424 Settlement of the Public Estate. SETTLEMENT IN AUSTRALASIA. case it is determined to again lease any run on expiry of the lease, it must be offered at auction twelve months before the end of the term, and if, on leasing, it shall be purchased by some one other than the previous lessee, valuation for improvements, to be made by an appraiser, shall be paid by the incoming tenant, but to a value not greater than three times the annual rent, excepting in the case of a rabbit-proof fence, which is valued separately. Runs may also be divided with the approval of the Land Board. AUSTRALASIAN SETTLEMENT. From the particulars given in the foregoing pages it will have been made abundantly clear that the main object of the land legislation, however variously expressed, has been to secure the settlement of the public estate by an industrious class, who, confining their efforts to areas of moderate extent, would thoroughly develop the resources of the land. But where the character of the country does not favour agricultural occupation or mixed farming, the laws contemplate that the State lands should be leased in blocks of considerable size for pastoral occupation, and it was hoped that, by this form of settlement, vast tracts, which when first opened up seemed ill-adapted even for the sustenance of live stock, might be ultimately made available for industrial settlement. To how small an extent the express determination of the legislators to settle an industrious peasantry on the soil was accomplished will presently be illustrated from the records of several of the provinces, but in regard to pastoral settlement the purpose was fully achieved--large areas, pronounced by even experienced explorers to be an uninhabitable wild have since been occupied by thriving flocks, and every year sees the great AustraAreas alienated lian desert of the early explorers receding step by step. The or leased. following statement shows the area of land alienated by each province, the area leased, and the area neither alienated nor leased. The term "alienated" is used to denote that the figures include lands granted without purchase, the area so disposed of has not been inconsiderable in several provinces : : 426 EVILS OF THE AUCTION SYSTEM. Proportion of area under occupation. Evils of the auction system. The figures in the foregoing table disclose many grounds for congratulation; but of 2,023 million acres which comprise the area of Australasia, 875 millions or 43.3 per cent. is under occupation for productive purposes, and there is every probability that this area will be greatly added to in the near future. New South Wales shows the least area returning no revenue, for out of nearly 200 million acres only 20 millions remain unoccupied, and much of this is represented by land which the State has reserved from occupation that is used for travelling stock or for various public purposes, including lands reserved for future settlement along the track of the great trunk line of railways. The Colony of Tasmania has 68 per cent. of its area unoccupied, the western part of the island being so rugged as to forbid settlement. New Zealand, favoured also with a beneficent climate, has about half its area unutilised, a circumstance entirely due to the mountainous character of its territory. Settlement in Western Australia is only in its initial stage; much of its area is practically unknown, and much of what is known is thought to be little worth settlement. Much the same thing was confidently predicted of western New South Wales and South Australia, though as subsequent events proved the forebodings were untrue. In the territory under the control of the South Australian Government only 36 per cent. is in occupation, but if the Northern territory be excluded the proportion of South Australian property under occupation would be found to be considerably greater. The practice of sales by auction without conditions of settlement was a necessary part of the system of land legislation which prevailed in most of the Colonies; but this ready means of raising revenue offered the temptation to the Governments, where land was freely saleable, to obtain revenue in an easy fashion. The result of the system was not long in making itself felt, for pastoralists and others desirous of accumulating large estates were able to take advantage of those sales, and of the ready manner in which transfers of land conditionally purchased could be made, to acquire large holdings, and so the obvious intentions of the Lands Acts |