Our First Half-Century: A Review of Queensland Progress Based Upon Official Information

by Queensland

They must be signed by the applicant, but may be lodged in the Land Office by his duly constituted attorney, and must be accompanied by the prescribed deposit. In the case of a Prickly Pear Selection the deposit must be the full amount of the prescribed survey fee, and in other cases, except Free Homesteads, a year's rent and one-fifth of the survey fee. In the case of a Free Homestead application the deposit consists of an application fee of £1 and one-fifth of the survey fee. Ordinarily, applications take priority in the order of their being lodged with the Land Agent, but applications lodged prior to the time proclaimed as that at which land is to be open for selection are regarded as simultaneous with those lodged at that time.

If land is open for Selection in two or more modes alternatively, and there are simultaneous applications to select it under different modes, priority among such applications is given to an application for the land as an Agricultural Homestead as against an application for it as an Agricultural Farm; to an application for it as an Agricultural Farm as against an application for it as an Unconditional Selection; and, if the land is open for Grazing Selection, to an application for it as a Grazing Homestead as against an application for it as a Grazing Farm.

In the case of simultaneous applications for the same land, as an Agricultural Farm, priority is secured by an applicant, other than a married woman or a single girl under twenty-one years of age, who, when making application, undertakes to personally reside on the land during the first five years of the term. In other cases of simultaneous applications for the same land by the same mode of selection, priority is determined by lot, unless in the case of simultaneous applications for the same land as a Grazing Selection, Unconditional Selection, or Prickly Pear Selection, a higher rental is tendered than that proclaimed. In that event the tender most favourable to the Crown secures priority.

Under the Special Selections Act land may be set apart for any body of settlers who, having some measure of common interest or capacity for mutual help, are desirous of acquiring land in the same locality. The procedure to be followed is for a request to be made to the Minister by the members of the body, explaining the grounds on which they are co-operating and setting out the land they desire to acquire. Should the request be acceded to, the land will be opened for selection in the usual way, but for a period to be set out in the proclamation it will only be available for the members of the body of settlers for whom it has been set apart.

When an application has been accepted by the Land Commissioner and approved by the Land Court, and the applicant has paid for any improvements there may be on the land, he becomes entitled to receive a license to occupy the land in the case of an Agricultural Selection or a Grazing Selection, or a lease in the case of a Scrub Selection, Unconditional Selection, or Prickly Pear Selection. Within six months after the issue of a license, the selector must commence to occupy the land, and must thereafter continue to occupy it in the manner prescribed.

AGRICULTURAL SELECTIONS.

Agricultural Farms.

The largest area that may be acquired by any one person as an Agricultural Farm is 1,280 acres. If the same person is the selector of both an Agricultural Farm and an Agricultural Homestead, the joint areas must not exceed 1,280 acres. The purchasing price may range from 10s. an acre upwards, as may be declared by proclamation. The term is twenty years. The annual rent is one-fortieth of the purchasing price, and the payments are credited as part of the price.

The land must be continuously occupied by the selector residing personally on it or by his manager or agent doing so. Within five years from the issue of the license to occupy, or such extended time as the Court may allow, the selector must enclose the land with a good and substantial fence, or make substantial and permanent improvements on it equal in value to such a fence. On the completion of the improvements the selector becomes entitled to a lease of the farm, and may thereafter mortgage it; or, with the permission of the Minister, may subdivide or transfer it; or, with the approval of the Court, may underlet it.