BRITISH COLUMBIA 59

may, for agricultural purposes, record any tract, not exceeding one hundred
and sixty acres, of unoccupied and unreserved crown lands which may not
be within an Indian settlement.

If the land be unsurvyeyed, he shall first place a stake or post four inches
square and four or more feet high—tree stumps squared and of the proper
height will do—at one corner of the land to be recorded, and he shall in-
scribe upon each post his name and the angle which it represents, thus:—
“John Smith’s land, N.E. post,’’ or ‘John Smith’s land, N.W. post,”
or whatever corner the post may represent. In addition to this, he must
post a written or printed notice giving description in detail of the length
and direction of the boundary lines of the land sought and the date of his
location and of his intention to apply for and record the same.

After staking the land and marking the posts, the applicant must
make an application in writing to the Commissioner of the district within
which the land is situated. This application must be recorded within
thirty days after location, if the land is within ten miles of the offices of the
Commissioner; one additional day will be allowed for the filing of such
application for every additional ten miles or fraction thereof. The ap-
plication must contain a full description, in duplicate, of the land sought
to be acquired, and must also have attached a sketch plan in duplicate,
and be accompanied by a fee of $2.00 and a declaration re staking.

_ If the applicant desires to pre-empt surveyed land, he must make a
similar application in writing to the Commissioner, giving the description
as before mentioned, and accompanying it with plan in duplicate. He
must also pay the $2.00 fee. It will not be necessary for him to plant posts.

Any number of persons, not exceeding four, may unite in partnership
for the purpose of pre-empting, holding and working land, and shall be
eligible to pre-empt as a firm, for agricultural purposes, an area to the ex-
tent, to each of the persons, of one hundred and sixty acres. Each member
of the firm shall represent his interest by oecupation of some portion of
the land so held, but it shall not be necessary in such cases, that he shall
reside on his particular pre-emption. All the persons may reside together
on one of the pieces. For the purpose of obtaining a Certificate of Im-
provement to the land pre-empted in this way, it shall be necessary to
show the Commissioner that improvements, amounting in the aggregate
to $2.50 per acre for the whole of the land, have been made on some por-
tion thereof.

A pre-emptor or pré-emptors of unsurveyed land shall have the land
surveyed at his own cost and expense, within five years from the date of
record, subject to the rectification of the boundaries. The regulations
governing the survey of the same are practically identical with those per-
taining to the purchase of land under the different land grants of the
Canadian Pacific Railway as more fully set forth inthis pamphlet.

In all cases the person or persons making the pre-emption entry shall,
within sixty days of the date of certificate, enter into occupation of the
land so recorded.

A pre-emptor, after carrying out the conditions pertaining to his pre-
emption entry, is required to go into occupation of his land for a period
of at least two years and to make permanent improvements thereon to
the value of $2.50 per acre. The meaning of the word “occupation”
under the act implies the continuous, bona fide personal residence of the
pre-emptor or his family on the land recorded by him. He may not,
without special permission from the Commissioner, be absent during one
year for a period longer than two months.

A pre-emptor who has been in occupation of his pre-emption for not
less than two years from the date of its record, shall be entitled to receive
from the Commissioner a certificate, to be called a Certificate of Improve-