96 A COLONY IN THE MAKING chap. 



The task of classifying this land is solely that of the 

 land-officer, and may truly be held invidious. 



Every applicant, who must be twenty-one years old, 

 must make his application in writing and must 

 accompany the same by a deposit of £$. 



Every applicant is required to prove that he is 

 possessed of means sufficient to develop the farm 

 applied for. 



Every licence granted reserves an annual rent at the 

 following rates : — 



For land of the first class, 18 cents an acre (3^.). 

 For land of the second class, 12 cents an acre {2d.). 

 For land of the third class, 6 cents an acre (id.). 

 For land of the fourth class, 3 cents an acre (^d.). 



The applicant, having applied for a farm, receives, if 

 he is fortunate, an occupation licence for two years. 

 This is a temporary licence, and while it runs the farm 

 must be occupied by the applicant himself or his white 

 agent for eighteen months out of the two years. 

 Further, during this period of probation the farm 

 allotted must be developed by permanent improve- 

 ments to the value of twenty times the rent. 



The following are the items which officially consti- 

 tute improvements : — 



Farm buildings, fencings, furrows, planted trees or 

 hedges, walls, wells, drains, roads, bridges, cleared 

 land, gardens or nurseries, water boring or water races, 

 sheep or cattle dips, embankment or protective works, 

 permanent crops, water tanks, fixed machinery, irriga- 

 tion works. At the expiration of this probationary 

 period, the applicant is, provided he has complied with 

 the conditions of white occupation and development, 

 entitled to a lease of the farm for 99 years. 



