A BILL TO MAKE FURTHER PROVISION FOR THE FINAL SETTLEMENT OF LAND CLAIMS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XV, Issue 1137, 21 May 1858, Page 4

A BILL TO MAKE FURTHER PROVISION FOR THE FINAL SETTLEMENT OF LAND CLAIMS.

Whereas it is expedient to make further provision for the settlement of Claims to Land within the Colony of New Zealand arising out of dealings with the Abori. ginal Inhabitants thereof : Beit enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, as follows : 1. The term "Act of 1856" herein used shall mean the Land Claims Settlement Act 1 856. The term "Commissioners" shall mean any Commissioner appointed under that Act ; and every such Commissioner shall be deemed to have the powers hereby vested in the Commissioners. The provisions of this Act shall be of force, anything in the Act of 1856 or the rules thereunder established to the contrary notwithstanding. 2. The period limited for initiating proceedings by the Attorney- General respecting voidable Grants, and for filing notifications of claims, is hereby extended from Ist July, 1858, to Ist July, 1859. 3. In any case falling under the provisions of the 32nd section of the Act of 1856, where the land alienated by Government may have formed part of any Reserve for a Town, the Commissioners may estimate the compensation to be given by the actual value of the land at the time of the reserve as nearly as they may be able to ascertain the same. 4. The Governor may at any time reserve the whole or any part of the land comprised in any claim or grant examined by the Commissioners, whenever the same may be required as the site of a Township or for any other specific public object, or whenever upon such ad judication he shall be of opinion that it would be detrimental to the public interest that the land should be granted. o. Whenever any land shall be so reserved by the Governor, the person to whom the same would otherwi c been granted shall be compensated according to the value thereof at the time of such reserve, to be determined at the option of such person by the Commissioners or by arbitration in manner hereinafter provided. 6. Every such nrbitrat'oi shall be conducted accord, ing to Rules to^ be established in that behalf by the Commissioners with the approval of the Chief Justice of New Zealand, and such Rules may be revoked amended or altered with such approval, and shall be published in the 'Government Gazette.' 7. Upon the determination as aforesaid of the value of any reserved land, the Colonial Treasurer shall issue to the person to whom the land would otherwise have been granted, a certificate entitling such person or his "afcsigns to purchase waste lands of the Crown to the amount so determined within the Province in which the reserved land shall be situate, according to the law for the time being in foice regulating the aale of such lands. 8. Every such certificate shall be in or to the effect of the form No. 1 of the Schedule of this Act, and shall be transferable by endorsement in or to the effect of the form No. 2 of the said Schedule, and shall be exercised within twelve months of the date thereof, and at the expiration of such twelve months shall cease to have any effect whatever. 9. If upon the examination of any claim or grant it shall appear .to the Commissioners that difficulties exist in the way of the claimant obtaining quiet possession of land to which he may be really entitled and which would otherwise have been granted, or if from delay in the settlement of the claim or from any act of the government the value of the land may have been materially reduced, or if for other reasons it shall appear expedient to exchange the particular land claimed for other land, the Commissioners in their discretion may direct n. grant of such other rural land as they may deem to be justcompensation for the land taken in exchange, or may grant compensation in like manner as is providr d in respect of land reserved by the Governor under Section 4 of this Act. 10. It shall be lawful for any claimant holding or claiming title under a grant examined by the Commissioners, to surrender the land comprised in such grant to Her Majesty by an endorsement on -the grant in or to the effect of the form No. 3of the Schedule of this Act, and thereupon the Commissioners may cancel such grant and direct a new grant in like manner as is provided in cases of grants called in and adjudged void.

