Our First Half-Century Part 25

3. Land cannot be acquired in the interest of another person, and an applicant is required to declare that he requires the land for his own exclusive benefit, and not as the agent, servant, or trustee of any other person. An alien may, on pa.s.sing a reading and writing test, acquire a selection; but unless he becomes a naturalised subject of the King within three years thereafter, all his right, t.i.tle, and interest in the land will become forfeited.

4. The term of the lease of a selection is twenty-five years, dating from the 1st January or 1st July nearest to the date of the Commissioner's license to occupy the land.

5. No rent will be payable during the second, third, or fourth years of the term. The rent payable during the remainder of the term will be at the rate of 8 2s. 7d. for every 100 of the purchasing price of the land, and will be allocated to princ.i.p.al and interest according to the table appended hereto.

6. Within two years of the issue of a license to occupy, the selector must enclose the land with a good and substantial fence, or make substantial and permanent improvements on it of a value equal to the cost of such a fence, and must within such period make application to the Commissioner for a certificate that he has performed this condition.

7. When the prescribed improvements are made, a lease will be issued to the selector, and the selection may then be mortgaged, or, with the permission of the Minister, may be subdivided or transferred, or, with the approval of the Land Court, may be sublet, except in the case of a selection on which the selector has undertaken to reside personally during the first five years of the term, in which case neither the lease nor the selector's right, t.i.tle, or interest thereunder can be mortgaged, except to the trustees of the Agricultural Bank, a.s.signed, or transferred during such period.

8. A selection must be occupied by the residence thereon of the selector in person, or by his duly appointed agent, as the case may require or permit, during the whole term or until the leasehold tenure is determined by freehold.

9. At any time after five years' occupation the leasehold tenure may be converted into freehold by payment of the unpaid balance of the purchasing price. The amount payable in any year, after payment of the rent for that year, shall be at the rate specified in the last column of the appended table for every 100 of the purchasing price.

TABLE OF THE ANNUAL PAYMENTS TO BE MADE AS INSTALMENTS OF PURCHASE MONEY (SHOWING PRINc.i.p.aL AND INTEREST SEPARATELY), AND THE PAYMENT, EXCLUSIVE OF RENT, TO BE MADE IN ANY YEAR AFTER THE FIFTH TO ACQUIRE THE FREEHOLD OF ANY SELECTION UNDER "THE CLOSER SETTLEMENT ACT OF 1906."

----------+-----------------+----------------+-----------------+--------------- ANNUAL PAYMENT. Payment to be made in any +-----------------+----------------+-----------------+ Year after the Fifth to Principle. Interest. Total. acquire Freehold.

----------+-----------------+----------------+-----------------+-------------- _s._ _d._ _s._ _d._ _s._ _d._ _s._ _d._ 1st year 10 0 0 ... 10 0 0 ...

2nd " ... ... ... ...

3rd " ... ... ... ...

4th " ... ... ... ...

5th " ... 8 2 7 8 2 7 ...

6th " ... 8 2 7 8 2 7 98 4 2 7th " ... 8 2 7 8 2 7 94 19 10 8th " ... 8 2 7 8 2 7 91 12 3 9th " 1 18 7 6 4 0 8 2 7 88 1 6 10th " 3 14 6 4 8 2 8 2 7 84 7 0 11th " 3 18 2 4 4 5 8 2 7 80 8 10 12th " 4 2 1 4 0 6 8 2 7 76 6 9 13th " 4 6 3 3 16 4 8 2 7 72 0 6 14th " 4 10 6 3 12 1 8 2 7 67 10 0 15th " 4 15 1 3 7 6 8 2 7 62 14 11 16th " 4 19 10 3 2 9 8 2 7 57 15 1 17th " 5 4 10 2 17 9 8 2 7 52 10 3 18th " 5 10 0 2 12 7 8 2 7 47 0 3 19th " 5 15 6 2 7 1 8 2 7 41 4 9 20th " 6 1 4 2 1 3 8 2 7 35 3 5 21st " 6 7 4 1 15 3 8 2 7 28 16 1 22nd " 6 13 7 1 9 0 8 2 7 22 2 6 23rd " 7 0 4 1 2 3 8 2 7 15 2 2 24th " 7 7 4 0 15 3 8 2 7 7 14 10 25th " 7 14 10 0 7 9 8 2 7 +-----------------+----------------+-----------------+------------- 100 0 0 80 14 3 180 14 3 ----------+-----------------+----------------+-----------------+-------------

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEW ON BARRON RIVER, CAIRNS RAILWAY]

AN ACT TO FACILITATE THE ACQUIREMENT OF SELECTIONS BY CERTAIN BODIES OF SETTLERS.

"THE SPECIAL SELECTIONS ACT OF 1901."

PREAMBLE.

Whereas it is desirable to promote closer settlement upon the agricultural lands of Queensland by affording to bodies of settlers special facilities for the acquirement of Agricultural Selections to be held in conjunction with portions in adjacent Agricultural Townships: Be it therefore enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative a.s.sembly of Queensland in Parliament a.s.sembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:--

SHORT t.i.tLE AND CONSTRUCTION OF ACT.

