NEW ENACTMENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 April 1910, Page 2

NEW ENACTMENTS

Several important Acts passed during last session of Parliament came into force on the first of this month. The previsions of these enactments have been summarised by the chief law draughtsman for the newspaper:: The Race -Meetings Act has already been briefly reviewed. Under its provisions , ail clubs requite to secure a permit from the Minister of Internal Affairs. |„ future such (dubs as the Grey Valley Trotting Club and Koss Jockey Club w'ill require permits to race. An important change in the procedure in Magistrate's Court cases is made by the Magistrates' Court Amendment Act. If a defendant desires to defend the action, he must, file in the Court a notice of his intention within five days alter the service of the summons upon him. If he fails to do so, he will net be allowed to defend without the special leave of the Court, and the action will be disposed of as undefended. Except; in special cases it is not necessary in any such notice to state the nature of the intended defence. To give time for the filing of the notice, Clause 6 provides for the service ol the summons in all cases seven days before the day of hearing. I lie Act also effects reform in the manner of stating a claim. The former practice required a full statement of all dates and particulars, even though accounts had already been duly rendered by the plaintiff to the defendant. In the case of current accounts, this involved a considerable amount of unnecessary trouble, the account often stretching back for six or seven years even though the dispute only involved a few weeks. The Act now provides a short form of statement of claim in actions for goods sold and delivered. Another important enactment was the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act the provisions of which have already been outlined in these columns Under the new Public Service Classification Act, all persons who are retired compulsorily (otherwise than for misconduct) after twenty years' service, tire given the right to receive, in addition to a refund of their contributions, a further sum by way of interest on those contributions. Those members of the public service who failed to take advantage of their right to join the fund ceased to be entitled to become contributors thereto unless they had chosen to do so before March 31st of this year. Another most important law is the Native Land Act, It classifies all hind as being either Crown land

European land, or Native land, and includes in the term "Native land" both customary land and Native freehold land. On the application of the Native Minister, or of any Native owner, the Native Land Court investigates the title and makes a freehold order which has the same effect as a Crown grant in vesting a legal estate in fee-simple in the Native owners as tenants in common and so extinguishes the Nativetitle. Under the Act, the alienation of Native land may lje effected in four different ways: (1) private alienation by the owners themselves; (2) alienation by a Maori Land Board as the statutory trustee or agent of the owners; (3) alienation by the committee of management of the incorporated owners; and (4) alienated in pursuance of a resolution of a majority of the owners assembled in a meeting called for that purpose by a board. Provision is also made under the Act to borrow £500,000 annually for the purchase of Native lands. The latter Act, though it does not apply to the West Coast, is of particular interest to Greymouth residents as it indicates the opinion of the Government on the subject. The fact that the Crown has decided to purchase Native lands, i s deeply significant and will become a precedent on which Further action in regard to the Greynouth native reserve might be taken."