11 , In the case of any grant called in by the Attorney General which shall on examination before the Commissioners not appear to be actually void or voidable, j but in which theie shall be an uncertainty, inaccuracy or insufficiency of description, or in which the description shall not agree with the purvey, or in which the endorsement authorised by the Quieting Titles Ordinance Srssion 10 No. 4 shall have been erroneously or insufficiently made, or in which from any other reason the grant may be of doubtful validity, the Commissioners may cancel the grant, and direct the issue of a new grant in like manner as last afbiesaid. 1 2jMn the case of any grant adjudged voi d by the Commissioners which shall not within three months after th"c publication of such adjudication in the Go* vernment Gazette be delivered up to be cancelled pursuant to law, the Commissioners may without application from or notice to the person in whose name such grant was originally issued direct a new grant to be issued either to him or to any person duly deriving title from him : Provided that such new grant be in the name of the original grantee, it shall only be delivered to.him on production or proof of loss of the void grant. 13. If the Commissioners shall have been or be unable to attend at the time and place specified in any notice of the Attorney General calling in grants for examination, such non-attendance shall not vitiate the Attorney General's notice, and it shall be sufficient for the Commissioners, by notice in the ' Government Gazette. 1 to appoint some other time or place for the production and examination of the grants, and they may proceed thereupon as if they had attended at the time and place named by the Attorney General. 14. Where a reserve has been originally made by the natives for their own occupation within the exterior boundary of any claim or grant, and they may be willing to give it up to the claimant or grantee, the Governor may if he think n't take a cession to the Queen of such reserve, and the Con missioners may thereupon direct a grant thereof to such claimant or grantee on payment for the same at the price of ten shillings per acre. 15. Whenever the exterior boundaries of the land comprised in any claim or grant examined by the Commissioners, shall contain a larger quantity than can be granted under the Act of 1556, it shall be lawful for the Governor, if he shall think fit, on the recommendation of the Commissioners, to grant to the claimant a pre-emptive right of purchasing the residue or any part thereof at the price often shillings per acre, whereupon the Commissioners may direct a grant of such residue or part to be issued : Provided always that if the Commissioners shall be satisfied the land is of such inferior character as not to be worth ten shillings per acre, they may recommend the Governor to reduce the price thereof, and the Governor may, if he think fit, reduce it accordingly : Provided also that such pre-emptive right shall be exercised within sis months after the same shall have been granted. 16. All purchase moneys paid under the preceding provisions shall be carried to the credit of the Land Revenue of the Province within which the land is situate. All moneys paid under the Act of 1856, in cases of pre-emptive claims, shall be carried to the Common Fund for defraying the charges of carrying the said Act and this Act into effect. 17. In the case of any claim or grant examined by the Commissioners, if the original award under the Land Claims Ordinances, Session 1, No. 2, and Session 3, No. 3, of the Legislative Council of New Zealand, shall have been made for the particular piece of land claimed without specifying a definite number of acres, the Commissioners may direct a grant to be issued for such piece of land : Provided that the quantity to be granted (exclusive of the additional sixth and the allowance for surveys and fees authorised by the Act of 1856) shall not exceed the number of acres to which the claimant would have been entitled according to the scale in the Schedule C to the said Act. 18. Whenever possession shall have been taken on behalf of Her Majesty of any land, the Native Title to which shall be proved to have been extinguished pi ior to 14th January, 1840, but in respect whereof no claim can be heard under the Act of 1856, it shall be lawful for the Commissioners in their discretion to estimate the actual outlay of the original claimant in extinguishing the Native Title, and thereupon to direct a grant to be issued to him in respect of such outlay, at the rate of one acre of Rural Land for every ten shillings of such outlay. 19. In any case where land has heretofore been set apart by NatUes for the maintenance o f persons of the half-caste race, it shall be lawful for the Governor, on the recommendatian of the Commissioners, to grant such land, or any part thereof, either to such persons or to Trustees for their benefit, and under such regulations and limitations as to him shall seem fit. 20. Whenever the fees required by the Act of 1856 shall be found to bear an unieasonable proportion to the value of any claim, or whenever under special circumstances it shall appear just that any remission thereof be made, the Governor may, on the recommendation of the Commissioners, make such remission as to him shall seem fit. 21. And whereas it has been found that there are exceptional cases in which the provisions of the Act of 1856 relating to the class under which such cases would come^cannot in justice be strictly applied, or in which claimants excluded by the said Act have remained for many years, and are now in actual possession or occupation of the land comprised in their claims, or in which the claims were disallowed for want of evidence which has since been supplied : It shall be lawful for the Commissioners in their discretion to deal with such cases in like manner as is pro\ided for by the 50th Section of the Baid Act in respect of special claims, and to make such oiders and adjudications as shall in i their judgment be most agreeable to justice and good conscience, but always as nearly as may be in accordance with the general provisions of the said Act. 22. Every grant of land made or purporting to he made in pursuance of this Act, shall be deemed and taken to be a good, valid, and effectual conveyance of the land thereby intended to be granted, against Her Majesty, Her Heiis and Successors, and all other persons whatsoever. 23. The short Title of this Act shall be the "Land Claims Settlement Extension Act, 1858.

