Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 62

Amended Conditions, Village Homesteads

Amended Conditions, Village Homesteads.

Order in Council.

Government Buildings, Wellington, this twenty-seventh day of February, 1891.

Regulations.

1. The land to be selected under these regulations shall be held on perpetual lease for the first term of thirty years, and for subsequent terms of twenty-one years, without any right of acquiring the freehold.

2. The rental shall be based on the capital value of the land, which shall in no case be less than £1 an acre.

3. No charge will be made for the lease, which shall be in the form in the Schedule hereto, beyond the sum of 10s. for registering the same in the Land Transfer Department.

4. No lease shall be issued until after the payment of the first half-year's rent. No transfer of the interest of a settler shall be allowed until the consent of the Commissioner of Crown Lands has been first obtained.

5. Renewals of leases shall be subject in all respects to the provisions of sections 151 to 155 of Part IV. of "The Land Act, 1885."

page 53

6. Married men will have preference as selectors under these regulations.

7. No allotment shall exceed in area 50 acres.

8. An advance of a sum not exceeding £10 will be made to assist a selector in the erection of a house on his selection.

(a.)The erection of a dwelling-house must be completed within six months of the date of selection, and each settler must reside on his section within that time. In bush-lands this may be deferred until one month after the first burn but no longer.
(b)In bush-lands each settler must begin bush-felling immediately; but in any case where this is not done the Steward should report the circumstance to the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the district.
(c)Those settlers who may desire an advance of £10 under this clause will obtain payment from the Steward, on his certificate that a dwelling-house of at least that value has been erected on the land.

9. The annual rent shall be 5 per cent, on the capital value of the land, together with 5 per cent, on such sum as may be advanced in terms of clause 8, payable half-yearly on the 1st day of January or July next ensuing after the lapse of six months from the dates of the selection and advances respectively : Provided that it shall not be necessary for any settler to pay an rent for the first two years from the date on which the rent is due as aforesaid. The unpaid two year's rent shall be added to the capital value of the land, and thereafter the rent will be payable on such page 54 increased capital value, or the settler may pay off the arrears of rent at any time.

10. All applications for land under these regulations shall be made to the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the district. When more applications than one are' made on the same day for the same land, the right to occupy the land applied for shall, subject to clause 6, be determined by lot amongst the applicants.

11. Each settler or transferee will be required to occupy his selection as his home, and to make substantial improvments as required by clause 12 and 13.

12. Each settler shall within two years cultivate one acre, and within four years the half of the remainder, of his selection.

13. Substantial improvement shall mean—
(a)Fencing the land with timber or other durable materials, not being a brush fence; or
(b)Breaking up and laying down the same in English or other cultivated grass; or
(c)Breaking up and planting or sowing root or other crops therein; and, in case of bush-lands, the felling and clearing of timber and sowing of grass.

14. Settlers shall not subdivide or sublet their holdings; but, with the consent of the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the district, they may transfer them, provided that all the conditions of these regulations have been fulfilled to date of application to transfer, and the two years' arrears of rent paid in full. No person who has an interest in any land of more than an acre in extent in the colony shall be eligible as a selector under these regulations.

15. No settler shall hold more than one allotment, which shall be held for his sole use and benefit, and not for the page 55 use or benefit of any other person whomsoever. No married woman shall be eligible as a selector, except as heir-at-law.

16. Any settler who shall fail to comply with these regulations in any respect shall, upon sufficient proof thereof to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, forfeit his interest in the land selected.

17. In case any doubt shall arise as to the construction of these terms and conditions with reference to the selection and occupation or clearing of any land, or otherwise arising thereunder, the same shall be settled by the Commissioner.