THE SPECIAL SETTLEMENT OF JACKSON'S BAY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1985, 16 December 1874, Page 2

THE SPECIAL SETTLEMENT OF JACKSON'S BAY.

[from the wesi coast times.]

The general conditions relating to the' proposed Special Settlement at Jackson's Bay will shortly be placed before' the public, and will be read with interest not only throughout the Province of Westland, but also in the * neighboring Provinces, and probably in many other parts of the Australian Colonies. For the information of our readers we shall, in' this issue, point out the special features of the conditions, which will, doubtless, without delay be made public in their entirety. The site of the Special Settlement is a block of land comprising sixty thousand | acres, extending from Jackson's Bay Harbor on the south to the Haast river to the north. The land within the settlement will be sub-divided into three classes, namely, town, suburban, and rural lands. The town sections are to be a quarter of an acre each, the surburban sections ten acres, and the rural aecfciona fifty acres. Each adult male settler of the age of sixteen years and upwards is to be entitled to take up one suburban and one rural section. Town sections are to be sold by auction for cash, subject to regulations to be made hereafter. The price of the rural land is to be three shillings per acre per annum, and suburban land is to be six shillings per acre per annum to.resident aettlers, and payment for seven years will entitle them to a part of the land without further payment. At any time after two years' residence and bona Jide cultivation of the land to the extent of not less than one-fifth of the area held, settlera will be entitled to a Crown grant of their land at twenty shillings per acre for. rural land, and forty shillings per acre for suburban lands, the rent previously paid to be considered as part payment of the purchase money. All rents are to be made payable yearly, in advance. The payment of: the first year's rent will not be insisted on until three months after selection, and may be deducted from moneys payable by the Government as wages. Each, subsequent year they must be paid within one month after it "becomes due, and failure to do this will entitle the Government to determine the lease. The settlers will be landed free of cost at the township, in Jackson's Bay, immediately adjoining the southern boundary of the settlement. Cottages are to be erected there at the expense of the Government, where settlers may reside free of rent for a period sufficient to enable them, to get dwellings erected on their own sections. For this purpose tenders are already called. Provisions are also to be supplied to settlers by the Government during the same period at cost price, the amount of which will be doduotod from their earnings during the first two months. A main road is proposed to be constructed by the Government through the settlement, the rpad to commence at the township of Seacombe (sonamed on .the Government maps), at Jackson's .Bay, and even north as far as the Haast River, a distance of about twenty miles. In the construction of this road, and such other works as may be 'determined upon, the Government purpose offering engagemeuts for halftime during the first two years of the settlement, to those settlers who may desire to avail themselves of the same, funds for this purpose having been arranged for with the General Government.. ' An experienced officer will be appointed to reside on the settlement, from whom the settlers will be able to obtain information and advice, and the Government al?o ensures to the settlers a supply of tools and provisions at reasonable prices for a limited period. As the public are already aware, experienced surveyors are now on, the ground, laying off sections which will be' surveyed free of charge. All applications for land are to be decided by the Resident Agent, in the order in which they are applied for, and when more than one person applies for any section bnthe same day, the choice is to be decided by lot, the Government reserving to itself the. power of withdrawing such sections as they may think necessary, either before or after application. Special concessions are intended to be granted to private enterprise, inviting the employment of labor or capital in the establishment of saw-mills, brick wboks, fisheries, colleries/ or other industries. The money to arise from the sale of lands within the settlement will be applied for the following purposes, viz.:— ln defraying the expenses incident t6 the formation and laying out of the settlement ; in making and constructing roads and other necessary public works in that district ; in establishing, endowing, maintaining public, schools there; in maintaining communication either by sea or land, with the settlement; and in constructing harbor works, wharves, &c, for the settlement. These are the general conditions under which the Special Settlement ia to be formed, and we understand it is the intention of the Provincial Government to notify I on an early date that it will be prepared ! to receive applications from persons desirous of establishing saw-mills there. Parties applying will require to state the capabilities of the mill they propose establishing, giving the horse-power, description of plant, and quantity of timber the mill is capable of producing weekly.; abo the area of ground required for the erection of a mill aud stbrage of timber, and the rate per acre they will be prepared to pay the Government annually for the right to cut timber for a period of' seven, years over an. area of land not exceeding 1500 acres to be selected in not more than two blocks of 760 acres each. Applicants will also be required to state the rate per 100 superficial feet, they will supply the Government with timber as may be required, delivered on the main road through the settlement, and the number of men they will give employment tci, in connection with the mill, and the time at which they will undertake to have their mill in operatidn."