1366
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 43

Locality and Description of Township of Otorohanga.

Otorohanga Township is situated within what is known as the King-country, on the North Island Main Trunk Railway-line, 114 miles from Auckland and fourteen miles from Te Awamutu. It is the oldest of the European settlements in the King-country, but it is only now that Europeans are able to obtain valid titles to the land there. There is a considerable European and Maori population at Otorohanga at the present time, and it has been known for some years past as a thriving business-place. There is a large area of Crown land in the vicinity, a great deal of which has already been taken up, and as settlement progresses Otorohanga will become a place of considerable importance. There is a daily train service to it from Auckland. There is a sawmill in the township employing a number of workmen both in the mill and in the adjacent bush. There is a Board school, a public hall, a temperance hotel, and a Methodist church in the township, and a creamery within a distance of four miles. There is a graded and formed road from Otorohanga leading to Kihikihi, Te Awamutu, and other parts of Waipa and Waikato Counties. Otorohanga is within easy reach of the celebrated Waitomo Caves, and is the nearest place to them at which proper accommodation for tourists can be obtained. The township is laid out in a pretty valley on the west side of the railway-station site and the railway-line. It is bounded on the south and east by the Waipa River, which has been well stocked with trout. The township is partly on flat and partly on rising ground, thus comprising allotments suitable for both business and residence sites.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF LEASE.

1. The respective lots shall be offered by public auction on the 16th day of June, 1904.

2. The bidder of the highest rent shall be declared to be the lessee, and, if any dispute arises as to the last or highest bid at any auction for any lot, the lot in dispute shall be put up again at the last preceding bid.

3. The highest bidder for any lot shall, upon the fall of the hammer, pay to the auctioneer the first half-year's rent in advance by way of deposit, which shall represent the half-year's rent as from the 1st July, 1904, and shall cover the period between the date of sale and such 1st July, 1904.

4. The second half-year's rent shall become payable on the 1st January, 1905, and thenceforth the rent shall be paid half-yearly in advance.

5. As soon as may be after the highest bidder is ascertained, a lease will be prepared, for which there will be a charge of £1, to be paid by the lessee. Such lease shall be for the term of twenty-one years, commencing from the 1st July, 1904, and the lessee shall execute the same in triplicate at the office of the Council whenever requested to do so.

6. The lease may provide for renewals from time to time for a period not exceeding twenty-one years at a rent to be fixed by valuation or by arbitration, and it may also provide for payment by the incoming tenant for improvements made by the outgoing tenant, the value of such improvements to be ascertained by arbitration.

7. In cases where any of the allotments are subject to the payment of the value of the improvements by the provisions of an expiring lease or otherwise, the respective amounts thereof shall be specified in the conditions, and such value shall be paid at the same time and in the same manner as the deposit heretofore mentioned.

8. Should the highest bidder neglect or fail to comply with any of the conditions, his deposit-money shall thereupon be forfeited to the Council, who shall be at full liberty either to enforce the letting or to relet the premises at such time and place and in such manner as it thinks fit, unless some other arrangement is assented to, in writing, by the outgoing lessee or person interested.

9. Every lease shall be in the following form, with such modification as the circumstances may require:—

THIS deed, made the day of , one thousand nine hundred and , under the provisions of “The Maori Lands Administration Act, 1900,” and its amendments, between the District Maori Land Council, (hereinafter referred to and included in the expression “the lessor”) of the one part, and , of , in the Land District of , in the Colony of New Zealand (who, with his executors, administrators, and permitted assigns, is hereinafter referred to and included in the expression “the lessee”), of the other part, witnesseth that, in consideration of the rent hereinafter reserved, and of the covenants, conditions, and agreements herein contained and implied, and on the part of the lessee to be paid, observed,