2978
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 112

MAORI LAND ADMINISTRATION NOTICES.

Sections in the Township of Taumarunui for Lease by Public Auction under “The Maori Lands Administration Act, 1900,” and its Amendments.

Office of the Maniapoto-Tuwharetoa
Maori Land Council,
Otorohanga, 23rd November, 1905.

THE undermentioned sections in the Township of Taumarunui will be offered for lease by public auction, at the upset annual rentals and for the terms mentioned in the Schedules A and B hereto, at Hakiaha’s Hall, Taumarunui, on Thursday, the 28th December, 1905, at 10 o’clock a.m.

SCHEDULE A.

AUCKLAND LAND DISTRICT. — WEST TAUPŌ COUNTY. — PIOPIO TEA SURVEY DISTRICT.

Term of lease, twenty-one years, with right of renewals for further terms of twenty-one years.

TOWNSHIP OF TAUMARUNUI.

Locality and Description of Taumarunui Township.

Taumarunui Township is picturesquely situated at the junction of the Ongarue River with the Wanganui River, and on the right or northern bank of the latter. It is level land, situated on a terrace sufficiently elevated to make it out of danger from the highest floods, and also to enable the necessary drainage-works to be carried out. It is 175 miles from Auckland, and is at present the terminus of the North Island Main Trunk Railway. The large station-area acquired there by the Public Works Department, and the large engine-sheds and other buildings that have been erected there by the Department, point to it being a most important railway station and depot in the near future when the railway connection between Auckland and Wellington is complete. Another cause that is certain to make Taumarunui an important place is the fact that it is from there that tourists and others can take steamer and proceed down the Wanganui River (justly called the Rhine of New Zealand) to Pipiriki and on to the Town of Wanganui. Now that the railway has reached Taumarunui, the traffic by steamer on the river is expected to reach large dimensions, especially in the summer-time. There are large and valuable totara bushes in the vicinity of Taumarunui, which are being acquired by Europeans, and arrangements are in progress for the erection of sawmills, at which, and in the timber bushes, a large number of hands will be employed for many years. Everything points to Taumarunui becoming an important and flourishing township. There are a number of Europeans already located there, also a considerable Native population. It possesses a school, public hall, library, and several boardinghouses. The township extends up the Wanganui River from the confluence of the Ongarue River with the Wanganui River to the railway-bridge across the latter, some two miles higher up the river.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF LEASE.

1. The respective lots shall be offered by public auction on the 28th December, 1905.

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 the 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 January, 1906, together with £1 lease fee. The second half-year’s rent shall become payable on the 1st July, 1906, and thenceforth the rent shall be paid half-yearly in advance.

4. As soon as may be after the highest bidder is ascertained, a lease will be prepared. Such lease shall be for the term of twenty-one years, commencing from the 1st January, 1906, and the lessee shall execute the same in triplicate at the office of the Council whenever requested to do so.

5. 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 at the end of the initial or final term.

6. 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