1. This Act may be cited as "_The Special Selections Act of 1901_,"

and shall be read and construed with and as an amendment of "_The Land Act, 1897_," hereinafter called the Princ.i.p.al Act.

PROCLAMATION OF LANDS TO WHICH THIS ACT APPLIES.

2. (1.) The Governor in Council may from time to time, by proclamation, declare any unoccupied country lands to be open for selection as Agricultural Homesteads, or as Agricultural Farms, or as p.r.i.c.kly Pear Selections, or as Perpetual Lease Selections, or as Grazing Selections, or as Agricultural Farms to be held in conjunction with Grazing Farms under the provisions of this Act by members of the body of settlers in the proclamation specified.

Notwithstanding the provisions of section eighty-three of the Princ.i.p.al Act, such proclamation declaring the lands mentioned therein open for selection as Agricultural Homesteads need not also declare such lands to be also open for selection as Agricultural Farms.

No Agricultural Homestead to be selected under the provisions of this Act shall exceed three hundred and twenty acres.

No p.r.i.c.kly Pear Selection to be selected under the provisions of this Act shall exceed two thousand five hundred and sixty acres.

No Grazing Farm to be held in conjunction with an Agricultural Farm selected under the provisions of this Act shall exceed two thousand acres, and the total aggregate area of the Agricultural Farm and the Grazing Farm held in conjunction therewith shall not exceed three thousand two hundred and eighty acres.

No other Grazing Selection to be selected under the provisions of this Act shall exceed three thousand acres.

Such lands shall remain open for selection under the provisions of this Act for such time as may be declared by Proclamation.

During such time such lands shall be open to be selected only by persons who shall, at the time and in the manner prescribed, furnish to the Commissioner for the District in which the lands are situated proof that they are members of the body of settlers for whom such lands have been set apart.

MAXIMUM AREA.

(2.) No person shall at the same time apply for or hold two or more Homesteads under the provisions of this Act the aggregate area of which is greater than three hundred and twenty acres, or two or more p.r.i.c.kly Pear Selections under the provisions of this Act the aggregate area of which is greater than two thousand five hundred acres, or two or more Grazing Selections under the provisions of this Act the aggregate area of which is greater than three thousand acres.

AGRICULTURAL TOWNSHIPS.

(3.) The Governor in Council may by proclamation set apart any Crown lands in the said District as Agricultural Townships, and may cause the whole or any part of such lands to be subdivided into portions for purposes of residence. Such lands shall be in the vicinity of the lands open for selection under the foregoing provisions.

The area of any portion shall not exceed ten acres.

Any selector of a selection under the provisions of this Act shall also be ent.i.tled to one of the portions in an Agricultural Township, which portion shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be a part of the Selection, so that the condition of occupation may be performed by the residence of the selector either upon the Selection or upon the portion in the Township.

The area of the portion in the Township shall not, however, be taken into consideration in estimating the maximum area which a selector may apply for or hold.

IMPROVEMENTS.

(4.) In order that the selector may become the purchaser of an Agricultural Selection under this Act, the certificate of the Commissioner given under section one hundred and thirty-four or one hundred and thirty-eight, as the case may be, of the Princ.i.p.al Act must show that a sum at the rate of ten shillings per acre has been expended in substantial and permanent improvements on the land.

The value of any improvements made upon the portion in the Township shall be reckoned as part of the improvements required to be made upon the Selection.

The provisions of this subsection do not apply to p.r.i.c.kly Pear Selections or to Perpetual Lease Selections or Grazing Selections.

CONDITION OF OCCUPATION.

(5.) During the first five years of the term of the lease of an Agricultural Farm (including an Agricultural Farm held in conjunction with a Grazing Farm) selected under this Act, the condition of occupation shall be performed by the continuous and _bona fide_ personal residence of the lessee on the Selection; and subsection 5A of section one hundred and thirty-two of the Princ.i.p.al Act shall accordingly be applicable.[a]

(6.) During the first five years of the term of the lease of a p.r.i.c.kly Pear Selection selected under this Act, the lessee shall occupy the land; such condition of occupation shall be performed by the continuous and _bona fide_ personal residence of the lessee on the Selection; and during such period subsection 5A of section one hundred and thirty-two of the Princ.i.p.al Act, except the last paragraph thereof, shall be applicable to every such p.r.i.c.kly Pear Selection.

(7.) Notwithstanding anything in the Princ.i.p.al Act, or any Act amending the same, when the proclamation opening the land for selection so declares, lots which are not contiguous may be applied for and held as one selection under this Act.

REGULATIONS.

3. The Governor in Council may make Regulations prescribing the manner in which applicants for selections under the provisions of this Act shall give proof of their qualification to become selectors, and prescribing such other matters and things as may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of this Act.

[Footnote a: Inter alia the subsection referred to provides that the lessee shall not, during the first five years of the term of the lease, mortgage, a.s.sign, or transfer the lease.]