selected, in blocks of not less than 15 nor more than 320 acres, at £1 per acre cash, or 26s. 8d. spread over fourteen years. By an Amendment Act of 1893, the smaller settlers (on 15 to 50 acres), if actual occupants, pay nothing for the first three years; and by another Act, of 1894, provision is made, as in Queensland and other colonies, for co-operative settlement. The long period of purchase under these Acts is intended to help the industrious individual who has little or no capital to secure himself a home on the land. But the newcomer from England, either with or without capital, will find it necessary to acquire his colonial experience before committing himself to the expenditure of either work or money in any particular locality; and, in the course of so acquiring it, will probably come across more immediately remunerative means of employing his energy than in a struggle with the primitive bush. At the same time, it should not be forgotten that the methods of clearing heavy scrub have very much altered since fifty years ago. The pioneer insisted on expending from £6 to £15 per acre, and an infinity of trouble and time, in grubbing and clearing his land for the plough during the first year. Not only are there now stump-jumping ploughs, and the "devil," the American machine which draws trees from the ground like teeth; but experience has proved that the best methods are the cheaper ones of ring-barking the large trees and burning off the scrub, while first crops of fodder, or even of potatoes or grain, are taken off the land years before it is completely cleared. The average return for a crop of potatoes may vary from £5 to £20 per acre, and the first cost of scrubbing the land out from 8s. to 25s. per acre.
The following samples of properties advertised for sale in a recent issue of a local property register will serve
