Page:Handbook of Western Australia.djvu/176

158

Crown Lands are specially classed as Town, Suburban, Rural, and Mineral.

Town and Suburban Lands are offered by Public Auction at an upset price determined by the Commissioner of Crown Lands and approved by the Governor in Council, and are put up either by order of the Commissioner, or upon the application of any one who, at the time of making the application, deposits one-tenth of the upset price; this, if no advance on the upset price be made, is considered as part payment for the purchase. Where lands are put up by the order of the Commissioner, the one-tenth of the whole purchase money has to be paid on the fall of the hammer. In either case the balance must be paid within thirty days after the sale; in default of this, the person to whom the land has been knocked down forfeits the deposit money and all title to the land. If any lands put up are not sold, they may be purchased at any time afterwards at the upset price, without going to auction. Every auction sale of land has to be notified in the Government Gazette at least twice before the day of sale. The lands to be offered, and the upset prices at which they are to be offered, then and there are stated.

Rural Lands are sold at ten shillings an acre, and the smallest quantity is forty acres; but any plot that is so shut in as not to contain forty acres may be sold, at a price to be fixed by the Governor in Council.

After payment of the purchase-money and fulfilment of conditions, a Permit to Occupy is issued by the Commissioner, which has to be given up when the Crown Grant is received.

A breadth of not more than one-fourth of the depth of any selection is allowed on a frontage line, unless in a special case by