AMENDED REGULATIONS RESPECTING AGRICULTURAL LEASES UNDER THE MINES ACT, 1877.

Dunstan Times, Issue 899, 11 July 1879, Page 3

AMENDED REGULATIONS RESPECTING AGRICULTURAL LEASES UNDER THE MINES ACT, 1877.

(From the New Zealand Gazette of June 12.) Whereas by the fifty—first se dion of “ The Mines £ct. 1577 ” herein referred to as the said Act ”). it is enacted that it shall be'lawful for the Governor, subject to the provisions of the said Act from time toriine to make, alter amend, and revoke rules and regulations for all or any purposes thereinafter enumerated: And whereas by tire fifty-third section of the said Act it, is enacted that the rules and regulations contained in the Appendices to the said Act shall be deemed to be the first rules and regulations made under the fifty-first and fiftysecond sections of the said Act; And whereas it is expedient that the regulations respecting agricultural leases under Appendix B to the said Act, and numbered three, five, ten, twelve, thirteen, fifteen, and eighteen, should be amended : Know, them fore, I, Hercules George Robert Robinson, Governor of the Colony of New Zealand, do hereby order that the regulations under Appendix B particularly referred to above shall be and are hereby revoked, and the following substitut d in lieu thereof; — Who man apply. 3. Every application must be made by the applicant in person [previously—or by agent], and the Warden shall not entertain any oppli cation u r less he is satisfied that the person is [previously—or is on behalf of some other residents of the Colony of that age] twenty-one years old, and legally capable of being bound by the contract into which it is thereby proposed to enter, and is not in respect of the land applied for, or in respect of any part thereof, the agent or servant of or a trustee for any other person. Objections. 5. Objections that the applicant is not of the full age of twenty-one years [previously—or that he is not resident in the Oolnnj]; or that he is in respect of the land applied for the agent or servant of the trustee for any other person, or that the whole or any portion of the land applied for is claimed or owned by any person other than the applicant, or is in the whole or in part auriferous, or is likely to be req dred for any public purpose, must be made in writing to the Warden, and lodged at the office at which the application shall have been lodged twenty-four hours at the least before the time appointed for hearing j and the person objecting must at the time appointed for hearing urge the objection personally, or by counsel or agent. 10. At any time before finally dealing with any application the AVardim may require a report or survey to be made by the District Surveyor, and in such case the cost of such survey or report shall be paid in advance [the words “ in advnee" are new] to the Receiver of Gold Revenue [all the following is new :] cither by the applicant or the objector, or partly by both, as may bo decided by the Warden. Granting Certifcale. 12. If no valid objection as aforesaid bo made, and no reason bo known to the Warden why the application should not be granted, or if on hearing such application he shall decide that a part only of iho land applied for should be granted, ho shall require the applicant to pay to the Receiver of Gold Revenue a sum calculated in the case where survey fees have not been by the applicant at the rate of three shilling [previously—two and sixpence] per acre, and iu the case whore survey fees have been paid by the applicant at the rate of one shilling and sixpence [previously—one and three penc- ] per acre, of the land intended to be granted; and such payment will cover all charges in respect of such grant, inclusive of rent, for the first six months of the term ; and upon production of the Receiver’s receipt for tiie above sum to the Warden, he shall give to the applicant a certificate in the form of Schedule B hereto, bearing even date with such receipt, from which date the commencement of the term of the lease (if a lease he granted) shall be taken and computed. Governor's Power to refuse. Lease reserved. 11. On issuing any certificate the Warden shall forthwith forward to the Governor a duplicate of such certificate, and notwithstanding the issue of the same, it shall be lawful for the Governor wi bin sixty [previously - thirty] days from the date thereof to refuse to grant to the applicant a lease of the land referred to in such certificate ; and immediately' upon such refusal being communicated to the applicant, cither personally or by letter addressed to him at his usual or last known place of business nr abode, the certificate and any matter and thing therein contained shall beandb* absolutely void,and the applicant shall forthwith quit and deliver up possession of the said land, and failing his so doing he may be proceeded against as a trespasser on Crown lands. Pent. 15. Rent at the rate of three shillings [previously—2s. Sd.] per acre pet annum shall be payable half-yearly during the term; and at the time of the execution of the lease rent shall be paid up to the first day of January or the first dav of July, as the case may be, from the date up to which payment shall then last have been made ; and thereafter the rent, shall bo payable by equal half-yearly payments in advance, on the first diy of January a d the first day of July in every year ; and the payment Hereinbefore required at the time of granting a certificate shall be deemed to include payment of rent for the first six months of the term, ami for the purpose of computing rent every fractional part of a month shall he considered a month, and shall be respectively charged for accordingly. Conditions of Occupation. 13, Every certificate and lease shall be sub-

jected to the conditions following that is fo say,— 1. That ’no sale or assignment shall, t e made without a license. 2. That not less than ope-eighth of' the whole urea shall be cultivated, or. if timbered land, cleared, within twelve months after the commencement of the term, or onc-f mrth of the whole area substantially fenced within the same time. [The whole of the three following paragraphs are entirely new] 3. That the lessee shall, within two years after the commencement of the .term, erect a dwelling-house of a value of no less than fifty pounds sterlin -, and that within the same period he shall begip to reside on the land, and continue so to do until the laud becomes freehold. Buildings and residence may be dispensed with in the case of ah applicant who resides during the currency of the lease wituin three miles of the land applied for. Buildings and residence may also be dispensed with. in all where the major part of the land is declared by the District Surveyor, to be of a greater altitude above sea level than two thousand feet.