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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 74

First Class Agricultural Land

First Class Agricultural Land.

The lands included in Ardgowan Estate are divided into sections, which are open for selection on lease in perpetuity, under the provisions of "The Land Act, 1892 " (herein referred to as "the said Act"), and "The Land for Settlements Act, 1894."

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 rentals stated in the Schedules on pages 8 and 9 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, Dunedin.

3. Applications for leases shall be made in manner as provided in Part I. of the said Act; and all such applications shall be addressed to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Dunedin, or to any District Land Officer in the Otago Land District; and leases will be issued in accordance with the provisions of Part I. aforesaid.

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4. The day on which the lands shall be first open for selection shall be Tuesday, the 12th day of May, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six.

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 or occupier of land under the said Act which with the land applied for would exceed in area 640 acres shall be capable of applying for or holding any section.

7. A married woman may become the owner of any section not exceeding 320 acres of land, notwithstanding any land that her husband may be entitled to acquire or may hold, and a married woman may also become a lessee under a will or by virtue of an intestacy.

8. When more applications than one are made on the same day for the same land, or part of the same land, the right to occupy the land shall be decided by ballot.

9. 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.

10. The lessee shall put on the land comprised in his lease sub-stantial 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 time 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, sweet-briar, 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.

11. 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

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Looking East, showing Lagoon in No. 3 Paddock, Ardgowan.

Looking East, showing Lagoon in No. 3 Paddock, Ardgowan.

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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.

12. 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.

13. The lessee must not cut the cultivated grass or clover for hay or seed the first year of the course.

14. At all times during the lease, the land—if the area of the whole exceed 10 acres—must be so farmed that not less than one-third of the farm shall be maintained in permanent pasture.

15. The lessee must not burn any straw grown upon the land.

16. 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 any drain through the land that it may deem necessary.

17. 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 either in or near the plantation so cut down, or in some other new plantation, as may be agreed on.

18. In the event of the lessee failing to comply with any of the covenants hereinbefore mentioned relating to 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.

19. All buildings erected upon the land shall be kept in good order and repair, and insured in the name of the Queen.

20. The lessee shall be liable for all rates, taxes, and assessments during the term.

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."

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22. A right to search for and take gravel or stone for making or maintaining roads from any of the lands disposed of is reserved, Payment to be made for surface damage only.