Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/71

 so purchased. Leases for the unsettled districts are issued not exceeding fourteen years in duration. The foregoing leases are for pastoral purposes only, with permission to the lessee to cultivate any portion of the said run for the general support of his establishment, but not for the purpose of sale or barter. The upset price for land, and of which the lessees in the unsettled and intermediate districts have the privilege of purchase, is fixed at £1 per acre. If, however, on the expiration of a lease, the land is put up for sale, the improvements made by the tenant are valued by arbitration and the amount added to the upset price. In addition to the above rents the Government have reserved to themselves the power of levying a tax upon the sheep and cattle.

Our space will not permit to enter into particulars as to the mode of leasing and disposing of the land. Government land sales are constantly taking place, and any person choosing any particular spot can apply, by paying for the survey fee, to have any portion thereof put up at the same, the upset price being £1 an acre, except when the land has been portioned off for a township or contiguous to it. The drawback before alluded to will be removed as the lessees become purchasers, which now seems to be the greatest desideratum of the Legislature, and every exertion is being made to survey the lands. By the formation of roads, building of bridges, together with enactments favourable to land proprietors, we may reasonably expect the