A free conveyance
will be given, but the cost of recording the transaction in the county
office (there is no stamp duty), about 1-1/2 dollars, must be paid by
the purchaser. The recording of a mortgage would probably be 3-1/4
dollars because it is longer. The record is a public acknowledgment of
the title of the owner to the land made in the county books.
Foreigners can hold freehold property in California, but they have no
right to vote--indeed, they would have no right to vote until they had
resided five years in the country, and had become naturalized; then a
resident has before him the possibility of becoming Governor of the
State to which he belongs, or, indeed, Secretary of the Interior, which
corresponds with the position of the Premier in England.
AMERICAN SURVEYS.
According to the American surveys the country is arranged in squares, as
shown on all the maps. A "section" is a square mile, or 640 acres. A
"township" is 36 sections, _i.e.,_ six miles on each of its four sides.
A quarter section is 160 acres, and the lands are so arranged that a
roadway is reserved around each quarter section 60 feet wide, and the
land for such roadway is taken from each side, so that each owner has to
contribute 30 feet to such road, and, of course, he has the benefit of
the frontage to it.
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