Section 11, Block 8, Clutha District, 52a 2r 0p
" 12, " 9, " 52a 2r 0p
" 1, " 9, " 51a 2r 0p
" 2, " 9, " 52a 2r 0p

THE following Sections of Rural Land will be offered for sale by public auction, at Mr Capstick’s Rooms, Tokomairiro, on Wednesday, the 31st day of December next, at noon, at the upset price of £1 per acre.

Section. Block. District. Acreage.
8 I Kaitangata 192 0 26
11 I do 172 2 7

J. T. THOMSON,
Chief Commissioner.

Waste Land Board Office,
Dunedin, 28th October, 1873.

NEW ZEALAND.

TRICESIMO SEPTIMO VICTORIAE REGINAE.
No. LIII.

An Act to provide for giving Free Grants of Land to certain Immigrants.
[2ND OCTOBER, 1873.]

Preamble.

WHEREAS it is expedient that persons immigrating to New Zealand at their own cost from the United Kingdom and elsewhere, other than the Australasian Colonies, should be permitted to acquire land free of cost in proportion to their expenditure on immigration:

BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Short Title.

1. The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Immigrants Land Act 1873.”

Immigrant paying own passage to New Zealand entitled to land of value of £20 for himself, and if with family, like portion of land for each adult member.

2. Every person of the age of eighteen years and not exceeding sixty years, arriving in New Zealand after the passing of this Act from the United Kingdom or elsewhere than any of the Australasian Colonies including Tasmania, who shall have paid the cost of his passage to New Zealand, and who desires to settle upon and cultivate land therein, shall, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, be entitled to a free grant of a piece of land to the value of twenty pounds.

And if any such person be the head of a family, the value of the piece of land to which such person shall be entitled shall be proportionate to the number of the members of such family the cost of whose passage shall have been paid by him, that is to say:—

In respect of his or her own passage, land to the value of twenty pounds; and in respect of the passage of each member of such family of the age of fourteen years or upwards, land to the value of twenty pounds; and for each member of such family of less age than fourteen years, land to the value of ten pounds.

Members of a family, what may consist of.

Members of a family, for the purposes of this Act, shall include wife, child, grandchild, nephew and niece of the head of the family: Provided that no person shall be entitled to such free grant of land unless he shall, before leaving the place of departure for New Zealand, have obtained from the Agent-General of New Zealand, or any person appointed by him for the purpose, a certificate in writing that he and those members of his family in respect of whom he claims to be entitled as aforesaid are suitable immigrants.

Immigrant must make claim.

3. Every person claiming to be entitled to land under this Act must, within sixty days after his first arrival in New Zealand, apply personally to the Immigration Officer under “The Immigration and Public Works Act 1870,” at the port or place where he arrives, or, if there be no such Immigration Officer at that port or place, then to such Immigration Officer whose office shall be nearest to such port or place, and furnish to such officer a statement of his claim to be so entitled, showing when and by what ship and at what port or place he (or he and his family, as the case may be) arrived, and from what port or place he or they emigrated, and the name and age of himself, or of himself and each member of his family, as the case may be; and he shall then, or within sixty days thereafter, furnish such proof of the truth of the statement as shall be required by the Immigration Officer.

Claimant to be registered.

4. On the Immigration Officer being satisfied of the truth of such statement, the name of such person shall be registered by the Immigration Officer in a register to be kept for the purpose, together with the amount in value to which he shall be entitled to select land under this Act in respect of his own passage or his own passage and that of his family, and every such person so registered shall be deemed a registered immigrant.

At any time within five years, registered immigrant may apply for land to be purchased for him, if he has resided continuously in New Zealand.

5. At any time within five years after the arrival of a registered immigrant in New Zealand, such immigrant may apply to the Minister to purchase for him land to the amount in value to which he is entitled according to such register, if such immigrant shall have resided continuously in New Zealand from the date of such arrival until the time of applying to the Minister, but not otherwise.

In the case of the head of a family making such application, such amount in value according to such register shall be proportionately reduced on account of each member of the family who shall not have resided continuously from the date of arrival until the application.

At time of making application, land to be purchased must be specified and evidence adduced of continuous residence.

6. Such registered immigrant must, at the time of making application to the Minister, notify the land which he desires to have purchased for him: he must also adduce evidence to the satisfaction of the Minister, that he, or he and the several members of his family on account of whom he claims to be entitled, have resided continuously in New Zealand from the date of arrival till the date of application.

What land may be notified.

7. The land which may be so notified must be waste lands of the Crown open for sale by the Crown; or land taken under the New Zealand Settlements Acts and open for sale by the Crown, or any other land open for sale by the Crown.

Land to be purchased by Minister in his name of office.

8. The land notified shall be purchased by the Minister in his name of office: Provided that if by reason of the land notified being put up to auction and fetching a higher price than the value to which the registered immigrant is entitled to, or if for any other reason the Minister is unable to purchase the land notified, the registered immigrant may give a new notification of other land, and so on from time to time.

To vest in Minister.

All land so purchased shall vest in the Minister of Land and Immigration for the time being, and upon every change in office shall vest in the person last appointed to be such Minister, as if he had purchased the same.

Land must be in one block.

9. The land to be selected must in every case, whether in the case of a single immigrant or the head of a family in respect of such family, be in one block.

On purchase, immigrant entitled to occupy for two years.

10. The registered immigrant, on the purchase being completed, shall be entitled to occupy the same for two years after the date of purchase.

After two years entitled to a free grant, on satisfying Minister that land has been occupied by immigrant or family for two years, and that one-fifth is cultivated.

11. At any after the expiration of two years from the date of purchase, the registered immigrant shall be entitled to a free grant from the Crown of the land purchased by the Minister on his account, on his satisfying the Minister that the land has been occupied continuously by himself or others of his family for the period of two years succeeding the date of purchase, and that, at the expiration of such period of two years, at least one-fifth of the land has been laid down with artificial grass, or ploughed and sown with root or cereal crops, or planted as a vineyard or orchard or with forest trees, or that at least one-fifth has been cultivated partly in one and partly in another or others of such manners as aforesaid.