THE OTAGO SETTLEMENTS ACT, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1974, 2 September 1869, Page 3

THE OTAGO SETTLEMENTS ACT, 1869.

The following sketch of the principal provisions of the above measure, which has received the Governor’s assent, is taken from the Oamaru Times : The Superintendent is empowered at any time, upon resolution of the Provincial Council, to set apart by proclamation eligible sites for settlement or for colonisation at Martin’s Bay and Preservation Inlet, but the whole area so set apart in each case not to exceed one hundred thousand acres. Town and suburban and rural allotments may be laid out in each of these settlements, and reserves for the uses of the Provincial and General Governments are provided for. The special features of the Act are contained in Clause 7, which enacts that before any grant, sale, or disposition of the land, three blocks of land are to be set apart in each settle ment, which are to be divided into classes described as A, B, C, and D, and the lands contained in such blocks are to be granted or sold in accordance with the following provisions, viz : Class A.—An area not exceeding 10,000 acres may be set apart in each block for the purpose of free grants, but no free grant may be made to any one person of more than 100 “ rural acres,” nor may any free grant be made to any person under the age of fiteen. To this is appended the following regulation : No person shall be entitled to a free grant of land under this Act until he shall have prpvetl to the satisfaction of the Superintendent that he has occupied such land for a period of two years out of a period of three years from the date of such occupation having been authorised. Provided nevertheless that if at any time after one year of continued residence such occupant shall purchase the said land at a price of ten shillings an acre he shall upon the receipt of such money being certified by a Receiver of Land Revenue duly authorised to receive the same he entitled to receive a Crown Grant thereof. Class B. —The land comprised in this class (which is not to exceed 30,000 acres in each settlement) is to be sold

at 5 s per acre, but no one person maypurchase more than 100 acres at any less price than 10s per acre. Class C.—The land comprised in this class is limited to 60,000 acres, and may either be sold at public auction at an upset price of “no less than 5s per acre, or may be declared open for selection and sale, at a fixed price of 10s. No one person to be allowed to purchase more than 500 acres. ’

Class D., mineral lands.—These are to be sold and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the Otago Waste Lands Act, 1866.

The money arising from the sale is to be applied, in the first place, to the following purposes, viz. : —l. The defrayment of the expenses incident to the formation and laying out of the settlements. 2. In making and constructing roads and necessary public woi’ks. 3. In establishing, endowing, and maintaining public schools, and other necessary public institutions. 4. In promoting immigration, for the purpose of securing efficient colonisation. The duration of the Act is limited to 1874, and it is to expire aud cease to have any effect on the Ist of January in that year.