LA WS RELATING TO CROWN LANDS. 3 i 



of ten years, tlio fencing or other improvement of tlio land, and 

 the payment by annual instalments of the purchase money with 

 interest at 4 per cent, per annum. A conditional purchase may be 

 of land in the Eastern or Central Divisions, and may comprise unre- 

 served country land not held under pastoral or other lease. The fact of 

 land being held under annual lease or occupation license and containing 

 improvements is not a bar to purchase, nor is survey or classification ui 

 the land a necessary preliminary. If an ap])licant selects land con- 

 taining improvements, he accepts an obligation to pay for them, but 

 payment is usually spread over a period and arranged for in instal- 

 ments. In either of the divisions mentioned the minimum area is 4() 

 acres, the maximum area being in the Eastern Division G40 and in 

 the Central Division 2,5G0 acres. The maximum areas referred to 

 may be acquired by degrees at intervals, that is to say, the selector 

 may take up a comparatively small area at first, and gradually supple- 

 ment it by what are called additional purchases. 



Land applied for under conditional purchase is ordinarily taken at a 

 statutory price of £1 per acre, but the law contains a provision for the 

 setting apart of what are termed Special Areas (which may be in the 

 Western as well as in either of the two divisions already mentioned), 

 and the price of land within these may be fixed at 30s. per acre and 

 upwards. A conditional purchase within a special area cannot exceed 

 320 acres in the Eastern or 640 acres in the other divisions, and in the 

 Eastern Division carries no right to a conditional lease. One featun- 

 with respect to special areas is that they may include land within 

 suburban or population boundaries, but it is to be understood that the 

 minimum and maximum areas of all special area conditional purchases, 

 whether within suburban or population area boundaries, or not, are 

 governed by the terms of the proclamation setting them apart. 



With an application (which has to be made to the local Crown 

 Lands Agent) for a conditional purchase of ordinary land, a deposit 

 of 2s. per acre and a survey fee according tj the appended scale 

 are required, No other payment to the Crown is necessary for three 

 years. At the end of the third year from the date of application an 

 instalment of Is. an acre is due, and thereafter a like instalment is 

 payable annually. Three months^ grace is allowed for the payment 

 of each instalment. The deposit and the first instalment are wholly 

 devoted to reduce the debt, interest not being charged for the finst 

 three years. The balance, after payment of the first instalment, is 

 therefore 17s. per acre. Out of each succeeding instalment interest is 

 taken and the residue credited in reduction of the debt. The interest 

 is computed on the balance as reduced from year to year, and is, con- 

 sequently, a diminishing quantity. Under this system it takes thirty 

 instalments of Is. per acre, together with the original deposit, to clear 

 off the debt ; but the holder of the land may, after he has obtained a 

 certificate from the Local Land Board that he has fulfilled his condi- 

 tions, pay off two or more instalments, or the whole of his balance 

 according as it suits his convenience. 



On a conditional purchase within a special area a deposit of 10 per 

 cent., and annual instalments, each 5 per cent, of the priceof the 

 land, are required. A survey fee is payable at the date of application. 



