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

Dunstan Times, Issue 900, 18 July 1879, Page 3

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

(From the Now Zetland Gazette of Juno 12.) 'Whereas hv the fifty—first section of The Mines Act. 1877 ” 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 to time to make, alter amend, end revoke rules and regulations for all or any purposes thereinafter enumerated: And whereas by the fiftythird 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 num 1 ered three, five, ten, twelve, thirteen, fifteen, and eighteen, should ho amended : Know, the eftrs, 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 bo and are hereby rev iked, and the followingsubstitut d in lieu thereof; — Who may apply. 3. Every application must be made by the applicant in person [previously—or by agent], and the Warden shall not entertain any nppli cation u - less he is satisfied that the person is [previously—or is on behalf of some other residents oflhe 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 laud 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 ho is not resident in the Colon)]; or that hois in respect of the laud 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 claimclor owned by any person other than the applicant, or is in the whole or in part auriferous, oris likely to he req tired for any public purpose, must be made in writing to the Warden, and lodged at the nlfice at which the application shall have been lodged twenty-four hours at the least before the time appointed forbearing ; and the person objecting must at the time appointed for hearing urge the objection personally, or by counsel nr agent. 10. At any time before finally dealing with any application the Warden 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 he paid in advance [the words “ in adv nco” are new] to the Receiver of Gold Revenue [ill the following is new:] eitherhy the app!’cantor the objector, or partly by bulb, as may bo decided by the Warden. Granting Certificate. 12. If no valid objection as aforesaid be made, and no reason bo known to the Warden wbv the application should not be granted, or if on bearing such application be shall decide that a part only of die land applied for should be granted, he shall require the applicant to pay to the Receiver of G dd 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 in the case whore survey foes have been paid by the applicant at the rate of one shilling and sixpence [previously—one and threepence] per aero, of the land intended to bo 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 the above sum to the Warden, ho shall give to the applicant a certificate in the form of Schedule B hereto, hearing even date with such receipt, from which date the commencement oflhe terra of the lease (if a lease he granted) shall he taken and computed, Governor's Power to refuse. Lease reserved. H. On issuing any certificate the Warden shall forthwith forward to the Governor a duplicate of such certificate, and notwithstanding the issue of the sime, it shall he lawful for the Governor within sixty [previously

—thirty] days from the dale thereof to refute to grant to the applicant a lease of tho land referred to in such certificate; and immediately upon such refusal being communicated to tin applicant, either personally or by letter addressed to him at hia usual or last known place of business or abode, the ccrtiflca'e and any matter and thing therein contained shall be and b> a'uolut ly void, and the applicant shall forthwith quit and deliver up possession of the said land, and failing his so doing hi maybe proceeded against as a tr.spasser on Crown lands. Rent. 15. Rent at the rate of three shillings [previously—2s. 6d.] per acre per annum shall be payable half-yearly during the term; and at the time of the execution of tire lease rent shall he paid up to the first day of January or the first dav ofJulv, as the case may be, from the date up to which payment shall then last have boon made ; and thereafter the rent shall be payable by equal half-yearly payments in advance, on tire first dry of January a d tho first day of July in every year; and the payment hereinbefore required at the time of granting a certificate shall Redeemed to include payment of rent for the first six months of the term, and 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. IS. Every certificate and lease sba Ibe sul - jeeted to the conditions following that is to say,— 1. That no sale [or assignment shall I e made without a license. 2. That not less than one-eighth of the whole area shall be cultivated, or. if timbered land, cleared, withiu twelvemonths after the commencement of the terra, or one-fourth of the whole area substantially fenced within the same time. [Tire whole of the three following paragraphs are entirely now ] 3. That tho lessee shall, within two years after tho commencement of tho term, erect a dwelling-house of a value of no less than fifty pounds sterlin and fiat within the same period he shall begin to reside on the land, and continue so to do until the land becomes freehold. Buildings and residence may be dispensed with in the case of an applicant who resides during the currency of the louse within three miles of the laudbipplled for. Buildings and residence may also be dispensed with in all cas-s where the major part of the land is declared by the District Surveyor, to be of a greater altitude abovejsca level than two thousand feer.