of Regulations was disallowed by the Governor, and amended to meet his views. On April 15. 1856, another set of Regulations had been published in the “Gazette,” offering rural lands at 40/- per acre. An application book was kept, and priority given in accordance with the order of the names appearing therein. It was at that time that certain historical races were ridden by settlers competing for priority of claim to particular blocks of land; notably one described by Mr. Samuel Butler, in which he himself took part. He and his neighbour had a dispute about the boundary line of their respective runs. The point at issue was the possession of a small piece of land on which stood a building and other improvements. Each man knew that if he could reach the land office before his rival, he could buy the freehold at £2 per acre, and so without spoken challenge, the race began. It was a long-distance competition, a hundred miles across country, with rivers to swim. The contestants passed and re-passed each other, but Mr. Butler, who had secured a remount on the road, won the race.
Then came fresh complications: some of the early settlers had pre-emptive rights at £3 per acre. Was it fair, it was asked, that these men, the pioneers of Canterbury, if they wished to exercise their pre-emption, should still have to pay £3, when others were paying only £2 per acre? But there was some doubt whether the dissolution of the Canterbury Association had not extinguished these pre-emptive rights altogether. A compromise was made, the pre-emptive rights were confirmed, and the price reduced to £2; but a proviso was inserted that if another applicant desired to purchase the freehold, the owner of the pre-emptive right had either to exercise his pre-emption promptly or abandon it. The squatters, anxious to preserve their pre-emption rights over large blocks of land, discovered a flaw in these regulations: they need not purchase the whole
