, and to the Inspector’s satisfaction.

(4.) Such advance, together with interest thereon at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum computed from the date of the advance, shall be repayable by the lessee to the Receiver of Land Revenue on the half-yearly rent-days by equal half-yearly instalments in advance, extending over such period, being not less than five nor more than ten years, as, with the approval of the Minister, the Land Board thinks fit to prescribe: Provided that the lessee may, at any time during such period, repay the whole or any less number of the then future instalments, under a duly proportionate rebate of interest.

(5.) A certificate under the hand of the Commissioner shall at all times and from time to time be conclusive evidence as to the date and amount of the advance, the amounts and due dates of the instalments, and the sums paid and unpaid in respect thereof.

(6.) As long as any such instalment remains unpaid, the lessee shall insure all buildings and erections in the name of Her Majesty, in a sum equal to the full insurable value thereof, and for the purposes of this provision the covenant for insurance set out in the Schedule to “The Land Transfer Act, 1885,” shall be implied in the lease.

29. For the purpose of distinguishing the improvements existing on the land at the date of the lease from those subsequently made by the lessee, the first-mentioned improvements and their value shall be fixed by the Land Board, and be specified in the lease.

30. If and so often as the lessee makes default in the due and full payment of any rent under the lease, or of any