Terms and Conditions of Lease in Perpetuity.

First- and Second-Class Agricultural and Pastoral Land.

The lands included in Blind River 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").

View from Section 14, looking S. towards "the Saddle" and Lake Valley Road.

View from Section 75, looking N. E. over rolling downs.

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 rental stated in the Schedule on the preceding page shall be the price at which the land shall be open for selection, and shall be payable in advance, on the first day of January and first day of July in each year, to the Receiver of Land Revenue, Blenheim.

3. Applications for leases shall be made in manner as provided in Part I. of the said Act; and all such applications shall be made to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Blenheim; and leases will be issued in accordance with the provisions of Part I. aforesaid.

4. The day on which the lands shall be open for selection shall be Wednesday, the sixteenth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five.

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. A selector may apply for any number of sections, whether contiguous or not, up to the limit of 640 acres; but he can become the owner or occupier of 640 acres only in contiguous sections, including the land already owned by him. Sections on both sides of a road are considered contiguous or touching each other.

7. A married woman may become the owner of 320 acres of land in contiguous sections, 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 applications are made on the same day for the same land, or part of the same land, then the order of selection 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.

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, sweetbriar, or scrub, page 8 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 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, 1881," or any other law to regulate the fencing of land which shall for the time being be in force; and shall once a year properly cut and trim all live fences 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.

12. The lessee must take alternately white-crops and green-or root-crops; and on the removal of the third crop the land must be sown down with good permanent cultivated grasses and clovers, and be allowed to remain as pasture for at least two years from the harvesting of last crop, before being again cropped.

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

14. At all times during the lease the land 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. In the event of the lessee failing to comply with any of the covenants hereinbefore mentioned relating 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.

18. All buildings erected upon the land shall be kept in good order and repair.

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

20. 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."

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

Declaration on applying for a Lease.

I, A, B, do solemnly and sincerely declare,—

1. That I am of the age of seventeen years and upwards.

2. That I am the person who, subject to the provisions of "The Land Act, 1892," "The Land for Settlements Act, 1894," and the regulations made thereunder, am applying for a lease of Section_____, Block_____, District.

View from Section 17, looking South.

View from Section 18, looking E. over rolling downs.

2. That I am acquiring such lease solely for my own use and benefit, and not directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person or persons whomsoever.

4. That, including the lands now applied for, I am not the owner, tenant, or occupier, directly or indirectly, either by myself or jointly with any other person or persons, of any lands anywhere in the colony exceeding in the whole 640^* acres of first-class land.

And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand intituled "The Justices of the Peace Act, 1882."

A.B.

Declared at______, this day of______, 189, before me, C.D.,

A Justice of the Peace in and for the Colony of New Zealand.