Guyana Land Lease (Text) – Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple

M.P. No. 1/2/3845
No. A9890
Guyana

LEASE OF STATE LAND FOR MIXED FARMING PURPOSES
leased under Section 3 (b) of the State Lands, Act, Chapter 62:01

I, Arthur Chung, President and Commander-in-Chief of Guyana,

in the name and on behalf of the State of Guyana, hereinafter called the “Lessor” which term whenever the context permits or requires shall be deemed to include the successor or successors in the said office and the person for the same being performed the functions of the said office, do hereby in consideration of the covenants, provisions and rents hereinafter reserved and subject to the State Lands Act, Chapter 62:01 and the State Lands Regulations made thereunder lease unto

THE PEOPLES TEMPLE OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST CHURCH

herein termed the “Lessee”, which term shall be deemed to indicate their heirs, executors, administrators, representatives and assigns and the said

THE PEOPLES TEMPLE OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST CHURCH

do hereby take on lease the piece or parcel of State Land situated at Matthews’ Ridge in the County of Essequibo in Guyana and more fully described as follows:

Between Aratabaka Creek and Bebai River and being on the Right Bank Kaituma River, Left Bank Burima River, in the Matthews’ Ridge/Arakaka/Port Kaituma (North) Area, West Region.

Green area: 3,852 Acres
Allowance for cultivable Terrain – 852 Acres
Net Area: 3000 acres as shown on Plan No. 16787 by G. B. Matthews, 15th day of January, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Six, an original of which plan together with the duplicate of this lease is on display in the Office of the Department of Lands & Surveys, Georgetown, Demerara.

To hold the said premises for twenty-five years commencing from 10th April, 1974 upon the following terms and conditions:

1. (1) Subject as hereinafter provided the lessee shall pay to the Commissioner of Lands (hereinafter referred to as “the Commissioner”) or to any officer duly authorized in that behalf and annual rent for the land hereby leased as follows:

25 [cents] per acre for the first 5 years
[line crossed out] $4.00 per acre for the second 5 years

(2) Thereafter the rate at which rent is payable shall be liable to revision by the President of Guyana at five yearly intervals during the currency of the lease.

2. The lessee shall within two years from the date of the commencement of this lease cultivate and beneficially occupy at least one-fifth part of the area of the land hereby leased and shall thereafter annually increase the cultivated and beneficially occupied area by not less than one-tenth part of the area of the land hereby leased until the end of five years he shall have not less than one half part of the area of the land hereby leased, cultivated and beneficially occupied, and shall be bound at all times during the continuance of this lease to maintain the said cultivation in good order and in a husbandlike manner to the reasonable satisfaction of the Commissioner or such Officer as may from time to time be deputed by the Commissioner to inspect the said cultivation;

Provided that where the Commissioner is satisfied from the nature of the land or the composition of the soil or for any other cause that the cultivation of any portion of the land hereby leased is impracticable or uneconomical he would deduct the area of such portions from which the lessee is required to improve and cultivate

(2) The lessee shall be bound at all times to:
(a) comply with any directions given by the lessor for the preparation and submission of plans for the drainage and irrigation of the land hereby leased; provided that such plans have jointly agreed upon by lessee and lessor
(b) carry out at his own expense to the satisfaction of lessor and [two words crossed out] all drainage and irrigation works as may from time to time be specified by the said lessor, as approved in subparagraph (a).

(3) The lessee shall be responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of all such works and shall immediately remedy in the defect therein all to the satisfaction of the lessor. If lessee fails to remedy any such defect, it may be remedied by the Commissioner or by the Chief Works and Hydraulics Officer or his agent and the cost recovered from the lessee without prejudice to the liability of the lease to forfeiture under clause 13 hereof and consequent of the lessee’s failure to remedy such defect.

3. Good husbandry
The lessee shall be bound at all times to:
(a) cultivate and maintain an husbandlike manner all or any crops or pasture that may be from time to time jointly approved by Lessor and Lessee.
(b) take all necessary steps to control pests, diseases and weeds on the land.
(c) Keep his livestock under proper control and for that purpose may be required by the lessor to erect and maintain such fences either by himself or together with an adjoining tenant or tenants, as may be necessary.

4. Sub-letting
The lessee shall not sub-let or give possession of the land hereby leased or any part thereof.

5. Transfer and Mortgage
The lessee shall not transfer or mortgage his interest in the lands comprised in this lease or any part thereof except in accordance with the provisions of the State Lands Regulations for the time being in force.

6. The lessee shall bear, pay and discharge:
(a) all existing and future rates, taxes, assessments and outgoings impose or charged upon the land hereby leased by any local or other statutory authority or in accordance with the provisions of any Ordinance.
(b) the cost on a pro rata basis or on such other basis as may, from time to time, be decided upon by the Lessor or such local or other statutory authority, the cost of all or any improvement works carried out at public expense or by such local or other statutory authority, and in the event of the failure of the lessee to pay, such amount may be recovered by Parate Execution or any other process of law.

7. Boundary paal [Editorial note: This term seems to be exclusively Guyanese, and – absent a dictionary definition – seems to refer to a physical marker at the edge of a property which includes information about the leased land designated by the boundary]
The lessee shall be bound during the continuance of this lease to keep the boundary lines of the land hereby leased clear and open, to keep the boundary paals thereon in the correct positions and to place and maintain on the front of the tract at or near to each boundary paal, a board on which shall be painted in legible letters and figures the name of the lessee and the number and date of this lease.

