Note Footnote a: — Chapter VIII

It is fitting to set out briefly what are the modes by which it is sought to secure settlement on the public lands of the State after half a century of legislation.a There is, first, the agricultural farm, in areas up to 1,280 acres on a tenure of twenty years and paying an annual rental of one-fortieth part of the purchasing price, such rentals being actually instalments of the price, and leaving only one-half of the price to be paid at the end of the term. The price cannot be lower than 10s. per acre, and there are conditions of occupation and improvement to be performed. There is the agricultural homestead in areas ranging up to 640 acres, the area varying inversely with the quality of the land. This form of settlement is subject to conditions of personal residence and improvement. The homesteads are capable of being converted into freeholds after five years and up to ten years for a total price of 2s. 6d. per acre, payable at the rate of 3d. per acre per annum. There is the unconditional selection in areas up to 1,280 acres, with no conditions to perform but the payment of rent during twenty years at the rate of 5 per cent. of the purchasing price each year, the purchasing price being one-third higher than that at which the land was available for agricultural farm selection. There are the grazing selections in the remoter districts in areas up to 60,000 acres. These selections are not capable of being made freehold, but are held on leasehold tenures of 14, 21, or 28 years, at rentals ranging from ½d. to 6d. per acre per annum, and subject to conditions of occupation and fencing. There are the scrub selections not exceeding 10,000 acres each, intended to secure the destruction of useless scrub in the remoter districts and the conversion of the land into good pasture. The tenure is purely leasehold, with a term of thirty years and at a peppercorn rental for a period having relation to the extent of scrub to be destroyed. Leasehold tenures are preferred for the remoter lands, and they have the advantage of leaving the settler's capital free for the development of his land. In case any should prefer a leasehold tenure in the more closely settled districts, the law now provides for the substitution of "perpetual leases" for the agricultural farm tenure.