LAWS RELATING TO CROWN LANDS. 39 



A lease of tliis character cannot bo transferred (except liy way of 

 hona-fide mortgage) until the residential term has exj)ired. 



On expiration of the lease the last holder is given tenant right iu 

 improvements, and during the last year the holder )uay apply for 010 

 acres as a Homestead Selection. 



Leases of Scruh and Inferior Lands and Lnprovcment Leases. 



These leases are classed together, having regard to tlic fact that 

 although there are separate provisions in the Crown Lands Acts 

 applying to each, they all have features in common ; and in fact the 

 question whether land shall be offered under one provision or another 

 is largely a matter of choice. Some of the scrub-infested lands in 

 the Colony are of a high-class character, and the aim of the law is to 

 offer such land on terms and conditions calculated to render their 

 occupation profitable both to the lessee and to the Crown. 



Before land can be offered under Scrub Lease it is necessary that the 

 Local Land Board should recommend it to be declared scruli land ; and 

 in connection with inferior lands a report from the Board has also to 

 be first obtained. This procedure is not technically necessary with 

 regard to lands proposed to be offered under Improvement Lease. 



There is no limitation as to the area of a Scrub Lease or of a lease 

 of inferior lands, but an Improvement Lease cannot exceed an area 

 of 20,480 acres. 



A Pastoral or Homestead Lease may be converted wholly or in part 

 into a Scrub Lease. 



Scrub Leases may be granted on application or disposed of by 

 auction or tender. Leases of the other two classes may be disposed 

 of by auction or tender only. The rent of a lease obtained by appli- 

 cation is determined by the Local Land Board. A lease offered by 

 auction or tender of course ordinarily falls to the highest bidder or 

 tenderer. In all cases the rent is payable annually in advance. 



The initial rent of an Improvement Lease or a lease of inferior 

 lands applies throughout the whole term of the lease, and this may 

 be the case with respect to a Scrub Lease ; but it is in the power of 

 the Minister when offering a Scrub Lease to arrange that the term 

 of the lease shall be divided into periods, and that the rent for each 

 period shall be determined by appraisement. 



The term of the lease is fixed by the Minister and cannot exceed 

 twenty-eight years. Indeed Scrub Leases or leases of inferior land are 

 limited in the first instance to twenty-one and twenty years respectively, 

 but under the Act of 1895 the Governor now has the power of extending 

 the term to twenty-eight years after once a lease has been granted. 



A condition of residence does not attach to any of these leases. 

 The conditions imposed are directed principally to the destruction of 

 scrub or the improvement of the land. The provisions of the law in 

 this respect are : — ■ 



Scrub Leases. — Every holder of a Scrub Lease shall as a condition of 

 his lease be required to take all such steps as the Local Laiid Boani 

 shall from time to time, subject to appeal, direct, for the i)urpose of 

 destroying such scrub as may be specified in his lease or ])romiso of 

 lease, in and upon the land under Scrub Lease, or in and upon any 