8. Re-entry [illegible word]
The Lessor shall have full power and authority at all times during the term of this lease, to resume and enter into possession of any part of the land hereby leased which he may deem necessary to resume for any town site, village, railway, tramway, canal, telegraph line, road, wireless or radio station, or power transmission or for any other public work or purpose of public use, utility or convenience; and to sell, lease, license or otherwise dispose of any person or persons any part or parts of the said land for any purpose as aforesaid, without making to the lessee any compensation in respect of any part so resumed or sold, leased, licensed or otherwise disposed of:

9. Inspection
(1) The lessee shall in the month of December, at the end of every fifth year during the continuance of this lease submitted in writing to the Commission and report stating:–

(2) Minimum charge: on the Lessee failing in any year to submit the aforesaid report, or in the event of the said report being false in any material particular, the lessee shall on demand pay to the Commissioner, or to any officer duly authorised in that behalf, a sum of fifty cents per acre the land hereby leased in respect to any inspection carried out in connection with such default under paragraph (3) of this clause:

(3) Any officer of the Government authorized in that behalf by the Commissioner shall be entitled to enter upon the land hereby leased at such times as may be reasonable to inspect the cultivation or stock and the works, boundary lines, notice boards, fences and paals thereon and to do all things necessary to ascertain whether the conditions under which this lease is held are being complied with.

10. Minerals
This lease shall not confer upon the lessee the right to any gold, silver, or other metals, minerals, ores, bauxite, rock, gems or precious stones, coal, mineral oil or radio-active minerals in or under the land leased which shall be saved and reserved to the Lessor with the right to enter upon any part or parts of the land hereby leased (whether by himself or by his servants or agents or by any persons authorised by him in that behalf to search and mine therefor, subject, however, to the payment to the lessee of compensation as provided in Regulation 43 of the State Lands Regulation.

11. Service of [illegible word]
For the purpose of this lease any notice shall be deemed to be duly served on the less the or the mortgagee as the case may be if sent to him by registered post or if service in this matter cannot be made by posting of a copy of the notice in a conspicuous place on the land hereby leased.

12. Termination of lands
On the expiry of this lease by effluxion of time or upon the surrender or forfeiture thereof, all buildings or even actions and all improvements on the land hereby leased shall belong to the Lessor.

Provided that if the land hereby leased is again leased within two years of the date of expiry, surrender or forfeiture as aforesaid, the lessee shall be entitled to receive from the succeeding lessee the full value of all lawful improvements existing on the land computed as at the date of such renewal, and the amount of compensation payable in respect of such improvements shall be determined subject to the provisions of Regulation 43 of the State Land Regulations and in the manner therein provided.

13. Breaches of [illegible word] and conditions
(a) Where any instalment of rent payable hereunder is three months or more overdue, the Commissioner may give to the lessee notice in writing to pay the arrears of rent within three months of the date of such notice. If the lease has been mortgaged in accordance with the requirements of the State Land Regulations for the time being in force a similar notice shall be given to the mortgagee. If either the lessee or the mortgagee complies with such notice to lessee shall continue to hold the land thereby leased as if no breach has been committed. If neither the lessee nor the mortgagee complies with such notice this lease and the land comprised therein and all improvements thereon may be forfeited forthwith.
(b) where the lessee has committed any breach of the conditions of clause 3 of this lease, the Commissioner may give to the lessee notice in writing to remedy the same within such period as the Commissioner may prescribe and this unless he fails to remedy the breach within such period this lease and the lands comprised herein and all improvements thereon may be forfeited.
(c) where the lessee has committed any other breach of the conditions of this lease, the lease and the lands comprised therein and all improvements thereon may be forfeited forthwith.

14. Provisions as to waiver
(1) The Commissioner may exercise his right to enforce any condition of his lease notwithstanding that he may have omitted to exercise such right on any previous occasion.
(2) The receipt by the Commissioner (or by any officer duly authorized in that behalf) of any rent or other money payable by the lessee shall not affect the right of the Commissioner could force the conditions of this lease in respect of any breach committed by the lessee whether or not known to the Commissioner before such receipt.

15. The lessee paying the rent and other sums of money hereby reserved and performing all the covenants and conditions herein contained and to be by him observed and fulfilled shall and may peaceably and quietly possess and enjoy the land hereby leased without any undue interference by the Lessor or any person claiming to be lawfully acting under him and upon giving three months notice in writing to the Commissioner shall be entitled to a renewal of this lease for a further period of twenty-five years upon the same terms and conditions including this present condition but at the rent fixed by the President of Guyana under the provisions of paragraph (2) of clause 1 of this lease.

IN WITNESS whereof the parties hereto have signed these presence at the city of Georgetown on the [handwritten number] 25th day of [handwritten month] February in the year 1976 and at [handwritten place] Georgetown in the County of [handwritten place] Demerara in Guyana on the [handwritten number] 25th day of [handwritten month] February in the year 1976 in the presence of the undermentioned witnesses.

[Illegible signature]
Commissioner of Lands and Surveys
For the President of Guyana.

[signed] Paula Adams
Peoples Temple, Disciples of Christ

Witnesses to the signature of the lessee this [handwritten number] 25th day of [handwritten month] February 1976.
[two illegible signatures]

Recorded this [handwritten number] 25th day of [handwritten month] February 1976 and numbered [handwritten] A9890.

[Illegible signature]
for Commissioner of Lands and Surveys
[handwritten] 25/2/76

Originally posted on May 16th, 2013.