AGRICULTURAL LEASES ON GOLDFIELDS.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 510, 29 May 1869, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL LEASES ON GOLDFIELDS.

We learn from a report by Mr. Lowe on the Survey Department that, since September, 1868, the number of leases issued from the District Survey Office amounted to 47, comprising a total of 763 acres. Several of these had been applied for since 1866, and most during 1867. The long delay in the granting of the leases has been one reason for the diminution in the number of applications during 1868. Several other sections had been long applied for, and some actually surveyed in 1866 and 1867, by private surveyors —chiefly at Brighton, for which he was unable to prepare the deeds, as the ground was laid out in opposition to the regulations—and they have stood over till they can be re-surveyed. In connection with the subject of these leases, Mr Lowe has the following remarks : —" In the experience I have had amongst the agricultural settlers on the goldfields, I have been led to the conviction that very many more applications would be made under the very advantageous system of goldfieldß leasing, if the ultimate purchasing price were definitely fixed in the first instance. I would therefore venture to suggest for the consideration of the Government—lst. That a certain price per acre should be set on the laud at the time of granting the lease—(say £2, or in some particular cases in the vicinity of townships, £2 10s., or £3), at which price the lessee would be entitled to purchase under the 52nd section of the " Goldfields' Act." 2nd.—That rents paid up previously to the date of purchase be reckoned as part payment of the said fixed price. Under the present circumstances people imagine tbe improvements they may make on the land will augment its cost when they come to buy it, and they are prejudiced against the undertaking in consequence. In the arrangement I have suggested every one would know exactly what the land will cost him either to lease or purchase at any period of the term of lease, and he would have greater confidence in commencing his work. The encouragement of bona fide settlers and agriculturists will, I have no doubt, always receive the attention of the Government, as greatly tending towards the advancement of the country."