26 NEW SOUTH WALES. 



the land is legally available^ while at the same time it affords protec- 

 tion to the public estate against indiscriminate absorption in detached 

 portions without reference to any general symmetry of design. 



Administration. 



The head office of the Department of Lands and Survey is in Sydney, 

 and is presided over by the Minister for Lands — the permanent head 

 of the Department being the Under-Secretary for Lands."^ Branches 

 of the Department are now situated in various parts of the Colony. 

 Prior to 1885 the whole business of the Department was dealt with at 

 the head office, but during that year it was largely decentralised by 

 the calling into existence of local Land Boards. Each Board is 

 presided over by a Chairman, who is a salaried officer of the Govern- 

 ment, his coadjutors, of whom there are two, being local residents, 

 remunerated by fees. At the head office of each Board a District 

 Surveyor and a staff of clerks and draftsmen are employed, besides 

 whom are surveyors and other field officers located elsewhere within 

 the boundaries which mark the Board's jurisdiction. Applications for 

 certain classes of holdings, such as Homestead Selections, Conditional 

 Purchases, Conditional Leases, &c., come before the Board in the 

 first instance for investigation, and applicants are not entitled to 

 finally (though in some cases they may provisionally) take possession 

 of the land applied for until their applications have been what is 

 termed " Confirmed '' by the Board. Against a Board's decision an 

 appeal lies to a Land Appeal Court, which consists of a President and 

 two Commissioners. 



Each Board District includes several smaller districts, called Land 

 Districts (for each of which, however, there is a separate Board), which 

 have been established for the convenience of the public. In each 

 district a Crown Lands Agent is stationed, whose duty is to supply 

 information to persons seeking land, and to receive applications, 

 deposits, and other pajnnents under the Crown Lands Acts. 



At the head office in Sydney an Information Bureau is in existence, 

 where the fullest and latest particulars as to the situation of available 

 land in the Colony, and the prices and conditions under which it may 

 be taken up, are always obtainable. 



Reserves-, Dedications, 8)'c. 



The Governor is invested with large powers of temporarily reserving 

 Crown lands either from sale or lease generally, or from any specific 

 kind of sale or lease. Reservation takes effect immediately upon noti- 

 fication in the Government Gazette. Revocation of reservation does not 

 mature until the expiration of sixty days after Gazette notification. 



The purposes of reserves are various : for instance, for water supply, 

 for preservation of timber, for commonage, for the convenience of 

 stock travelling through the country, &c. Reserves of the last-men- 

 tioned description may be up to one mile in width, and are associated 

 with camping reserves usually C40 acres in extent. 



" William Houston, Esq. 