SCHEDULE. FORM NO. 1. — COMPENSATION CERTIFICATE. Whereas certain land, paitof the claim of A.B. situate at Waimate in the Province of Auckland, has pursnant to the Land Claims Settlement Extension Act, 1858, been reserved, and the value thereof has been determined at the sum of one hundred pounds. It is hereby certified that the said A.B. or his assigns is entitled to purchase Waste Lands of the Crown to the said amount of one hundred pounds within the said Province accoiding to the law for the time being regulating the sale of such lands, and this Certificate will be received as cash to the said amount : Provided the same be exercised within twelve months from the date hereof. Issued pursuant to the Land Claims Settlement Extension Act, 1858, at Auckland, the day of ISS C. D. Colonial Treasurer.

FORM IJO. 2. — TBANSrER. I, A.8., do hereby assign all my interest in the within Certificate to E. F., ot Auckland. Dated 185 A. B. Witness, G. 11.

FOBM NO. 3. — SURRENDER OF GRANT* Pursuant to ihe Land Claims Settlement Act, 1858, I, A. 8., of being the person duly claiming Title under the within grant, do hereby surrender the land comprised in the said grant to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Dated the day of 185 A.B. Witness, C. D.

A Bill to provide for the periodical apportionment of Representation in the House of Representatives. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament Assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : — 1. At the first General Election of Members of the House of Representatives which shall take place after the first day of January in the year 1860, there shall be elected forty-two Members, and at the first General Election which shall take place after the first day of January, 1863, there shall be elected fifty Members ; and the House of Representatives after each such Election shall consist of forty-two and fifty Members respbctively. 2. In the year 1860, and in every third year afterwards, the Governor shall divide the Colony anew into convenient Electoral Distucts, and shall appoint and declare the number of Members to be elected by each such District. 3. The extent of the several Districts, and the number of Members to be assigned to each, shall

respectively be such that no greater number of Members than three shall be assigned to any one I District, and that the number of Members for each District shall bear to the whole number of Members of the House of Representatives as nearly as may be, the same proportion as the number of registered Electors within such District shall bear to the total produced by: adding together the number of Electors on each of the i several Electoral Rolls of the Colony, and that in no case whatever, at the time of making any such division, shall the number of registered Electors in any one District exceed, or fall short of, by twenty-five the proportion hereinbefore indicated. 4. As often as any such division of the Colony into Electoral districts as aforesaid shall be made, the Governor shall cause an Electoral Roll to be formed for each such district} and for the purpose of forming the same every person whose name shall be on the Roll of any Electoral district in the Colony, shall be placed on the Electoral Roll of the District in which the tenements or hereditaments, in respect of which he shall be registered, shall be situate; and if any person shall be registered as an Elector in respect of tenements or hereditaments situate in more than one of the districts, to be from time to time constituted under this Act, his name shall be placed on the Electoral Roll of each such District. 5. The division of the Colony into Electoral Districts and the appointment of the number of Members as hereinbefore provided, shall be made by Proclamation, and a day shall be fixed in such Proclamation, not later than the Ist day of May in aay year, on which such division and apportionment shall come into force; and from that day the Electoral Roll so made out as aforesaid for each sttch District shall be the Electoral Roll to be used for such District, until a new Electoral Roll for the same, to be made under the provisions of the law for the time being for the Registration of Electors, shall be in force. 6. The Governor shall also, at the time of issuing the said Proclamation, cause the Electoral Rolls, formed under the authority of this Act, to be published in such convenient form as he shall think St. 7. This Act may, for all purposes, be cited as " The Representation Apportionment Act, 1858."