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 (J 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. 
