46 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



been secured from the Government under special lease for 

 a term of thirty years, at the rental of 2s. 6d. per acre per 

 annum. This lease was maintained only for the period 

 during which our verdant sentiments were put to the test. 

 That phase having passed without the destruction of a 

 single illusion, no restraint was imposed upon the passion 

 to possess the land. Negotiations resulted in a certain 

 acreage being proclaimed open to selection, and in such 

 case the original applicant has the prior right. What is 

 termed under the exceedingly liberal land laws of Queens- 

 land an agricultural homestead may comprise i6o acres, 

 320 acres, or 640 acres, in accordance with the classifica- 

 tion of the land as of first, second, or third quality. The 

 selector must pay 2s. 6d. per acre at the rate of 3d. per 

 acre for ten years, and must reside continuously on the 

 land. Five years are allowed for the completion of im- 

 provements — house, clearing, fencing, cultivation, etc., — 

 which in valuation must equal los., 5 s., or 2s. 6d. per acre 

 respectively, according to the classification of the land. At 

 the end of the five years the selector may pay in a lump 

 sum the second moiety of rent, making the total 2s. 6d. 

 per acre, and he is thereupon entitled to the issue of a 

 deed of grant of the land in fee-simple. Otherwise pay- 

 ments may extend over the term of ten years, when the 

 land becomes freehold. Briefly, for the sum of 2s. 6d. per 

 acre distributed over ten years, in addition to a trifle for 

 survey fees (also payable in easy instalments) and the 

 construction of (improvements equal in value to' 2s. 6d. per 

 acre, the freehold of land unsurpassed in fertility in the 

 whole world may be acquired. The selector may build his 

 own hut and erect his fences of timber from his clearing, 

 and the officials assess improvements on a liberal scale. 

 Who would not be a landed proprietor under such terms ? 

 Other clauses of the Land Act are far more encouraging. 

 Not only are payments held in abeyance until the selector 

 is able to meet them out of his earnings from the land, but in 

 special cases monetary assistance is afforded him. Literally 

 the meekest of men may inherit the choicest part of the earth. 



